{"id":6203,"date":"2019-10-25T14:34:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T19:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uht.ebb.myftpupload.com\/?p=6203"},"modified":"2023-02-07T13:29:02","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T18:29:02","slug":"the-history-of-carpet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carpetexpress.com\/blog\/the-history-of-carpet\/","title":{"rendered":"The History of Carpet"},"content":{"rendered":"

DID YOU KNOW 90% OF ALL WALL-TO-WALL CARPET CREATED WORLD-WIDE IS MADE WITHIN A 25 MILE RADIUS OF DALTON, GA??<\/strong><\/p>

Dalton, Georgia is known as the \u201cCarpet Capital of the World\u201d due to its long history of carpet manufacturing. The city is located in northwest Georgia and has been a major center of the carpet industry since the early 20th century. The industry was born in the late 1800s when settlers in the area, looking for an alternative to the struggling agriculture industry, turned to the manufacture of hand-woven rugs.<\/p>

Like many other industries, the carpet industry started out as something completely different. Modern carpet manufacturing actually began with hand tufted bedspreads. In the late 1890\u2019s, Catherine Evans began hand tufting patterns onto bedspreads as gifts for family and friends. Evans spun her own yarn, which she used in the bedspread to make the patterns. She would clip the stitches to create a chenille appearance. Afterwards, she boiled the bedspread multiple times so the fabric would shrink and hold the yarn in place. Soon people in the community became interested in the bedspreads, and she now had a market for her product. The demand grew large enough that she taught friends and neighbors the technique used to make the tufted patterns.<\/p>

Carpet Express would like to thank the Bandy Heritage Center<\/a> at Dalton State College for giving us access to their extensive industry archive. All photography on this page is used by their courtesy. <\/em><\/p>

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Catherine Evans holding one of her tufted bedspreads.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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These tufted bedspreads were intricate and beautiful works of folk art.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This Peacock motif was so popular that it became an unofficial symbol of Dalton, Ga.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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In the early 1900\u2019s, Evans began selling the bedspreads to Northern department stores to have her product be in broader markets. Throughout the next few years, the tufting business continued growing and the manufacturing process kept evolving as well. <\/p>

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Early tufting machine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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In addition, competition also became a large aspect of the industry, which helped the tufting business continue to thrive. By 1950 many companies were producing room size rugs and broadloom carpeting, and soon carpet and rug production was the main focus of Northwest Georgia\u2019s tufted textile industry. <\/p>

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The tufted carpet industry is one of the great manufacturing success stories in American history thanks to the hard work of many local entrepreneurs, who combined their design skills and business philosophies to create quality tufted carpet. <\/p>

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This is a great example of the free enterprise system at work, of how over 150 competitor mills can co-exist, and how management and employers can get along without unions. During the 1960\u2019s, there were more millionaires per capita in Dalton, Georgia than anywhere else in the United States. The industry has now consolidated and most of the founders are gone, but their stories of hard work and great success remain.<\/p>

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President Jimmy Carter visits the Carpet & Rug Institute in Dalton, GA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

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