What is carpet? A soft floor covering, right? But, how soft is soft? And what makes some carpets softer than others? In this post, we will explain what makes some carpets softer than others.
FIBERS AND FILAMENTS
To explain why some carpets are softer than others, we need to take a closer look at the fiber. Each fiber is made of tiny filaments bundled together. The fibers are then bundled together to make your carpet. The finer the filaments, the softer the carpet. “Denier” is a unit of measure for filament size. Let’s do a quick comparison to help explain this:
The range for “normal” carpet is 20-24 denier. A carpet with a denier of 10-12 is considered super-soft. But there are also carpets that are even softer. Today’s manufacturing technologies have created fibers that are as small as 3-4 denier!
DOES SOFT MEAN WEAK?
Soft things don’t really have a great reputation for being strong (think of a kitten), but you walk on your carpet every day so you need it to be somewhat strong, right? Have no fear. You can have both (think of a tiger… soft, yet strong!). A quality soft carpet will give you both a soft touch, as well as strength and durability.
How can this be so? Even though the fiber filaments are super fine, there are a lot of them. The more filaments per square inch, the stronger the carpet will be.
SOFT STYLE
There must be a downside, right? All soft carpets probably look the same, right? Not true! Soft carpets come in all different styles from plush and casual to textures and patterns. There will definitely be a “soft yet strong” style that is just right for you!