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With an Axminster TM carpet, each individual yarn colour that goes to make up the carpet - plain or pattern - is selected by a gripper and woven with the weft. After the required yarn colour has been woven into the backing it is cut automatically to the required pile height and then reinserted when this colour is next required. The fact that the individual pieces of yarn or tufts of carpet are woven with the weft, demonstrates that an Axminster carpet provides quality, longevity and durability (better hold than carpet placed on pre-made backing) as well as a luxurious feel underfoot. The quality of an Axminster and the fact that a maximum of 12 colours can be used in a roll of carpet ensure that it is often the flooring of choice for prestigious buildings such as Royal residences, where durability and an element of luxury are simultaneously required.

Wilton Carpet – cut or loop pile:

Wilton carpet, like Axminster TM carpet, is woven. However the difference between the two methods is the way in which the carpet is woven. Whereas the Axminster TM yarn is woven into each weft and then cut to the required pile height and then reinserted when that colour is needed again – the Wilton carpet yarn is a continuous strand woven all the way through.

Wilton carpets produced at Axminster Carpets are produced on state of the art Wilton looms that use a maximum of five colours. However the Wilton looms at Axminster Carpets are more diverse; producing cut or loop pile textured carpet. It is the preferred flooring for many contract installations and most transport applications as it is hugely stable and extremely hard wearing. Axminster Carpets currently manufactures Wilton carpet for the majority of UK rail companies and many global airlines including British Airways and Virgin.

Tufted Carpet

Tufted carpet is the most economical of the carpet producing methods. Unlike Axminster and Wilton carpet, a tufted carpet is produced by adding yarn onto a pre-existing backing using a special adhesive. This method is an extremely fast (one roll of Axminster might take 8 hours to make whereas one roll of tufted takes approx 1 hr) way of manufacturing carpet. While it is true that a tufted carpet is not a woven carpet, at Axminster Carpets, all the yarn used is homespun ensuring that only the finest and most durable quality is used.

Because Axminster Carpets produces its own yarn, there is complete control over the whole carpet manufacturing process. Axminster is the only UK company to do this.

Flatbed Weave Carpet:

The flatbed weave carpet is a fashionable textured approach. This design requires the use of unique yarn technology and produces a carpet with superior strength and style. A flatbed weave carpet can be woven over many weft insertions, allowing the creation of a larger, flatter and more textured looking loop pile.

Real wool yarns:

Axminster Carpets uses more than 90% British wool in its carpet production,
Fleeces arrive at the company’s Buckfast spinning mill on the edge of Dartmoor, and are stretched out and then blended together in pre-determined quantities to provide the most suitable mix for carpet yarn. This blended wool then passes through a six stage washing process where dirt, grease and other impurities are removed before a final wash which uses the soft clear water from the River Dart.

The wool is then dried, with any extra dust extracted, and blown into storage bins where it is left to relax and regain its original structure. It is then lubricated and left to condition.

A series of progressively finer spiked rollers is then used to tease out the wool fibres to a uniform web.  This teasing process is called carding. The strands are then carried along an array of narrow conveyer belts and then divided into narrow strips, or ‘slubbings’, which are then loaded onto a spinning frame.  The wool is spun at more than 5,000 rpm to produce single ply yarn. By twisting the strands together as two or more ply, additional strength and density is acquired by the yarn, affecting the eventual weight and quality of the carpet.

The yarn is then put into hanks and carried into the final washing process to enhance the dying technique. A computerized system then ensures precise dye match to the colour required. The hanks are rotated into hydro extracted units to remove any excess moisture, and then passed on into an electronically controlled steam drying process to ensure uniformity of moisture content. Once dried, the hanks are left to cool naturally, before the yarn is wound onto more manageable sized bobbins and then transported to Axminster, where several 1000 kilos of yarn are delivered every day.

Once at Axminster, the yarn is woven into carpet using either six pitch or Axminster’s special eight pitch looms.  Once the weaving is completed, the carpet is brushed to remove any foreign matter, and squared for alignment and symmetry. After steaming to burst open the lush woolen pile, a coating of vinyl is applied to the back of the carpet to assist tuft retention and ease cutting and fitting. Further brushing is followed by a second and final tip shearing operation to ensure a smooth, level finish.

To ensure perfection, a meticulous final examination is carried out by eye.

Barcode identification enables total traceability of the carpet's processes and materials, at this, and every other production stage. Carpets are cut and sized to order requirements, before rolling and final packaging.

Axminster Carpets is the only UK manufacturer to purchase, wash, card, spin and dye its own yarn.