News

Jaipur Rugs Receives Workplace Human Rights Certification
Monday, March 30, 2009 By: Furniture World Magazine
Jaipur Rugs Inc. announced that its manufacturing facility in Jaipur, India has been certified to the Social Accountability International SA 8000 Workplace and Human Rights Standards. Jaipur is the first company in India with “Design, Development, Manufacturing and Export of Handmade Carpets and Floor Coverings” scope and the 11th carpet company to receive SA 8000 certification in India. The certification covers Jaipur’s factory, which associates more than 40,000 people across the country. The facility also conducts various on-site awareness programs, on-site training programs and works with the Indian government on social initiatives.
Asha Chaudhary, CEO of Jaipur Rugs Inc. stated, "This certification is the latest example of Jaipur’s commitment to ensure the company's operations protect both its workforce and the environment. We value the dedication and commitment of our employees and want to make certain that they work in an environment that is safe and values their wellbeing."

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Number of carpet recycling companies keeps growing
Carpet Recycling UK was formed in March 2008 and is sponsored by a forward thinking group of manufacturers and other participants in the value chain from raw material suppliers to retailers and recyclers. Its mission is to divert carpets from landfill to obtain the best value from the valuable raw materials in them.

This alliance is growing steadily with the 15 founder members being joined recently by Cormar, Mohawk, and Wools of New Zealand. Recycling capacity for carpets is also growing as original founder members Greenback and Spruce Carpets will be joined by seven new recycling entrepreneurs early this year.
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Carpet manufacturers honored in Atlanta
Annual awards event sponsored by Architectural Digest
Home Accents Today, 1/20/2009 9:28:00 AM
Several carpet manufacturers were honored by the area rug industry January 10th at the 2009 America’s Magnificent Carpets Awards event sponsored by Architectural Digest and held at the Marriott Marquis Atrium Ballroom in Atlanta.

The Awards, the signature event of the Atlanta International Area Rug Market featuring The National Oriental Rug Show, brought more than 1,000 area rug industry buyers and manufacturers together to celebrate the triumph of design achievement, with more than 80 rugs competing for the industry’s highest honors.
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Turkish carpet industry invests in French machinery
January 17, 2009 (France)
The production of traditional and modern style carpets in the fast growing Turkish city of Gaziantep is about 300 millions square meters in 2008. The process includes state of the art spinning and weaving machines, much of them from France.
Gaziantep, the Turkish cluster for carpet manufacturing - Turkey has a long tradition of carpet craftsmanship. In the South-East of the country, a little more than one hour fly from Istanbul, close to the Syrian border, a 1 million people city, Gaziantep, has grown to become the capital of the machine made carpet industry. Modern housing and manufacturing plants are built at such a speed that the city looks really different every few months.
The textile industry and particularly the carpet manufacturing are responsible for a good part of this exceptional growth explains I.Yalçin Konukoglu, the President of the Gaziantep carpet makers Association.

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2009 America’s Magnificent Carpets Awards
Thursday, January 15, 2009 By: Furniture World Magazine
The world's newest, most spectacular carpets were honored at the Area Rug industry's most celebrated event Saturday, January 10, in the 2009 America’s Magnificent Carpets® Awards sponsored exclusively by Architectural Digest.
The Awards—the signature event of the Atlanta International Area Rug Market® featuring The National Oriental Rug Show—brought more than 1,000 area rug industry buyers and manufactures together to celebrate the triumph of design achievement, with more than 80 rugs competing for the industry’s highest honors.
The 2009 Awards—staged at the Marriott Marquis Atrium Ballroom—recognized America's newest area rug introductions in one night of elegance, excellence and excitement, complete with a high-energy musical performance featuring the String Angels—internationally acclaimed instrumentalists—all preceded by a lavish cocktail reception.

