Best Carpet Brands: Are Brand Names Worth Paying For?

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What are the best carpet brands?

It’s a question I’ve avoided for a while, and I’ll go into more on why early in this article.

But at the same time, it’s a question by not answering, I think I leave carpet shoppers with a point of frustration. Shoppers want to know about carpet brand names.

So to compromise, I decided to write this article covering popular brands, but I start it with what are brands, and why I think I could be doing you a disservice by recommending a specific brand.

Let’s start by answering, “What really is a brand, anyway?”

What is a brand (this isn’t just fluff… it matters for buying carpet)

According to Merriam Webster, “a class of goods identified by
name as the product of a single firm or manufacturer.”

In the real world, it’s basically a “stamp of approval” or “face” behind what you’re buying. Rather than buying a generic car and knowing nothing about it, you buy a Lexus and trust two things:

  1. It’s made with high-quality parts
  2. Lexus will stand behind their work if you have problems

Some brands are better at #1 and #2 than others, and that’s where a brand reputation comes in.

But here’s another important thing about brands:

Often times one giant brand own multiple other brands, or one
manufacture buys the right to put a brand name on their products.

In other words, you could be buying the exact same product as
a generic, made by the same purpose, but paying a higher price because they put
their brand name on it.

Here a couple of examples:

  • Proctor and Gamble owns both Tide and Gain
  • Marchon (a glasses brand) pays Nike, Calvin Klein, and Lacoste to put their brand names on Marchon’s glasses (so Nike, CK, Lacoste aren’t actually making the glasses)

So moral of this discussion on brands:

In almost all products, brands don’t mean as much as most people think they do, which brings me to my next point:

Why I usually don’t recommend specific brands

The problem with recommending brands is it can make you miss out on some of the best deals.

Let me give an example:

‘Elite Carpet Brand’ makes 90% excellent carpets and 10% bad. And ‘Generic Carpet Brand’ makes 50% excellent and 50% bad. You might say I should definitely buy Elite Carpet Brand.

But here’s why this is wrong:

‘Elite Carpet Brand’ has much higher carpet creating costs because they advertise their brand to you and carpet sellers. This means they have to charge more to make a profit. And to add to it, they also charge a premium because they know many shoppers have heard of their brand (because of marketing), haven’t learned about carpet, and will only be comfortable going with the brand name.

So ‘Generic Carpet Brand’ is cheaper, but I have a 50% chance of getting poor quality carpet. Right?!

Not really. Because unlike cars or Tshirts, you can learn exactly what makes a carpet good quality. And all this information is readily available. This page on carpet durability will nearly everything you need to know.

Now you don’t need a brand to tell you.

Here’s a less-wordy summary of what I wrote above:

  • no brand is a 100% guarantee you’re getting good carpet
  • brands are consolidating: 10s of brands are made by the same factories and just put their different “stamps” of approval on the carpet
  • similar to above, brands will “private label”, or make the same carpet with different brand names to different manufacturers
  • you may pay hundreds or thousands more for the same carpet in a well-known brand vs lesser known brand
  • unlike many other products (cars, tshirts, etc), I can show you how to figure out how good

The benefits of brand names

Okay, so I just spent the introduction of this article brand
bashing. But they do have some benefits. And in fact, when it comes time for me
to get new carpet, there’s a decent chance I’d go with a brand.

There are a few reasons. The main reason is stain-resistant technology. When you buy a carpet, its durability is mostly made up of the material you choose and the specifications of the carpet. I say “mostly” because there is one other factor: stain-resistant treatments.

This is especially true with nylon. Nylon isn’t naturally stain resistant, so the “brand” of treatment you choose can make a difference in how well the nylon resists stains (but won’t otherwise affect on the nylon performs).

There are a few other ways brands can make a difference. We talked about customer service because of the brand’s reputation earlier. Another thing brands can do is make softer carpets or unique colors of carpets. This is part of the manufacturing process but won’t affect durability (in fact, sometimes softer carpet can be less durable).

One last way brands can make a difference is creating their own materials of carpet. This is very rare and the only example I can think of is Smartstrand carpet, which is covered below.

Here’s a summary of a few benefits carpet brands can provide:

  • After the sale customer service may be better because brands have a reputation to uphold. Generics don’t care.
  • Innovative anti-stain technologies that are especially important for nylon carpet fibers
  • Other technology benefits such as water-resistant backing or softer carpet
  • Just because brand-names are often more expensive doesn’t mean they always are
  • In rare cases, completely different materials the brand has created or licensed exclusively

Best carpet brands: Brand breakdown

Okay, so now that we’re through with the fluff (although, I do
think it’s important “fluff” if you
skipped it I’d consider reading it).

