Oriental rugs are the greatest classic traditional rugs in the world, which will last for a great time period if the right care is given to it. Oriental rugs are very beautiful and add a lot of warmth and color to homes. You might want to visit wholesale oriental rugs stores, hoping to buy something for your home but here are some of the things that you need know to determine the quality of the oriental rugs.

Things to know about traditional rugs

1. The back of the Rug

The backing of a rug is one of the most important parts as it is the backing which holds the material of the rug in place and makes it durable too.

For the rug to be real and authentic, it should have the same pattern and material on the back too. If you find that the back does not have a mirror replica at the back then you are probably looking at a fake piece.

If it seems that the back of the tug is made of plastic material then that is probably the synthetic material like polyester which is holding the rug together. This kind of rug is not only artificial but is not durable too. This kind of material is also not children friendly and also causes allergies.

2. Color Testing

Most of the authentic stores have a return policy of two or three days. If that happens and you can take the rug home then leave a damp cloth on it overnight to see that if color seeps into it or not. If you find in the morning that there is color on the damp cloth then that means that the dye used is neither natural nor stable and you are wasting your money.

The oriental tradition rugs of old times did not have chemical dyes experimented on them but natural dyes extracted from plants are not used. Chemical dyes also release fumes which are very harmful. Most of the times the invoice attached with the rug mentions the dye used and it would be wise to check that before you buy the rug. It will be hard to determine the color authenticity by just looking at it because even chemical dyes make the rugs look beautiful and original.

3. Look at the Fringe

This is one of the easiest ways to determine if the rug is original or fake. Flip the rug over to see if fringe has been glued on or sewed on the rug. The fringe holds the rug together and it is often forged by the dealers to make it look as if the rug is hand-knotted even though it is not. A hand-knotted rug has been made after a lot of effort by an artisan and the beauty of it cannot be replicated by a hand tufted rug. That is why if you are at a wholesale oriental rugs market, you need to see if you are buying an original rug or not.

4. Hand Knotted or Hand Tufted

A hand-knotted rug has not gone through any machine related process but a lot of painstaking work has been done by hand. Hand tufting does not require a lot of skill and it is like copying a picture by using a carbon paper. Canvas and stencil are used to stretch the material and gun punches are used. The work of a hand-tufted rug is very weak, which is why after some time the rug is most likely to start falling apart. At the most, a hand-tufted rug will last seven years while a hand knotted rug can last as long as fifty years.

5. Cheaper and On Sale

You know not to trust a store selling traditional rugs but claiming to have the lowest prices. Oriental rugs of high-quality use wool material which is very expensive to get and cannot be sold at cheaper prices. So wholesale oriental rugs VA places selling at low prices should be approached with caution as they might be selling fake rugs, which are either using the cheap material or chemical dyes. This is a trick by the dealers to fool you and make money for themselves.