Vintage Wilton by Balta Carpets

As promised in my recent post on Classique Wilton by Balta Carpets, I’m now going to take a look at its ‘bigger brother’, Vintage Wilton.

Once more we see Balta continue the theme of creams/beiges/browns across a full range of Wilton. It’s a real difference from the ‘traditional’ Wilton ranges that were prevalent a few years back. Whilst Balta are happy to be pushing colour in a lot of their new plain carpet ranges, they seem to be heading in the opposite direction with their Wilton.

Like Classique Wilton, it has a heavy domestic/general contract rating, but weighs in at an almighty 2520gr per metre, significantly ahead of Classique’s 1650 gr per metre and has a pile height of 10mm, as opposed to Classique’s 8mm – as I said it is the ‘big brother’.

At that weight it feels a lot more ‘meaty’ and handles beautifully. It’s dense, sharp and impressive. It’s 100% ‘B-Tron’ (Balta’s fibre) Polypropylene and comes in 4 metre wide rolls.

The designs are varied across the range. My favourite is the slightly ‘art deco’ looking ‘duo’ design pictured above. Aside from that, most of the popular bases are covered. A tidy pindot, a nice, subtle small square motif, a couple of floral sprays and an impressive panel. If you like this kind of thing then you ought to be able to find something you at least like and possibly love. Most of the designs are each done in three shades – so I believe that’s around 24 options in the range.

The price of this is obviously going to be higher than Classique and is likely to set you back around £25-£34 per square metre. Overall a high quality product and ideal for heavy wear. It’s heading towards wool axminster price-wise, but it is realistically quite a lot less than most of those and if you want a very high end man-made Wilton then this is a real option.

(Originally posted on the 12th August 2010)

Penhurst Wilton by Lano Carpets

Recently I was quite critical of a Wilton range by Lano Carpets, called ‘Ceylon’. I wasn’t thrilled by the design or value of the product and I thought that its only real saving grace was that it was available in both 4m and extra wide 5m rolls.

Contrast that with a brand new range I’ve just received from the same manufacturer called ‘Penhurst Wilton’. It’s in two designs, a small motif square design and an all-over flowery ‘Ispahan’ design.

It handles very well and the colours and designs are sharp and on the money. There’s some lovely browns, a gorgeous blue and the natural tones are highlighted by the clever use of colour within the pattern itself. It works well and really stands out. Where carpets like this often fall short is that the patterns are insipid and dull – this breaks that trend.

Undoubtedly, Wiltons like this one inevitably sell a lot less than they once did these days, but this is a clear effort to stem the tide. Lano have added the ‘Stainless’ badge to this one and backed it up with a 10 Year Warranty and the promise that it is ‘Bleach Cleanable’ – be careful with your Domestos though!

I do like this carpet and I expect it to sell well. It should go out at around £18-£25 per square metre and is man-made from 100% Heatset Polypropylene. For an equivalent wool product (assuming you actually like wool) I think you would be likely to be at least £10 per square metre more.

(Originally posted on the 14th October 2009)

Lano Carpets and 5m Wide Wilton

The last few years has seen the explosion of choice available in 5m wide domestic carpet. Mostly these have been twists and berber, with the odd saxony and print thrown in for good measure. Where once I would be looking for the best place to position the seams for the customer, now I lazily show them 5m wide carpets and that usually does the trick.

Ceylon Wilton 5m Wide

Until now I had never seen a 5m wide Wilton. I’d read that Ceylon from Lano Carpets was coming out 5m wide, but now we have seen both this and another range from Lano, which a Headlam Group sales rep showed me this week.

The problem I have with them is price. We really need to be selling this out at £27+ per metre. To me that is over the top for the quality of the carpet - it’s just not worth it. Speaking impartially and looking at what else is around at what price, this carpet should be being retailed at £16-£18 per metre tops. If you have £27 per metre to spend on a carpet then this is not a great choice in my opinion. You can buy an Axminster for a little more and have yourself an 80/20 that will outlast this polypropylene Wilton comfortably.

Lano seem to be backing this to sell big for them and I will be surprised if it does. A rep for an Axminster manufacturer came in last week and I showed him the Lano and told him the price and he immediately told me that he did a nice 80/20 Axminster for £2 per metre more and he’d whisk me up some samples as soon as possible. I couldn’t argue with his reasoning.

Only around 2-3 years ago we were selling Wilton very simiar to this for £16-£17 a metre and it was hardly flying out of the door back then. The escalation in the price of a style of carpet in decline is staggering to me. On top of that we are now pretty much bereft of any budget Wilton to show our elderly customers who aren’t looking to break the bank (we used to call it Granny Carpet). All the stuff we could sell between £10-£15 a metre is now no more – it wasn’t great but it served a purpose and filled a real hole in the market.

(Originally posted on 20th April 2009)