At Mannington Commercial we’ve been manufacturing flooring for over 100 years. The role of carpet has changed over the years, but custom carpet has always been a request from the Designer and Architect (A&D) community. What is custom carpet and how do you request it? Good question!

We have a customs team at Mannington Commercial who can customize products upon request.  There is a minimum order reserve required, customers have the ability to consult with our team of designers about colors, patterns, or textures they want to modify. Our Custom Solutions Team will translate those desires into a beautiful and unique carpet design.  

In this article we are going to dive deeper into how the process works, how running-line carpet collections are made, and your options for Customizing a standard product/color or customization when it comes to a true custom design. 

Designing a Commercial Carpet Collection  

All of our running line carpet collections are carefully designed by a team of designers. The team starts by conducting market research, an ongoing process where they watch and predict trends in color and design. Customers are also surveyed to learn what they want and need in terms of carpet. Based on this research, the Design Team creates our carpet collections that our customers can easily specify as is.  

Some carpet designs are made with end-use in mind. For example, when designing carpet for educational institutions, our Design Team may design the products, so they are easily customizable by swapping out the accent stripes, making the design easily interchangeable to fit in school colors. Say they make a carpet with black, white, and navy stripes, and the client wants to swap the navy stripe for royal blue, that kind of change would be easy to execute.  

Carpet Customization Options 

What is the difference between a running line carpet customization and a true custom? Running line carpet customization is available from most of our current running line product offerings. Anything that is in our current offering has a potential to become a custom option. 

There are some products that list the custom options in the brochures, this could be termed as “Low hanging fruit” or easy to customize. There could also be the need to change a color completely in a current design, say the background of a standard design is orange and there is a desire to change that to different shade of orange, that is and option as well.   

How can a customer order a running line carpet customization?  

The most effective way to request a running line carpet custom would to reach out to your local Sales representative to request any custom option. 

The Custom Solutions Team or “Customs Team” understands the technical side of design—the ins-and-outs of manufacturing and constructing carpet designs. Our Customs Team have been in the industry for many years and have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the options that are available to customize a product and the evolutions of products and designs. There is an art and a science to getting customization right. They understand which changes are no-brainers, and which will require intricate modifications to the carpet’s formula.  

For example, a designer working on a school might want to incorporate the school colors into the carpet design. Perhaps they want to make changes to the carpet’s pattern placement or even its feel. The Mannington rep will take the change request to the Custom Solutions Team. 

Related: How To Use Carpet As a Backdrop For An Education Space

Some carpets are more complicated to modify. This could be  because of the yarn they use, or their pattern colors. Say the customer requests a color change, but when the different yarns or thread colors are twisted together, the pattern becomes too subdued or pops out too much and is distracting. Constructing carpet is like cooking. You have to get the ingredients right. If you want to substitute an ingredient, you need to know what you’re doing or else the recipe may go south. The Customs Team is experienced in navigating things like yarn consistency and thread twisting, tip shearing and carpet weight. They know how to guide and advise change requests for the best possible outcome.  

Color values can change the visual effect of the design. Take the Spin Carpet Collection for example. There is a color that is in this line that is a gray and purple color. Say the client wants to change the purple color to yellow. 

Because the color values are completely different that particular design would read differently with that change and not look like the same design, because yellow has a completely different color value than purple. In that case, the change would not translate well and would not look like the intended design , so our Customs Team would recommend a different carpet that follows the recipe for that design the yellow into the design in a better manor.

The Swell Carpet Collection, for example, can be a good choice for color changes. It was made with color modifications in mind as long as the recipe is followed for the design. The base neutrals and accent colors can be swapped and still look good. Whatever the case, our seasoned team works with the client and offers design-tested recommendations.    

William Patterson University, Design Local Collection - Nashville, Custom Color

A True Custom Carpet 

What is a true custom?  -  A true custom can be defined as a custom request that does not start from any running line product offering and is from an original design concept. 

How does a customer order a true custom? The most effective way to request a true custom carpet design would to reach out to your local Sales representative to request any custom option.  This may take some direct contact from the designer to the Custom Design team. 

What is the benefit of this? A true custom design is available to allow Designers and customers the ability to make their space their own and unique to them. 

Custom Process can vary for each design but is not limited to:

• Digital simulation of a design  
• Single image design to a room scene installation design 
• Actual physical carpet samples made and shipped to the designer 

We are careful and patient with this process, because it’s important that the customer knows exactly what they will be getting and feels good about it.  

Once custom designs are approved, the custom, one-of-a-kind design can be ordered and is then sent to our manufacturing plants right here in the USA where Mannington can continue to ensure quality control over the creation of the product.  

Now you know. Whether you are a long time Mannington customer, or new to the family, talk to your representative about customizing your carpet.  

 The Cheng Library at William Patterson University was designed with a custom colored carpet. Take the full case study with you! 

Get your free download of the Cheng Library Case Study👇