Shedding is the loss of loose fiber from a cut pile carpet or a carpet made with a spun yarn. When we say spun yarn think of wool as spun yarn is made up of short lengths of fiber. Most residential carpet made today using spun yarn employs nylon. Since the fiber used in spun yarn is short lengths it is normal for these small pieces of fiber to shed from the yarn. This is not a defect. Spun yarn will shed fiber forever. Most of the shedding will occur in the early life of the carpet and will diminish over a period of time. This could last as long as a year or more. But, remember, spun yarn will shed to some degree, forever. There are other factors which will influence the amount of shedding such as the thickness of the yarn and the tightness of the twist. The heavier the yarn, such as a cable yarn used in some popular shag style carpet, will shed more and longer because there is more ends of fiber in this yarn. If the yarn has less twist it will also shed more fiber. The tighter the twist the more securely the fibers of the yarn are held in place and the less shedding there should be.
The amount of traffic on the carpet will also influence shedding. The volume of shedding will likely be heavier at first in the traffic areas and diminish faster as the loose fiber is worked out of the carpet from traffic. The areas not subjected to traffic will never experience this normal loss or attrition of loose fiber because the only time they may see any agitation to loosen fiber is when the carpet is vacuumed. Therefore these areas will continue to shed and fill the vacuum cleaner bag. People normally don’t just vacuum the traffic areas but the entire carpet and where you don’t walk you’ll always get a higher volume of shedding when vacuuming.
There may also be balls of fiber on the surface of the carpet when it is new as a result of loose fiber shedding. This should diminish greatly over time. Another very important fact to understand is the more aggressive the vacuum cleaner the more loose fiber it will harvest from the carpet. This will be made worse if the vacuum cleaner does not have an adjustable brush. It will dig into the carpet and act like a lawn Thatcher pulling out whatever loose fiber it can. If the vacuum has a clear canister the loose fiber will be displayed often causing great concern that the carpet is falling apart. Again, remember that the fatter the yarn and the looser the twist the more fiber will come out. There are some vacuum cleaners being sold and used today, marketed as high performance machines that don’t loose their suction that can create havoc with cut pile carpet. Vacuum cleaners with the CRI (Carpet and Rug Institute) Seal of Approval are all that should be used to vacuum carpet.
Just because the vacuum cleaner bag fills up with fiber does not mean the carpet is defective or is falling apart. This, as we stated, is normal with carpets made of spun yarn. Do not tell the consumer that the shedding will or should stop in a couple of weeks or months because it won’t. If the carpet is made with staple fiber the shedding will never stop, it will diminish greatly over time but the length of time will vary depending on any number of conditions. Not all carpets are the same, they are not all used the same and they are not all vacuumed the same way using the same machine.
On the other hand fibers that extend from the carpet entangle on the surface, mat and cause pilling and don’t shed indicate another issue that is likely a manufacturing defect.
Post this article where it can be seen by your staff and your customers to explain shedding. Don’t tell people carpet made with staple fiber will stop shedding in any given time frame because it won’t. The carpet won’t go bald from shedding.
Author: Lewis G. Migliore
LGM and Associates – The Floorcovering Experts