Anti-stain carpet, a 'Made in Belgium' innovation
Stain-resistant carpets have been around for a long time. They are usually treated with a product that loses its effectiveness over time, but a Belgian company is launching a completely innovative process that is much more efficient.
Lano, the producer of carpets from Harelbeke in West Flanders, has presented a world first: carpets that cannot stain. The carpet fibres appear to be not just stain resistant, they are totally stain proof.
The demonstration was given to the public and the press in a large, 1,000 m² event hall that hosts numerous wedding receptions and was covered with the revolutionary carpet. As Joe Lano, CEO of this family business with 450 employees at its site, explains, "You can remove all stains, including red wine stains, whether you tackle them immediately or after a few hours. Anything that is spilled on the carpet just rests on the fibres, a bit like a waterproof jacket."
The secret to this innovation is that unlike previous processes, the stain barriers, known as SmartStrand, are integrated into the fibres themselves so that they last as long as the usual life of a carpet.
However, SmartStrand carpets are around 20% more expensive than other carpets due to their higher manufacturing cost.