Guide · For the trade
Hemp carpet and hemp rugs: what the fiber does, hemp vs jute and how to specify one
Hemp carpet is a flatwoven or hand-loomed floor covering made from the bast fiber of the hemp plant: stronger and stiffer than jute, softer and less prickly than sisal, more resistant to mildew than either, with a natural grey-brown to pale straw color and a dry, linen-like hand. It is sold almost entirely as a rug or a cut-and-bound piece rather than wall-to-wall, it suits living rooms, bedrooms and sunrooms and like all plant fibers it belongs away from kitchens, baths and stairs. A hemp rug through Interiors is a custom request; sisal, jute, seagrass and the wool and jute blends are the library's answers in the same family.
This guide is for the designer with a client asking for hemp by name, usually for its sustainability story and the junior deciding whether a jute or a sisal from the library would serve better: what hemp is, hemp vs jute, the constructions, the rooms, the environmental claim and how to get one.
What hemp fiber is
Hemp is a bast fiber, taken from the stem of the plant the way linen is taken from flax and jute from the jute plant. The stalks are retted, broken and combed into long strands and spun into a strong, low-stretch yarn with a slight slub. Hemp has less lignin than jute, so it is less brittle, sheds less and does not brown as quickly in humidity; it has more cellulose than sisal, so it is softer underfoot. Hemp cloth is the same yarn woven fine; a hemp rug is the yarn woven heavy, often with a cotton or jute weft. Raw hemp is grey-brown; it bleaches to oatmeal and takes dye, though most hemp rugs are left natural or in earth tones.
Hemp vs jute, sisal and seagrass
| Fiber | Hand | Strength and wear | Moisture | Color and dye | Best rooms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hemp | Dry, firm, linen-like; softer than sisal | High; stiff yarn, sheds little | Resists mildew better than jute; still a plant fiber | Grey-brown natural, takes dye | Living room, bedroom, sunroom, office |
| Jute | Softest of the plant fibers, chunky | Low to medium; sheds, wears at edges | Browns and weakens when wet | Golden natural, takes dye | Bedroom, living room under a layer |
| Sisal | Hard, prickly, fine weave | Highest; the plant fiber for traffic | Stains with water; not for damp rooms | Pale natural, dyes well | Halls, stairs with a wool blend, living room, office |
| Seagrass | Smooth, waxy, slightly glossy | Medium; sheds little | Most water tolerant of the four | Green-to-straw natural, will not dye | Dining room, sunroom, family room |
Hemp lands between jute and sisal: more durable and mildew resistant than jute, more comfortable than sisal, plainer in weave than either. The jute rugs guide and the natural fiber rugs guide cover its neighbors.
The constructions a hemp rug comes in
Hemp is almost always flatwoven: a plain weave, a basketweave or a herringbone on a hand loom, 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick, with a serged or bound edge. Braided hemp is the chunkier version and the one most often seen in rounds and ovals. Hemp also turns up blended with wool, which softens the hand, or with jute, which lowers the cost and as the weft in a wool flatweave where it gives body without showing. A cut pile in hemp is rare and not worth specifying; the fiber is too stiff for a pleasant pile.
Where to specify hemp and where not
Hemp suits the rooms that suit any plant fiber, with a little more tolerance for humidity: a living room as a large under-layer or on its own, a bedroom, a home office, a sunroom or a covered porch that stays dry and a family room where the client wants a natural fiber that sheds less than jute. Keep it out of the kitchen and the bath, where a wet floor stains it; off the stairs, where a flatweave without wool is slippery and wears at the nosing; and out of a dining room unless the client accepts that a plant fiber cannot be wet-cleaned. On a hard floor specify a thin rubber or felt-and-rubber pad cut 1 inch inside the edge; shipping creases relax in a week under it.
The sustainability claim, stated carefully
Hemp's environmental case is real but should be written accurately. The plant grows in 90 to 120 days with little irrigation and few pesticides and the fiber is biodegradable and needs no synthetic treatment against moths or mildew. Those claims apply to the fiber; the finished rug may have a cotton weft, a latex backing or a synthetic binding, so ask the maker. Most hand-woven hemp rugs carry no FloorScore or CRI Green Label Plus certificate because small weavers do not test, so a rug cannot be called certified low-VOC without one; an undyed, unbacked hemp flatweave on a felt pad is, in practice, as close to zero-VOC as a floor gets. The low-VOC carpet guide covers the certificates.
How to get a hemp rug through Interiors
Our natural fiber library is sisal, jute, seagrass and their wool blends, 120 rug styles and 72 broadlooms from DMI, Adara, Stanton, Prestige Mills and Cella Carpet, cut and bound to any size in 3 to 5 weeks. Hemp is not a line in that library; it comes as a custom flatweave or braid through the Design Studio, with a woven strike-off in 4 to 6 weeks and 18 to 20 weeks of production, in any size or shape, natural or dyed, with a wool blend if the client wants a softer hand. If the schedule does not allow that, a jute-and-wool blend or a fine sisal in a grey-brown colorway gives the hemp look in 3 to 5 weeks and we send both so the client can compare.
Questions designers ask
What is hemp fiber and how does it become a rug?
Hemp is the bast fiber from the stem of the hemp plant, retted and combed into long strands and spun into a strong, slubbed yarn; hemp cloth is that yarn woven fine, a hemp rug is the same yarn woven heavy on a hand loom or braided. The fiber is a cousin of linen and jute and sits between them in softness and strength.
What is the 70 percent rule for rugs?
A sizing rule, not a fiber rule: the rug should cover about 70 percent of the floor of the area it serves, with 30 percent showing at the walls, which works out to the same 18 inches of floor the trade uses. The area rug size guide has the numbers by room.
What is a jute carpet and is hemp better?
Jute carpet is a flatweave or boucle of jute fiber, the softest and least durable of the plant fibers, usually bound into rugs rather than installed wall-to-wall. Hemp is stronger, sheds less and handles humidity better; jute is softer, more golden and available in far more weaves and sizes. For a bedroom either works; for a family room hemp or a sisal-wool blend is the sounder spec.
Is there a zero-VOC carpet?
No carpet is certified at zero, but an undyed wool or plant-fiber flatweave with a natural backing on a felt pad is as close as it gets and wool broadlooms with CRI Green Label Plus meet the low-emission threshold used in LEED and CA 01350. Hemp without a latex backing belongs in that group, without a certificate to prove it.
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