Earth Weave Catskill Collection Rugs Review

Our Rating: 4 / 5 (See: How Leaf Score is calculated)

Product Highlights

• Super-soft and luxurious
• Made without any hazardous ingredients
• Rugs may help to purify the air in your home by trapping air contaminants, allergens and dust

Overview

All of Earth Weave’s area rugs are made without any hazardous ingredients. This means no toxic dyes or moth protection, no chemical stain protection, no synthetic latex adhesives (styrene butadiene) or formaldehyde in the backing and no synthetic anything. 

Earth Weave use 100% pure virgin wool from Europe to make their rugs. The primary backing is made from natural hemp and cotton, bound to the yarn with all-natural rubber. The secondary backing is made of jute. Together, the backings help prevent the rug from sliding around. These rugs are naturally fire-resistant and are often used on military jets, submarines, boats, and so forth.

See our full roundup of eco-friendly rugs here.

Earth Weave developed their own system for coloring wool with an organic dye process called OrganoSoftColor™ that uses only safe ingredients. This means that they offer a wider variety of colors without off-gassing of harmful chemicals. Indeed, these rugs may even help purify the air in your home by trapping air contaminants, allergens and dust.

These rugs are much higher quality than most natural fiber rugs currently available and are thicker than the McKinley, Pyrenees, and Dolomite collections from Earth Weave. The Catskill rugs have a 65 oz pile weight and will likely last a lot longer than most other rugs, making them particularly eco-friendly. And, when it does come time to dispose of them, these rugs are 100% biodegradable. 

Earth Weave rugs are pretty much as eco-friendly as you can get. They are made with completely renewable resources, are more durable and cleanable than rugs made with nylon, polypropylene and olefin, and are naturally fire resistant without chemicals. They are also excellent at absorbing sound and insulating a space to make it feel cozy while also reducing your heating bill. Earth Weave use British Wool from free-range sheep, meaning that the wool is hardy and high quality.

Earth Weave rugs are LEED qualified (MR Credit 4.1, 4.2: Recycled content, 5.1, 5.2: Regional Materials, 6: Rapidly renewable materials, EQ 4.3: Low-emitting materials). This means that they can contribute towards a building’s LEED certification (products themselves cannot be LEED certified).

Earth Weave is a carpet mill that makes all of its own Bio-floor carpet in the USA. They were founded in 1996 and were the first carpet manufacturer to use only natural materials such as industrial hemp and natural latex. Unlike most carpet manufacturers that use toxic dyes, moth-proofing and stain protection, Earth Weave uses nothing synthetic in the face yarns, backing or adhesive. Even companies that claim their wool is untreated often turn out to have used mothproofing chemicals. (Through personal communications, the owner of Hook and Loom confirmed that their wool rugs are not treated with mothproofing chemicals.)

Earth Weave also offers a natural rubber pad for their rugs and all-natural wool padding for their carpet. Area rugs are custom-made and not returnable, however, and take up to 4 weeks to arrive after placing your order. Because these are made with natural fibers and dyes, the rugs vary in texture and color. 

To care for your Earth Weave rug, vacuum with a suction-only vacuum cleaner (remove the beater-bar) and use only wool-approved cleaners for removing stains. Avoid vigorously rubbing the rug (lightly blot instead). All Earth Weave rugs come with a 5-year warranty.

Earth Weave vs. Organic Weave vs. Hook and Loom

Earth Weave are an excellent option for eco-friendly wool rugs, offering a variety of pile weights, colors, and designs. They have been in business as an environmentally sustainable carpet and rug manufacturer for more than two decades and have long led the field. That said, they’re oddly devoid of third-party certifications, so we’re going largely on reputation and trust.

As such, Organic Weave are easily the best in class for wool rugs. They not only use GOTS certified organic wool, FSC natural latex (where needed), and GOTS certified organic cotton, they are GoodWeave certified to ensure no child labor is involved in the manufacture of their rugs. Organic Weave are committed to sustainability, safety, and social fairness, and have demonstrated this right from the beginning by never selling a rug that doesn’t meet these standards. So, while other companies may produce the occasional eco-friendly and/or Fair Trade certified wool rug, if you’re looking for a top-quality rug from a company with a solid set of ethics, look to Organic Weave.

Hook and Loom get third place in this category for their undyed, handwoven, and hand-bound rugs (View Prices on Hook and Loom) made without glues, bonding agents, latex, dyes, or other chemicals that can be harmful to human health and the wider environment. Hook and Loom also claim to make rugs free from child labor, but they lack the same certifications as Organic Weave. They do, however, ship their rugs in minimal packaging to reduce environmental impact and they carry the Green People seal of approval, which is one of the less weighty eco-certifications but does help to weed out companies simply ‘greenwashing’.

All in all, Organic Weave are the best choice for eco-friendly rugs and have enough variety in colors, patterns, and styles to satisfy almost every demand. And, if you don’t find what you need, they are very open to custom orders.