Let’s get to what brought you here:

Below I’ll cover some important information about certain
brands.

Captain’s overwhelmed with the number of brands! To cut back on the stress, this is a work in progress. If I’m asked about a brand frequently, I’ll research it and discuss it here. There’s 100’s of brands, so covering all of them would make this the size of a book. If there’s a brand, you want me to cover, let me know in the comments below!

Invista Stainmaster and petprotect

You may have not heard of Invista, but you’re almost guaranteed to hear of one of their main sub-brands Stainmaster. It’s one of those where you’ve heard the name so much, you think it’s good, but is it?

Short answer, yes. The longer answer is even with the sub-brand of Stainmaster, there are many different sub-sub-brands that have different qualities.

One of the biggest flaws of untreated nylon carpet is it has open “dye sites” naturally in the fiber. In other words, it is prone to being stained. So treatments have two options: repel stains with a “coated” treatment or use a treatment that fills the dye sites.

Stainmaster treatments fill the dye sites, so there’s no where for stains to penetrate.

Many Stainmaster lines of carpets fill these dye sites during the coloring of the carpet. The newer ones intercept the dye sites at a manufacturing level–basically, they can control how many dye sites are present. (source). This is found in one of Stainmaster’s newer brands SuperiorSD, which you’ll find in the PetProtect line (I know, what too many brands, sub-brands, sub-sub-brands, and lines of carpet!). This is considered top-of-the-line as far as stain resistance goes.

Captain’s not a chemist! Carpet manufacturing techniques and brands are confusing. I try my best to give you a breakdown of what technology brands have, but it may not be 100% accurate to the manufacturing technique or chemistry. It should still give you what you need to know as a carpet shopper.

Shaw Rx2 Anso

Shaw is one of the biggest names in flooring, and Anso is a brand they purchased. Rx2 is a technology you’ll find in their carpets.

While the chemistry and application is different, you can read about Invista Stainmaster and learn a lot about Shaw Anso: both use technology to fill the dye sites of the nylon carpet.

Then, the question is which is better? I’ve seen flooring professionals debate this one both sides until they’re blue. I have an opinion on which I think might be better, but I’m going to keep it to myself for two reasons:

  1. It’s more of a guess from what I’ve heard, and I’m not super confident in which I think is better
  2. It’s such a close call that I think you can go with either and get the stain protection you need. Focusing on other aspects of carpeting than which of these two brands you’ll pick is more important.

Shaw Anso will have many sub-brands just like Stainmaster has. I may cover some of these in the future.

Mohawk Smartstrand

Mohawk, like Shaw, is one of the biggest names in flooring. Unlike Stainmaster and RX2/Anso, Smartstrand didn’t invent a new and improved stain protection. Instead, they started using a completely different material of fiber to compete with the big names in nylon.

This fiber is PTT polyester also known as triexta. It is used in Mohawk’s Smartstrand carpets. Keep in mind, this fiber is completely different than standard polyester, which is a different material called PET polyester.

So what’s my take on Smartstarnd? Its stain resistance is excellent and likely the best. The durability (resistance to wear)is good but may not be quite as good as nylon, in my opinion. You can read more on my page dedicated to Smartstrand.

Shaw bellera line

This is an interesting carpet that I believe was introduced last year (2018). It’s interesting because it goes against what I’ve said I thought previously:

Manufacturers can’t really change the durability of a material of carpet.

In this case, Shaw is using PET polyester, which I consider to be a not very durable fiber, and claims to be manufacturing it in a unique way. A way that is making the fiber much more durable.

They back this with a nice warranty, so maybe there’s some truth behind their claims. Until I learn more or give the carpet more time to see how it performs, I don’t expect it to perform much better than typical PET polyester.

Captain’s notice on warranties!I don’t put much stock into warranties. Often companies give great warranties, knowing 90% of people won’t claim a warranty even if they have a problem, especially if the company makes it a little difficult to claim.

Dreamweaver carpets

Dreamweaver is an interesting manufacturer because it was created by Bob Shaw. Name sound familiar? Yes, it’s the person who originally created Shaw carpets but later left the company.

Some say Bob Shaw left to create a better brand of carpets (more bang for your buck). I don’t know Mr. Shaw, but I assume it was more for business intentions than to be the hero of flooring shoppers everywhere.

