Guide · For the trade
Wool vs nylon carpet: which to specify, and when
Wool vs nylon carpet is the first fiber decision on almost every residential spec, and the short answer is this: wool for the rooms the client will see and touch, nylon for the rooms the client will wear out. Wool is the natural protein fiber, matte, resilient, naturally soil-hiding and flame-resistant, and it costs more. Nylon is the strongest synthetic, springs back from crushing better than anything else on the market, takes a stain treatment, and costs less at the same weight. Through Interiors the library runs to 1,397 wool broadloom styles and 470 nylon, plus 672 wool blends that sit between the two.
This guide is for the designer writing a whole-house carpet schedule, or answering a client who has heard that wool is "high maintenance" or that nylon "looks like carpet." It covers what each fiber does on the floor, where each belongs, the blends, how to read the two on a spec sheet, and what to sample.
What the two fibers are
Wool is sheared fleece, mostly New Zealand and British, spun into yarn and either woven (Wilton, Axminster), tufted, or hand-loomed. Each fiber has a natural crimp and a scaled surface that scatters light, which is why a wool floor reads matte and rich rather than shiny, and why it hides soil until it is vacuumed. Nylon is a polyamide extruded as a continuous filament or spun from staple, made as type 6 or type 6,6; the 6,6 polymer is the slightly stiffer, more resilient one behind most premium residential lines. Nylon can be dyed after it is made or solution dyed, with the color locked into the polymer, which is the version to specify where bleach, sun or pets are a concern.
Wool vs nylon carpet, in numbers
| Property | Wool | Nylon |
|---|---|---|
| Resilience (recovery from crush) | Very good; the natural crimp springs back | Excellent; the best of any fiber |
| Appearance | Matte, deep color, reads as upholstery on the floor | Slight sheen on cut pile; matte in heathered and loop styles |
| Soil hiding | Excellent; the scaled fiber masks dry soil | Good; solution-dyed heathers best |
| Stains | Resists water-based spills at first (natural lanolin); oily stains need prompt attention; never bleach | Resists with a topical or built-in treatment; solution dyed takes a diluted bleach solution |
| Flammability | Naturally flame-resistant, self-extinguishing; most woven wool passes Class I | Melts rather than burns; Class I on most contract lines |
| Static | Low in normal humidity | Needs an anti-static yarn; most lines include one |
| Moisture | Absorbs up to a third of its weight; keep out of damp basements and bathrooms | Absorbs almost none; fine below grade with the right pad |
| Shedding | Cut piles shed loose fiber for 3 to 6 months; loops and Wiltons barely at all | None |
| Face weight for a quality cut pile | 40 to 60 oz per sq yd | 35 to 50 oz per sq yd |
| Expected life in a living room | 20 to 30 years in a Wilton or dense cut pile | 12 to 20 years |
| Cost, relative | Higher; roughly 1.5 to 3 times a comparable nylon | Lower |
| In the Interiors library | 1,397 broadloom styles, 931 of them Wilton | 470 broadloom styles; Masland, Fabrica and Milliken lead |
Where wool belongs
Living rooms, dining rooms, primary bedrooms, libraries, dressing rooms and any stair that is meant to be looked at. Wool is the fiber of the woven constructions, so almost every patterned Wilton and Axminster stair runner in the library is wool or a wool-nylon blend. It takes color the way fabric does, which is why a solid wool in a deep green or a tobacco reads as a design decision rather than a floor covering. Clients who ask for "quiet" or "warm" are asking for wool. Specify a loop or a Wilton where shedding would be noticed, and a cut pile where the client wants softness and understands the first months of vacuuming.
Where nylon belongs
Family rooms, kids' rooms, playrooms, halls that take the dog, home offices on casters, basements, rentals, multifamily corridors and every commercial floor. Nylon is the right answer when the brief says durable, cleanable or budget. Within the library, Masland's EnVision and EnVisionSD lines, Fabrica's nylon velvets and Milliken's printed residential nylons are the ones we specify most; the solution-dyed Masland lines carry a lifetime stain warranty and Class I, Green Label Plus certification on the spec sheet. A dense nylon loop in a heathered color is the honest choice for a basement media room that will be lived in hard.
The blend in between
An 80/20 wool-nylon blend is the construction most stair runners and patterned Wiltons are woven in: 80 percent wool for the look and the hand, 20 percent nylon for the tensile strength on the nosing. It wears better than pure wool on a stair and still reads as wool. The library holds 672 wool blends from Prestige Mills, Couristan, Bloomsburg, Stanton and Kane, and for a stair or a hall it is usually the specification we recommend first. Blends above 30 percent nylon start to show the synthetic sheen; below 15 percent the strength gain is small.
What the client will notice in year five
Wool: the traffic lane is the same color as the rest of the room, the pile has settled rather than matted, and a professional wash has brought it back. Nylon: the pile has recovered from every chair, the stain treatment has handled the spills, and the traffic lane may have dulled slightly in a cut pile, less so in a loop or a solution-dyed heather. Neither fiber fails in year five; the difference is that wool ages like a good textile and nylon stays new like a good synthetic.
How to read the two on a spec sheet
Fiber first: "100 percent wool," "100 percent New Zealand wool," "80/20 wool nylon," or "100 percent BCF nylon," "nylon 6,6," "solution dyed nylon." Then construction and weight: a wool Wilton at 50 ounces and a nylon cut pile at 40 are comparable grades. Then the ratings: Class I under ASTM E648 for any stair, corridor or commercial room; Green Label Plus for a low-VOC spec; a texture retention warranty of 15 years or more on nylon tells you it is a premium polymer. Our product pages show pile height, face weight, flammability class, certifications, country of origin and the mill's spec sheet where the mill publishes one, and the specifying guide covers the full spec line.
Questions designers ask
Is wool carpet worth the cost over nylon?
In the rooms the client lives in and looks at, yes: it lasts longer, looks better as it ages and holds color in a way synthetic fiber does not. In a kids' playroom or a rental, no; nylon does that job for a third of the money and cleans more easily.
Does wool carpet shed forever?
No. A cut pile wool sheds loose fiber from the shearing process for 3 to 6 months of regular vacuuming and then stops. Loop piles, Wiltons and Axminsters shed very little from the start. The shedding guide covers what to tell the client.
Which is better for a client with dogs?
Solution-dyed nylon in a loop or a dense cut pile, with a moisture-barrier pad. Wool will handle a well-behaved dog in a living room, but accidents and oily paws are easier on nylon. The pet guide has the full spec.
Can wool go on stairs?
Yes, and most of the stair runners we sell are wool or an 80/20 wool-nylon blend, woven as Wiltons so the pile is short and locked in. For a very steep or very busy stair, specify the blend. The wool stair runner guide covers construction and pad.
Is nylon carpet low-VOC?
Most residential nylon lines we carry are Green Label Plus certified, and the certification appears on the product page and the spec sheet. Wool is naturally low in emissions; the backing and adhesive matter more than the fiber. See the low-VOC guide.
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