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The
carpet industry in the United States began in 1791 when William Sprague
started the first woven carpet mill in Philadelphia. Others opened
during the early 1800s in New England. Included in that area was Beattie
Manufacturing Company in Little Falls, New Jersey, a company that
operated until 1979.
In 1950, only ten percent of all carpet and rug products were tufted,
and ninety percent were woven. However, about 1950, it was as if someone
had opened a magic trunk. Out of that trunk came man-made fibers,
new spinning techniques, new dye equipment, printing processes, tufting
equipment, and backing for different end uses. Today, tufted products
are more than 90 percent of the total, followed by less than 2 percent
that are woven, and 6.7 percent for all other methods, such as knitted,
braided, hooked, or needlepunched. By 1951, the tufting industry was
a $133 million per year business made up primarily of bedspreads,
carpet, and rugs,
with carpet accounting for $19 million.
The industry broke the billion dollar mark in 1963. Through the years,
the Dalton, Georgia area has been the center of the tufted carpet
industry, and today, the area produces more than 70 percent of the
total output of the world-wide industry of over $9 billion. Dalton,
Georgia is known as the "Carpet Capital of the World."
For a complete history on the carpet industry in America visit the
excellent web site provided by the Carpet
and Rug Institute. This site also provides information on carpet
and rug selection, indoor air quality, care and cleaning, and all
you ever wanted to know about carpet.
Click on the links below for carpet currently offered by The Carpet Shop.
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