Axminster Carpets

Home Spun Yarn

The first stage, wool blending and washing.

Axminster Carpets Ltd use more than 90% British Wool in their carpet production, including wool from the Company's own flock of Drysdale Sheep.
On arrival at the companies spinning mill (Buckfast Spinning Mill, on the southern edge of Dartmoor), the fleeces are stretched out and then blended together in pre-determined quantities to provide the most suitable mix for carpet yarn. This blended wool then passes through a six stage washing process where dirt, grease and other impurities are removed from it before a final wash which uses the soft clear water from the River Dart.

The second stage, wool drying

The wool is then dried, with any extra dust extracted, and blown into storage bins where it is left to relax and regain its original structure. It is then lubricated and left to condition.

The third stage, wool carding and spinning to produce carpet yarn

A series of progressively finer spiked rollers is then used to tease out the wool fibres to a uniform web.
This teasing process is called carding. The strands are then carried along an array of narrow conveyer belts and then divided into narrow strips, or ‘slubbings’, which are then loaded onto a spinning frame. The wool is spun at more than 5,000 rpm to produce single ply yarn. By twisting the strands together as two or more ply, additional strength and density is acquired by the yarn, affecting the eventual weight and quality of the carpet.

The fourth stage, carpet yarn dyeing

The yarn is then put into hanks and carried into the final washing process to enhance the dying technique. A computerized system then ensures precise dye match to the colour required. The hanks are then rotated into a hydro extracted units to remove any excess moisture, and then passed on into an electronically controlled steam drying process to ensure uniformity of moisture content. Once dried, the hanks are left to cool naturally, before the yarn is wound onto more manageable sized bobbins and then transported to Axminster, where several 1000’s of kilos of yarn are delivered everyday.

What does homespun yarn mean to you, the customer

Axminster Carpets Ltd is the only UK manufacturer to purchase, wash, card, spin and dye its own yarn. No other UK carpet manufacturer does this and very few manufacturers worldwide have this in house capability. As we produce all our yarn for carpet production in house you can be reassured that we have total control over the whole carpet production process – from the fleece to the floor. As we are the only UK carpet manufacturer to produce our own yarn we have developed the ‘homespun’ logo, letting you, the customer know that when you purchase a carpet from Axminster Carpets Ltd, you are purchasing British carpet quality at its very finest.