Looking for natural flooring options that combine the attractive textured look and durability of sisal with the soft feel and flame-resistance of wool? Consider carpeting or rugs made from a blend of wool and sisal fibers. Wool sisal rugs alternate strands of soft wool yarn and resilient, textured sisal to create rugs that are beautiful to look at and stand up under rugged use.
What Is Wool Sisal?
Wool sisal is not a fiber, but a blended textile that uses sisal and wool fibers. Wool is a textile fiber that has been used by mankind for thousands of years, and is derived from the fleece of sheep, goats, alpaca, rabbits and certain other animals. Sisal is a stiff fiber derived from the sword-like leaves of an agave plant that originally grew in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, but is now cultivated in many other parts of the world.
Wool sisal blends are most often used to create wool sisal carpets and wool sisal area rugs. Wool and sisal are the two most durable of all natural fibers, which makes a wool sisal rug excellent flooring for high traffic areas of your home. Wool is either used as backing for sisal carpets that provides the traction that allows them to stick to floors more effectively or it is woven into sisal fibers to loan more durability to sisal carpeting. Sisal is a highly textured textile, and wool can be woven into it in a way that matches the natural ribbing of the sisal textile.
Blending wool and sisal together in a single product allows the two fibers to complement one another. When sisal is used alone, it has a tendency to fade in direct sunlight and to stain when water is spilled on it. Wool, however, is naturally stain-resistant, and is naturally flame-resistant too. Wool fibers also soften the somewhat scratchy texture of the sisal fibers. Regular vacuuming should keep your wool sisal rug clean and comfortable.
Wool sisal is a natural textile fiber. In contrast to synthetic fibers that are created from petrochemicals using processes that often create toxic byproducts, natural fibers are fibers that come from animals and plants. Natural fibers “breathe,” which means sisal wool rugs will keep your home warmer and drier in cold months and cooler in drier in hot months. This is particularly useful if you live in a humid climate.
Is Wool Sisal a Sustainable Product?
Wool sisal is a fully sustainable product because it’s manufactured from wool and sisal, which are both ecologically friendly products. Over the course of the sisal agave plant’s life cycle, it absorbs far more carbon dioxide than it produces. Wool is an excellent insulator, and that means that homes that use wool or wool blend carpeting will use far less heat to stay warm in winter months.
How Is Wool Sisal Made?
Wool sisal is produced by weaving together fibers spun from the fleece of sheep with fibers from the sisal agave plant. The highest-quality wool comes from Australia and New Zealand while the highest quality sisal comes from East Africa. Most wool sisal products are blends of 60 percent wool and 40 percent sisal. Other popular sisal wool blends are the Chanelle sisal wool made from 75 percent sisal fibers and 25 percent wool fibers and the Lana sisal wool made from 55 percent wool fibers and 45 percent sisal fibers. The carpets are made by alternating strands of wool and sisal fibers.
What Products Are Made From Wool Sisal?
Wool sisal blends are used to make floor coverings like wool sisal carpets and wool sisal area rugs.
What Are the Benefits of Buying Wool Sisal Products?
Wool sisal flooring has many benefits over flooring made from synthetic products. As an organic material, sisal can develop water stains; however, it is naturally resistant to most other types of stains, which means you won’t have to use harsh chemical treatments on it to ensure cleanliness. This makes it a natural choice for households with members who suffer from allergies. Sisal is a poor electrical conductor, which means that wool sisal rugs will not build up static electricity. Sisal is also exceptionally durable so wool sisal carpets don’t compress and show patterns of wear the way many other carpets do.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of purchasing wool sisal flooring, though, is that wool and sisal are both eco-friendly fibers, which means that there is minimal harm to the environment when you choose to use them.
Eco-friendly flooring like carpets, rugs and runners made from sisal and wool blends not only create warmth and definition in your home, they also make a difference in the world we live in.
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