Earth Weave Carpet Mills
We often hear stories from people about the hours and hours of research they do in order to find out about Earth Weave Carpet Mills non-toxic wool carpet and all wool area rugs. WorkingWonders™ is a preferred Earth Weave dealer and has worked directly with the Earth Weave mill in Dalton, Georgia, for over twelve years.
Non-toxic carpet and rugs are harder products for most people to even find. Add to that, most people don't buy any kind of carpet or rugs very often so it's not unusual to want a little more information about the process along with answers to product and process questions. WorkingWonders is happy to provide answers along with pricing and samples.
WorkingWonders™ carries the full line of Earth Weave Carpet Mills products and works with people all over the United States. If you don't see what you're looking for on the site (but saw it elsewhere) we can probably get it for you. Just send your request and information via our contact form, or give us a call at 443.834.4792.
Refer to individual product pages to see which WorkingWonders Green Guide™ icons apply to the different Earth Weave products.
In Their Words:
Company Mission Statement:
Earth Weave Carpet Mill’s commitment to crafting 100% natural fiber carpets and area rugs is unsurpassed in the industry. Our commitment lies not in recycling petrochemical products, but rather in taking advantage of the ultimate manufacturer - Mother Nature and her renewable natural resources. Our products use either raw natural colored wool or OrganoSoftColor™ dyes (organic). We apply absolutely no toxic stain or fire retardant treatments or mothproofing chemicals, period. We only produce 100% natural wool floor coverings that are innovative and high quality used for both residential and light commercial applications.
Earth Weave FAQs:
HEALTH
What does 100% Natural mean, according to Earth Weave? Earth Weave starts by using only pure wool. They apply no dyes with the exception of their New Catskill - OrganoSoftColors product which does have organic dye), pesticides, or stain protections that are commonly used by the other wool carpet manufacturers. The application of these chemicals can negatively impact indoor air quality through the off-gassing of volatile organic compounds. The primary backing they use is also an industry-first combination of hemp and cotton. Earth Weave chose to use the hardy hemp fiber, due to its durability, strength, and mold and mildew resistance. Their all-natural primary backing is specifically designed to be used in their biodegradable flooring and is exclusive to Earth Weave. The wool yarns are locked into place with a natural adhesive that is derived from the rubber tree. This adhesive is completely biodegradable and nontoxic as well. This is counter to the styrene-butadiene adhesive used in other wool carpets. For the back of the carpet, Earth Weave uses a jute secondary. Jute was commonly used in the carpet industry before the introduction of the synthetic backings currently employed. They chose to use this type of backing to further their cause of making a completely natural and non-toxic carpet. Occasionally other wool carpet manufacturers will use jute as a secondary but it is often hiding a synthetic core of plastic and styrene. Earth Weave's carpet padding is a blend of coarse naturally pigmented wool mechanically needled (not glued) together to create a luxurious, healthy cushion. The padding is free from dyes, fire retardants, glues, mothproofing or adhesives. This 100% natural wool padding will provide many years of service before needing to be replaced. When it does, Earth Weave (and WorkingWonders) urge our customers to recycle it to the garden where it will safely biodegrade while serving as an effective weed barrier and mulch. Over a period of 2-3 seasons, the padding will completely disappear, adding nitrogen and other nutrients plants need to the soil, essentially returning to grass. This completes the cycle and highlights Earth Weave's slogan...From Nature To Nature... Earth Weave has developed a unique product that maintains all the criteria of those looking for the purest, least toxic floor covering available. Bio-Floor™ can be used without reservation to provide the utmost in comfort and durability while maintaining indoor air quality and your health.
I am chemically sensitive; will Earth Weave products work for me? While Earth Weave has many customers that have had a great experience with their carpet, they cannot guarantee nor comment on any individual/client's reaction. It is up to each individual to decide on their own if our products work for them in their environment. No warranty is made as to individual reactions, physical or otherwise, regarding this carpet and its effects.
AESTHETICS
How soft are Earth Weave carpets? Earth Weave carpets are constructed using the highest quality wool available. This provides not only an extremely durable product but a luxuriously soft one as well. Earth Weave carpets are not coarse like many of the other natural face fiber products such as sisal, seagrass, coir, and jute. The low cost, entry-level wool carpet and wool carpet blends found in the marketplace are made from lesser quality wool and as such, they do not offer the softness or durability Earth Weave clients are looking for in a carpet. Earth Weave products are often used in nurseries and playrooms because of the softness.
