Did you know that many of today’s rugs that are labeled as being silk are actually artificial silk made of viscose fibers? Rugs made of viscose or rayon-viscose present several unique problems to the cleaners tasked with cleaning them. Also, if you find yourself in ownership of one of these rugs, it is important to know the advantages and drawbacks of owning this type of rug.
Viscose is made of wood pulp and cotton by-products. Viscose is also known as faux silk, art silk, man-made silk, fake silk, rayon, banana silk, bamboo silk, lyocell or ramie. Viccose has the advantage of being made into fibers that are incredibly soft. However, this softness is achieved through chemical process that also makes the fibers very weak. Viscose is one of the most fragile fibers on the market today.
There are 4 major drawbacks of viscose:
- Viscose rugs can shed due to the weak fibers. This shedding can happen just from everyday wear and leave your rug looking like a cat clawed it.
- Viscose fibers do not hold dye well and can bleed if they get wet.
- Viscose rugs tend to yellow with moisture from cleaning or spills.
- Viscose rugs become matted and stiff after becoming wet.
It should be noted that only experienced rug washers should actually clean viscose rugs due to their extreme delicate nature.
Due to viscose being so soft it is often used deliberately to achieve a certain effect despite it’s temper-mental nature. Another common use for viscose is that it is a great filler for real silk. Viscose is usually blended with real silk and labeled as such. This is an understandable disappointment when the owner finds out that their beautiful real silk rug is not all real silk as these rugs generally fetch a handsome price.
It is important to remember that viscose is used to achieve a certain look but it is very tricky to use and clean. If you just have to have a viscose rug, it is not well suited for the high traffic area family room and cleaning should only be attempted by an experienced rug cleaner.
If you need your viscose rug cleaned, be sure to contact the pro’s at Hoffman’s Cleaning today!