A woven cotton rug is generally better quality than a machine made cotton rug. However, what are the other differences, and is it worth paying extra?
In this guide, we will explore the differences between the two types of rugs, and find out how you can tell the differences.
Quality
Woven Cotton Rug Design
The biggest difference between a manmade woven rug and a regular rug is that one has been designed by hand and the other by machine. When anything is designed by hand you can guarantee that the quality is ‘finer’ because more effort has gone into the design. On the other hand, there is a lot to be said for the increasing quality of machines, which is making every ‘machine designed’ rug much better in quality.
Woven Cotton Rug Prices
Unfortunately, you will probably end up paying more for a woven cotton rug as more effort has gone into making the rug itself. Looking at the price is one of the best ways to determine if the rug is manmade. However, you should not always let the price guide you as smaller companies could be looking to get more of a profit from the buyer. If you are abroad and want to buy a rug, then you need to make sure you check the following points to decide if a rug has been manmade.
Differences in Woven Cotton Rugs
Apart from price and design there are plenty of other differences between a woven rug and a ‘regular’ cotton rug, these are:
Fibres – Most machine made rugs are made from synthetic fibres. Synthetic fibres are much heavier than a manmade rug, which is generally made of non synthetic materials (wool or cotton).
Area – If the label itself does not tell you that it is machine or manmade then you can guarantee it has which country in which the rug has been created. You can almost guarantee that if your rug is created in an Asian country then it has been machine made. On the other hand, if it has been designed in Western Europe, then there is a good chance it has been manmade.
Back and Front – When you buy a manmade design, one of the things that you are paying for is the design on the front and the back of the rug. When a rug is machine designed, it will only ever be ‘decorative’ on the front of the rug due to the process used by a machine; this is one of the best ways to determine if your cotton rug has been designed by hand.
Fringe – The final way of deciding if your rug has been woven or is machine made is to look at the fringe. On a manmade rug, the fringe is formed from the ends of the strand. On the other hand, a machine made rug is stitched onto the back of the rug. This is the best way to tell if you have doubts about the rug, especially if you are looking to buy one in a foreign country and the salesman seems a bit pushy! |
