1830 Technology - Cloth strips hand-braided and hand-laced with cotton cord.

1917 Technology – Capel brand. First rug of machine braided fiber rope and stitched around and around in concentric circles, making rugs in ever-increasing sizes.

1930 Technology – Thorndike brand . First rug of machine braided cloth and stitched around and around in concentric circles. Thorndike brand. First rug of machine braided cloth and stitched around and around in concentric circles.
Thorndike Mills was the U.S. last known manufacturer to offer cloth braided rugs. Now closed since the end of 2019.

1990 Braidedrug.com entered the market with the best of 1830 and 1930 technology with 100% handcrafted cloth braid and painstakingly hand laced with Perlon (Nylon 6) lacing.

Don’t just take our word for it; take it from the opinion of a nearly 100-year old manufacturer of braided rugs: “TRUE CLOTH BRAID - Thorndike is the ONLY manufacturer of a true cloth constructed braid.  The next best option would be an actual handmade rug”

1998 - Braidedrug.com’s high quality handmade cottage industry product began to face high competition from a market flooded with inexpensive imported rugs mistakenly claiming to be handmade; just like what happened to the patchwork quilt cottage industry. Production of new rugs was phased out this year.

Laced vs. Stitched. When laced, the cord is buried at half depth of the braid and will never be worn, thus the rug will never fall apart. When stitched, and considering that the rugs are fully reversible, the machine stitch cord (usually a thin nylon string to disguise it) will be exposed to wear and breakage on both sides of rugs, rendering a rug of limited life.

A last reflection. After all our rugs are sold, it will be practically impossible for anyone to commercially acquire anywhere in the world a truly hand-braided rug that could become a family heirloom for many generations to come. Don’t miss this chance.