How Tufted Carpet is Manufactured (includes video)

Prior to tufting machines and the tufted carpet manufacturing process most wall to wall carpets were produced on weaving machines. Beautiful designs and intricate patterns were achieved by weaving though the process was slow, making wall to wall carpet out of reach for many people. Today, the tufted carpet manufacturing process is used to produce the majority of all wall to wall carpet at a fraction of the costs of woven products.

Through the use of computers, the beautiful and intricate patterns that were once only seen in woven carpets can now be achieved by the tufted carpet manufacturing process. Computers can be programmed to determine the patterns, styles, construction, and density.

Some tufted carpets are manufactured using  yarn that has already been dyed. Some synthetic yarn is solution dyed and the color is built into the formulation used to produce the yarn. Other yarn is produced and then predyed using methods suck as skein dyeing. Most tufted carpet is manufactured using a greige yarn (undyed yarn). During the carpet manufacturing process, once carpet yarn is stitched into place, the carpet is dyed using a variety of methods that will create solids, patterns or effects.

All tufted carpets including cut pile start out as a loop. For cut pile carpet the loops are cut during the tufting process. The face of the carpet is sheared to its desired effect and a secondary backing is applied to the carpet. This secondary backing will give the carpet its stability and allow it to be stretched during the installation process. The following video will give you a better understanding of tufted carpet manufacturing including both tufting and dyeing.