Carpet Shading, An Issue to Be Aware Of

All cut pile carpets will exhibit light and dark patches over time, as the carpet fibres bend and reflect the light differently.   Many people buy them for this very feature as they exhibit the same characteristics as other fabrics with a pile such as suede and velvet.

However, in some rare and random cases, this shading occurs to an excessive degree.  It's variously referred to as watermarking, puddling or permanent pile reversal.  In very bad cases, it can look like flooding has occurred.

Despite numerous attempts to find a cause, there is no way of predicting if it will happen, and if it has happened, why it did.  Cut pile carpet is not manufactured with shading or pile reversal - the same batch of carpet can be laid in one house with no issues, and yet in another house a problem can occur.

All sample labels on cut pile carpets clearly warn this can happen, but retailers do have a responsibiilty to point this out to those looking to buy a cut pile carpet.  The issue was recently highlighted on a episode of Fair Go.   Cavalier Bremworth's marketing manager, Desiree Keown, opted to front up to try and explain the issue and to again reiterate that permanent pile reversal is not a manufacturing fault, and therefore is not covered under any warranties offered by carpet manufacturers.

Source: Cavalier Bremworth