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Jaipur Rugs Selects New Head of National Accounts
Sunday, January 04, 2009 - By: Furniture World Magazine Jaipur Rugs announced the arrival of Mr. Bob Lakenan as its new Director of National Accounts. Mr. Lakenan brings to Jaipur a successful track record in growing national accounts portfolios with distinguished companies such as KAS, Oriental Weavers, and 828 Trading Company. “I am extremely pleased that Bob has chosen to join our team,” Jaipur CEO Asha Chaudhary said regarding Lakenan’s appointment. “He brings a great blend of ability, wisdom, and talent to Jaipur, and we look forward to great things in our collaboration.” An expert in marketing and business sourcing, Mr. Lakenan brings 25 years of personal consulting expertise to Jaipur as the company continues to fulfill its growth vision for 2009 and beyond. Mr. Lakenan assumed his duties at Jaipur on January 1st, 2009.
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SHOWPLACE High Point Announces Rug Exhibitors
Sunday, January 04, 2009 - By: Furniture World Magazine Capstone SHOWPLACE Management, LLC released a list of rug exhibitors that will be showing at SHOWPLACE during the next High Point show.
“I like the aesthetics of the building, it just flows. SHOWPLACE is easy to get in to and out of, and has this wonderful, open feel. At the same time, it’s cozy. SHOWPLACE is also a good location for rugs as it is open and lets in a lot of natural light.” says Asha Chaudhary, Chief Operating Office of Jaipur Rugs, Inc.
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Carpet maker Interface to cut jobs, close plant in Canada
Atlanta Business Chronicle, Modular carpet manufacturer Interface Inc. said Tuesday it will restructure its global operations, cut 14 percent of its workforce and close a plant in response to slacking demand.
Atlanta-based Interface (NASDAQ: IFSIA), the maker of InterfaceFLOR, FLOR, Heuga and Bentley Prince Street carpet brands, said it would eliminate a total of 530 manufacturing, sales and administration positions and close its plant in Belleville, Canada. The number of layoffs that might occur, if any, in the Atlanta area was not disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
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Persian carpets; dazzling beauty, excellent quality
Compiled by Nahid Khorramshahi December 31, 2008 - The Persian carpet is an essential part of Persian art and culture. Carpet-weaving is undoubtedly one of the most distinguished manifestations of Persian culture and art, and dates back to ancient Persia.
The art of carpet weaving existed in Iran in ancient times, according to evidence and in the opinion of scientists. An example of such evidence is the 2500-year-old Pazyryk carpet dating back to 500 B.C., during the Achaemenid period (550–330 BCE).
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DOMOTEX HANNOVER 2009 to come with Carpet Design Awards
December 29, 2008 - Exhibitor registrations are now coming in for DOMOTEX HANNOVER 2009, which takes place from 17 to 20 January at the Hannover Exhibition Grounds. Organizer Deutsche Messe AG in Hannover reports many serious inquiries from companies in all segments of the floor coverings industry.
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Govt committed to promotion of carpet industry: Owais
Sunday, December 14, 2008
By by Our correspondent
PESHAWAR: NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani Saturday said that the government was committed to promoting carpet manufacturing and trade in the province.
The governor presided over a meeting with the carpet traders and manufacturers to discuss a proposed project on the outskirts of Peshawar. The meeting, primarily focused on purchase of land for the project, identified some where near Tarujabba, east of the provincial capital and decided to constitute a seven-member contact group, comprising three representatives from the traders and manufacturers and three from that of the respective government’s departments besides a representative of UNHCR.
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Carpet industry on the outskirts of city weaving the lives of many
Text & Photos by Jamil Khan KARACHI: Twelve-year-old Khudadad, one of the youngest carpet weavers, who also suffers from paralysis in one leg, has now become a master at his trade. In addition, he is now enjoying all the things that he was deprived of before he joined the factory a few months ago.
The factory, owned by one of his clan members, is located in Afghan Basti, Camp Jadeed on Northern Bypass. The area is full of Afghanistan-based Uzbek and Turkmen known for their expertise in carpet weaving.
Ibrahim Mughal, Khudad’s teacher, told Daily Times that Khudadad lost his father, who belonged to Kunduz, Afghanistan, and was living with his three brothers, a sister and mother in the locality. He decided to help support his family and learned the skill of carpet weaving..
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Iran plans to export $420m hand-woven carpets by mid-March
TEHRAN – The managing director of the Iran Carpet Company here on Wednesday stated that the country’s exports of hand-woven carpet in the current Iranian calendar year (started March 20, 2008) is anticipated to reach $420 million, showing a 10 percent growth over the figure of the last calendar year.
According to the Mehr News Agency, Seyed Jalaleddin Bassam said that in the last Iranian calendar year, 5.2 million square meters of hand woven carpets were produced. It is predicted that the figure would touch 5.5 million square meters in the current calendar year.
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Orian Rugs wins labor, production honors
Anderson, S.C. – Domestic woven area and accent rug manufacturer Orian Rugs was recently presented with two awards related to its manufacturing practices at its headquarters here.

The South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation honored Orian with its Annual Safety Award after the company logged nearly two million man-hours of continuous safety here. This span amounts to more than 1,000 days, or nearly three years, without a lost-time injury or accident at its plant.
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Carpet industry leaders hope for upswing
Jamie Jones: Dalton Daily Citizen: November 20, 2008 05:03 pm - With floor covering companies hemorrhaging jobs and battling soaring energy costs, the future of the industry may seem bleak.
But several industry leaders said Thursday during the Dalton-based Carpet and Rug Institute’s annual meeting they are confident the “difficult economic times” will improve and companies must be prepared for the turnaround — whenever it happens.
“In the past when this industry’s turned around, it’s turned around with a fever,” said Ralph Boe, president and CEO of Dalton-based Beaulieu of America. “Everybody decides one day to go out and buy flooring. No. 1, we need to make sure when they go out the flooring they decide to buy is carpet.

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Ulster Carpets to cut 35 jobs
By Robin Morton: Tuesday, 18 November 2008 - Ulster Carpets in Portadown last night announced “with great regret” that it was being forced to shed 35 jobs.
The textile company said it had no alternative but to cut back as a result of the economic downturn. But it said it hoped to avoid any compulsory redundancies in the downsizing of its 400-strong workforce.
Managing director Nick Coburn said the company was communicating with all employees and had started the statutory consultation with the trade union.

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Ulster Carpets set to build new plant
By Victor Gordon: Monday, 17 November 2008 - The blue chip firm of Ulster Carpets is planning to make a major investment in a new purpose-built plant, it was disclosed today.
The textile company has plans to relocate from its existing premises at Garvaghy Road in Portadown to a 20-acre green field site on the outskirts of the town.
But so far the company, which employs just over 700 people, has not identified a firm date for work to start.
A spokesman for the firm confirmed that the move was proposed “in the long term, depending on the economic situation and technological developments”.
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