With that in mind, I think Dreamweaver makes some great high-quality products but also has products on the lower-end of cheap nylons. In other words, they’re a brand that offers all ends of the spectrum. I think it’s definitely a brand worth comparing to others as you buy but just make sure to go through the carpet guide to know what you’re getting is a good product.

Captain’s parting words!

Carpet brand names are confusing, but hopefully, this helped give some insight to the major brands. The key takeaway is I think almost all brands make good carpets you could consider. I wouldn’t pigeon-hole yourself to one brand; flexibility in brands will likely land you a much better deal.

This is an ongoing guide. Basically, as I get questions, I may add to the page to cover other brands, sub-brands, and sub-sub-brands.

Want more brand reviews? Check out our complete guides to Karastan carpet and Stanton carpet here.

Feel free to let me know in the comments if you have any questions or other brands/topics you’d want me to cover.

Average Cost To Install Carpet Flooring Price Range: $845 - $1,650
See costs in your area

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18 thoughts on “Best Carpet Brands: Are Brand Names Worth Paying For?”

  1. Hello Captain! I’m starting the search for carpet for my home office (used just as that not a substitute work office) and have been looking at the ‘loop” style carpet – Is that what is also called berber? The house is build on a concrete slab so I’m also thinking of going with 8 pound padding. Should I pick a different type of carpet for the office? I have 2 dogs but the office isnt used that much and generally the dogs don’t even go in there if I am so I don’t think pet issues will really factor in.

    Also, what do you think of Masland as a brand? they have some nice looking carpet, but I can’t find the face weight listed even on their website. Is that a red flag to you? I looked at some in a store, and it wasn’t listed there either, so I’m tempted to pass them up if they won’t even give you that information.

    thank you so much for this website. It’s a lot of information, but at least I’m not just taking a crapshoot buying carpet like I would have been otherwise!!

    Many thanks!
    Kim Klein

  2. Hello Captain! I’m starting the process of looking for carpet- starting with the office as it needs it the most. I found some nice looking stuff, but even the website doesn’t list important info like the face weight. It’s Masland carpet – this is a link the the exact stuff
    https://www.maslandcarpets.com/forms/productdetail.aspx?sId=9644&cId=238

    it’s 6,6 nylon, but beyond that there’s not a lot of info. Can you maybe tell me what you think of this, either the brand in general or this particular one?

    many thanks for making this website – I would be shooting in the dark if I hadn’t come across it!

  3. Carpet Captain, I couldn’t get through this process without you!! Thanks so much for all of the great info!! That being said, we have had a Mohawk Stainmaster product in our home for about 25 years and it has been excellent. However, it is time to replace. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to find a carpet with the density we like, unless we go to SmartStrand silk, which is too expensive and, from what I hear, shows a lot of foot traffic and requires a vacuum without a beater bar! We have found a Dixie product we like–Innovations–but really can’t find any reviews. Thoughts? Comments??

    1. Carolyn, as I am currently in the carpet search, could you tell me what you decided on, and if you are happy with choice. Thanks!

  4. I am going in circles looking for carpeting for 14 stairs, small hallway and 4 bedrooms. I have looked at and passed on just about everything for fear of getting a carpet that will be mashed down rather quickly. It’s just 2 adults and one dog. With that said have you heard anything NRF Select? I have samples from my local store, but cannot find any information on the internet in terms of actual specs.

    I am looking at NRF Select Nightlife or Mohawk Smartstrand Silk – Exquisite Accent. Any thoughts or info on these?

  5. What do you think of Stanton? I am looking at their atelier line, which is nylon. In doing a quick google search, I saw some negative reviews about wearing out but I brought some samples home from the carpet store and I really like the patterns. They seem durable..I like low pile, tight weave and clean lines…the samples say they’ve been treated with Scotchguard. I appreciate the way you break things down so clearly on this site! Thanks!

    1. did you go with the Stanton I am currently looking and I like this carpet; but the reviews scare me. However, the reviews are older than a year an I do not know if they rectified issues since the 2016 reviews. Not sure if people bought the wool that was poor or this nylon!

  6. What are your opinions on Shawmark carpets and their crushproof carpet claims? Also, thoughts on their stain resistance? Thank you for all your great information.

  7. You described some of what the other manufacturers do for stain resistance, but not for Dreamweaver. What is Dreamweaver’s approach to stain resistance, particularly for nylons?

    1. I believe Dreamweaver uses a solution-dyed nylon, so it’s “clogs the pores” that stains would enter. In other words, it should do pretty well for stain resistance.




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