The fiber story is a story of innovation that has taken place within the fiber sector of the carpet industry and it’s really the story of the carpet industry. Looking back, fiber developments have marked some of the central developments for carpet, not only as they relate to carpet the product but also with the companies that produce that carpet. As the major component of carpet, the product fiber developments have been the precursor of transformations that have occurred not only with the companies that have manufactured carpet but also the players that have historically produced that fiber for all U.S. carpet mills.
To get a handle on this 60-year story of fiber in the carpet industry, we sat down with Dr. Bob Peoples, executive director of Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) and former director of nylon technology at Solutia. The following are excerpts from that conversation. You are invited to watch the interview in its entirety in the archives on TalkFloor.com.