Where does Earth Weave's wool come from? Earth Weave uses British Wool due to its excellent crimp and fiber characteristics. The breeds they use are the finest, most resilient available. The sheep are raised in a free-range environment. They are outside in all types of weather, both harsh and pleasant. This dynamic environment causes the sheep to grow a very hardy fleece that allows Earth Weave to produce the highest quality carpeting. Through all the elements – durability reigns supreme.
How does Earth Weave carpet and area rugs get their colors? The colors are derived from the wool as it is naturally grown on the sheep's back. Just as you, your family and friends have a specific color of hair, so do the sheep have unique colors based on particular breeds. Earth Weave takes these naturally colored fleeces and blends them to achieve the beautiful colorations of their carpet and area rugs. While they use dyes on their newest OrganoSoftColors line, no non-organic dyes or harsh chemicals (moth proofing) are applied.
I have heard that wool carpets shed. Is this true? It is true wool carpets shed a little. This is a factor of them being made from short "staple" fibers. In fact, all staple fiber carpets shed a little. Many synthetics carpets are made from staple fibers. A staple fiber is really anything that is not a continuous filament. The only natural fiber that is continuous filament is silk. Of course, silk would not be as durable as wool for use as a carpet fiber. In spite of the shedding that occurs with all staple carpet products, you can be assured that it is minimal and will in no way be noticeable in the appearance or durability of the carpet. You may notice small fibers in your vacuum cleaner if you were to inspect inside the collection bag. This is typical and is no cause for alarm.
SUSTAINABILITY/ENVIRONMENT
How is Earth Weave different than any of the other environmentally friendly carpet companies out there? Many companies are just "greenwashing" the public by touting to recycle and/or use recycled products. Earth Weave believes synthetic carpet and area rugs are not sustainable and therefore not "green/eco".
Often used in the making of carpet and area rugs, petroleum is a finite, non-renewable resource. Earth Weave is committed to 100% sustainable resource floor-coverings and will not manufacture a product from non-renewable petrochemical resources. This would include the “recycled pop bottle products” gaining popularity today. Even though these products are marketed as environmentally friendly because of their recycled origins, putting pop bottles into floor-coverings halts the recycling process. The fact is, virtually all consumer floor-coverings go to the landfill after their useful lives have expired.
Earth Weave feels that to be truly green a company must be sustainable and offer a truly healthy product. By having healthy, sustainable products that are naturally based, the planet is replenished at the end of a product's lifecycle. This is true recycling! The Earth Weave Bio-Floor™ line (four styles) is 100% bio-degradable and if taken to the landfill will decompose just like trees, brush and grass clippings do. The nutrients then go back into the earth to be used in whatever way mother nature sees fit. From Nature To Nature™. Uniquely by Earth Weave.
What is Earth Weave's stance on the three R's (reduce, reuse, recycle)? This company is very serious about the environment and protecting it through the proper implementation of the THREE Rs. They do everything they can to REDUCE waste – whether electrical or physical. Earth Weave's twist on the reuse and recycle part is that they feel these are best accomplished through Mother Nature. Since the beginning of time, nature has been able to perfectly "REUSE" natural materials that are discarded into the environment. Although there is no waste in this system, the nutrients most often do not replenish Earth in exactly the same state. As an example, leaves fall to the ground, bio-degrading to become nutrients for all sorts of living plant life. Of course, the nutrients are therefore RECYCLED into the natural world. It really is a perfect system but it depends on healthy, natural raw materials at both the input and output stage.
Isn't it better to use a recycled carpet? Over four billion pounds of carpet enter the solid waste stream in the U.S. every year, accounting for more than one percent by weight and about two percent by volume of all municipal solid waste (MSW). Furthermore, the bulky nature of carpet creates collection and handling problems for solid waste operations, and the variety of materials present in the carpet makes it difficult to recycle. Earth Weave area rugs and carpets rely on the ultimate manufacturer – Mother Nature – and all her extensive know-how to deconstruct Earth Weave's materials and take them back into the nutrient stream. This mirrors Earth Weave's slogan - From Nature To Nature™
Are Earth Weave products LEED certified? Buildings are LEED-certified, NOT products. Earth Weave products do meet the criteria for the accumulation of LEED points. The difference is their focus on indoor air quality (IAQ), health first and foremost.
Why should I use your product instead of a synthetic carpet that will provide me with the same amount of LEED points at a lower cost? In a word, HEALTH. This is one of the main failures of the LEED program. In a lot of cases, it does not reward, or in fact encourage, the implementation of truly healthy sustainable products. This is an area where a lot of "greenwashing" has taken place. It seems that the large corporations have been able to influence the program to meet the criteria of the products they produce instead of the other way around. It is not like this in all cases but if one looks closely, these shortcomings are quickly evident. Environmental health and planet welfare are about more than the accumulation of "points" and who have the most money to influence policy.
