Buy Less, Choose well

It might seem strange for a business that sells things to suggest buying less, however it’s a way of summing up how we try to approach treating the planet properly when we source rugs, even though we know there’s more we need to do. We all rely on healthy communities, clean air and rich natural resources, and everyone wants to live in a non-toxic environment, and we care about the impact our business has on the environment.

Broadly speaking we try to be guided by various considerations when sourcing original Berber rugs: the raw materials that have been used to make a rug, if these materials or the rugs themselves have been processed along the way, how long a rug will last for and, finally, how we run our business.

I source all our rugs myself in Berber villages and I mostly buy vintage rugs, the genuine old pieces that Berber families wove for themselves. I buy from the families or in small markets so that I understand where they came from, and the lives they have lived, in order to learn first hand the story of the rugs you’re buying. I avoid the dealers in centres like Fez and Marrakech as there are many freshly woven rugs that have been expertly worked on to be sold as old (there just aren’t enough vintage rugs in Morocco to supply the market at the current trends) and where the original source of a rug is often obscured.

The old rugs I buy have been woven by hand on simple vertical looms. They also use a sustainable, high-performance material and one of the oldest: wool. Wool is simple and local, it is compostable, recyclable, and can be produced organically.

Another wonderfully sustainable option is the Boucherouite rug:  a word meaning in Arabic ‘a piece torn from used clothing’. These authentic rural rugs were sturdy practical household items that were truly environmentally friendly: Berber women recycled everything they had to hand to produce them, making the most of every resource and not wasting anything. Women used rag strips and yarns from recycled clothes, wool, cotton and even Lurex, sheets of plastic cut from grain-transport bags or packing materials, and nylon.

One thing that worries us is the widespread use of chemicals to wash rugs in order to bleach the wool or to ‘age’ newly woven rugs and to fade their colours (soft baby pink, we’re looking at you!) including formaldehyde widely used to fix dye. We feel this is now a widespread problem. Chemical run-off from textile production and wool dying is a cause of river pollution around the world. Many of the rivers I learned to swim in as a young boy are polluted - no fish and wildlife live in them, and few boys like me take their first lessons there. The harmful substances used to wash new Berber carpets are making some of my childhood rivers sad and barren places. If I’m sourcing new rugs, I aim to buy those woven in hand-spun wool that has not been treated.

The other issue we care about is longevity: the past and future life of a great quality Berber rugs means that it’s simply not an item that has or should be discarded after a short time nor needs to be regularly replaced. When you buy a vintage rug, you’re skipping the cheap stuff and rehoming a much-loved item: the most sustainable home decoration is décor that already exists.

As this style of rug has become such an enduring trend we’ve seen some painting of a green veneer on Moroccan carpets, such as harsh treatments hidden out of sight; synthetic dyes described as vegetable tints; rapid production sold as personal domestic weaving, and so on. Berber rugs are in my blood but even I have found it hard at times to get the real story behind a rug.

‘Environmentally friendly and sustainable have become well-worn words, but too often there is little to back it up with dubious or no regulation of what the terms means. Formal standards in environmental responsibility are at the earliest stages in Morocco, and there aren’t any ready assurances or reliable certifications that can be given to tribal rugs, although the Kingdom is committed to meeting the challenges of sustainable development. Yet the word ‘sustainable’ is widely bandied around about Moroccan rugs when many are from it:

The job isn't done yet and I will continue to do the best I can, with honesty and integrity, when I source Maroc Tribal’s rugs and textiles

Mo x

(One area where we are trying to improve is transport. We ship our rugs from Morocco by road and sea and when they are sold and sent to you, we try to keep wrapping to simple brown paper and outer protection alongside cardboard. If you are returning a rug, we suggest you reuse this original wrapping. We know we can do more here and are looking for ways to get better. We’d really love your suggestions for compostable packaging for large items)