High Point Market 2025: resilience, refinement and a rebalancing in the rug industry 

This autumn’s much-anticipated High Point Market yielded mixed results for rug and carpet manufacturers. Through visits to showrooms across the event, Rachel Fasciani gathered insights on new product developments, market sentiment and the broader state of the industry.

Nourison

No more gridlock

Gone were the days of long queues for registration, sold-out hotels, overflowing buses and wait lines. While traffic was noticeably down, numerous manufacturers experienced success across locations and price points.

Cyrus Nazmiyal of Rug & Kilim noted, ‘We have had a very good first two days. It’s an interesting time in our market. We’re growing 25% this year in a very down market.’ Amy Charalambopoulos, VP of sales and marketing at Feizy, reported a similar experience: ‘We weren’t sure how this market was going to go. We’ve been really surprised and happy … our traffic has been fantastic. All of our majors have come in, and even a lot of our top designers and new designers came in to see what we’re all about.’

Loloi

In contrast, Bart Hill, executive VP at Mohawk, commented, ‘The market uncertainty at the macro level with the global tariff situation has softened overall demand for most home furnishing categories, and we did experience lower traffic at market. We were still able to see the majority of our customers, and we had a great reception to our lineup of new products, giving us a positive outlook as we head into 2026.’

Two of the manufacturers in the wildly popular 313 Space expressed positive experiences as well. Alp Basdogan of Asia Minor Carpets stated: ‘The traffic is definitely better than the last market,’ while Ashley Thompson, senior account manager of market newcomer Armadillo said, ‘It’s been great. This is our first time at market. We feel like it’s been a really good exposure. We’ve sat nicely with other curated brands. We were very busy.’

Design directions: florals, animal motifs and the persistence of luxury 

Strong styles, colours and patterns ran throughout, particularly as it applied to florals, animals and animal prints, and a continued simple yet luxurious aesthetic. Emergent custom rug manufacturer Ruggle Up launched its line with DBD Lifestyles, displaying time-honoured block print motifs in pink and green shades and a classic Greek key, both produced in hand-tufted wool. Loloi showcased a similar theme in its Rue styles for the Chris Loves Julia collection, hand woven in jute, polyester and cotton. Meanwhile, Nourison got into the floral game in a conclusively different style. Its Divine rug profiled curvilinear florals in a grey-on-grey, hand-knotted wool and Luxcelle wave. 

Whimsical animals and patterns also played out, as seen in French Accent’s Python collection, which wowed in a snake-patterned, wool-and-silk construction of beiges and coral shades. Other manufacturers also came ready with fanciful animal patterns. Rug & Kilim’s Burano collection featured a highly popular mid-century-inspired pictorial fish rug, while Loloi’s Romi style for the Brigette Romanek collection captivated with its Chinese-inspired dragon motif. Collected by Schwung also got in on the animal game with its one-of-a-kind Tibetan-inspired tiger and landscape piece.  

Another trend? The rise of tapestries. Highlights ranged from Alfredo Paredes’s Aegean Tapestry with Fine & Dandy; Loloi, who unveiled tapestries across art and furniture; and Rug & Kilim’s unique Evelyn Ackerman, mid-century King and Queen tapestries.

While the fun and fantastic made their mark, quiet luxury has yet to see its end. This was evident through collections across makers, including Armadillo, Karastan, Momeni, Exquisite Rugs, Loloi and Surya. Simple yet sumptuous rugs such as Armadillo’s Alma, Karastan’s Hudson, Exquisite Rugs’ Malmo and Loloi’s Leanne Ford collaboration highlighted quality materials, soft tones and minimal pattern.  

Armadillo

Tariffs still in play 

Speculation on tariffs may have had an impact on attendance, but manufacturers were determined to make the best of the situation. Danny Shafiian at French Accents stated, ‘It’s a confusing time, but hopefully it’s going to settle down. At least we will know what it’s going to be, and then we will get rid of the tariff surcharge and just have a price increase.’ Hersel Bani-Esraili, president of Exquisite Rugs said, ‘The tariffs have been a huge, huge burden on the industry. We have tried to absorb them as much as possible.’  

Feizy shared this commitment to customers in its approach to tariffs. Charalambopoulos commented, ‘Cameron Feizy, our owner, was going through and looking at how tariffs are going to affect our bottom line. He was almost surgical in how he approached it. He went through line by line and really looked at where we could absorb all of it.’ 

While attendance and economic conditions remain unpredictable, this autumn’s market affirmed the rug industry’s resilience. Manufacturers are embracing newness, measured pricing strategies and design experimentation, remaining focused on evolution over endurance alone.