INSTALLATION & CARE
Can Earth Weave carpeting products be used over a radiant heat floor? Definitely! Earth Weave has testing data that shows where carpets are favorably used with radiant floor systems. This is real-world testing in an actual room size test chamber. The data validates what Earth Weave has always known and of course, this is great news to Earth Weave customers that want the comfort/softness of healthy, non-toxic wool carpet instead of a hard surface floor covering.
Can I buy an Earth Weave wool pad to use under my carpet from a different manufacturer? Sure you can use our pad with carpeting from a different manufacturer but you should consider why you would do this. Many companies out there have products that will be termed natural or be said to be in a natural collection. Look closely and you will find a synthetic SBR core and backing in the carpeting. If you are looking for the healthiest carpet/padding combination, it does not make sense to put a natural wool pad under a synthetic backed wool carpet. You should just use a synthetic based padding product.
Does your product require hand sewing or special installation procedures? No, hand sewing is not required with Earth Weave products. If you have an installer that can sew the seams and you prefer that method, there is nothing wrong with it. It is generally more expensive to sew the seams and that is the main reason Earth Weave does not suggest it. It is suggested that you find a competent installer with fine wool carpeting installation experience and access to a low/no VOC seaming tape. Earth Weave notes that your installer will find carpets install very nicely because they do not have the stiff synthetic fillers in them. You can experience this for yourself just by touching and bending Earth Weave carpet to notice how pliable it is.
Are your carpets durable? How long will they last? Many of the synthetic flooring manufacturers would have you believe that wool carpet with jute backing is not as durable as the products they make. This is simply untrue. In fact, Earth Weave's healthy wool carpeting has a "useful" life of 20-25 years before it needs to be replaced. Typical synthetic residential carpets will need to be replaced about every 7 years. The synthetic carpets do not wear out per se, they just "ugly" out. Meaning they are no longer aesthetically pleasing to look at.
They will, however, stay around in a landfill for an extremely long time. Some estimates are that they will be around at least 10,000 years. Durable materials (Earth Weave's healthy wool carpeting) require less frequent replacement, generate less waste, and actually generate lower long-term costs. Having such a long useful life will reduce the cost per year as well as the carpeting's impact on the environment. The main benefit though is that you will not be introducing synthetic styrene-butadiene and have 3 additional exposures.
How do you clean Earth Weave carpet and area rugs? Earth Weave suggests that customers use Host Carpet Cleaning Products. These can be found at www.hostcarpetcleaning.com. As with all quality natural fiber carpets, vacuuming with a suction only vacuum cleaner is recommended. Beater bar vacuum cleaners may damage the surface pile of wool carpets. Proper vacuuming on a regular basis will increase performance. Use only wool approved cleaners for removing stains. Do not vigorously rub the affected area. Lightly blot area instead. If stain persists, contact a professional cleaner and be sure they use cleaners designed for wool and natural fibers.
Does Earth Weave use the same natural materials in the making of their area rugs as they do their wall to wall carpet? Yes, they manufacture area rugs using the same natural yarn that is used on the face of the carpet to serge the edges for a high-end look. This edge finish is durable as well as being more elegant than the simple polypropylene binding procedures some manufacturers implement.
COMPANY
How long have you been in business? Earth Weave was founded in 1997. This was well before the new wave of "green business". They are not a new fly by night company nor one of the growing numbers of carpet manufacturers that are jumping on the "green" wagon. Please look closely at these other manufacturers in regards to what they produce in addition to their "green" lines. You will often find that they are a large conglomerate producing synthetic products. Also, be aware that "green" does not mean healthy.
Do you ship to a residence? For carpeting and large rugs, Earth Weave can ship to a residence but they suggest shipping to a commercial address, such as your dealer/installer. As you may imagine, carpeting is a large and bulky item and therefore best handled by a professional that is familiar with the receiving process.
What is Earth Weave's warranty? Earth Weave has a 5-year manufacturer's defect warranty. Purchaser acknowledges that this is a natural product using natural wool and natural backing systems. As such, it is subject to natural variances in color, shade, and texture. This carpet should be regarded as any other natural fiber flooring product such as jute, sisal, seagrass, and even wood. Color, texture and shade variances do not represent a defect and are inherent in the manufacturing and materials used. No warranty is made or implied as to the visibility of seams, matting, crushing, soiling, staining or any other changes in appearance are not considered manufacturing defects and are excluded from this warranty. No warranty is made as to individual reactions, physical or otherwise, regarding this carpet and its effects.
