AI in the Rug Industry: Caution & Questions

At a time when AI is under scrutiny, not least for its role in global conflict, this feature from COVER 82 turns to the rug community, exploring its cautious approach to the new era of technology and what it might mean for its future

Why not AI? 

Few rug companies attended a recent major retail event focused on AI. Rachel Fasciani looks for reasons.

Organised by NRF (National Retail Federation), the Retail Big Show is the largest annual gathering of retailers and manufacturers across industries, exploring and showcasing new technology. Held 11–13 January at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, the 2026 edition was packed this year and focused on one dominant theme: AI.  

Walking the event, I saw everyone from Ralph Lauren to Marriott to retailers such as Wayfair, TJ Maxx, Quince, and Lulu and Georgia. Yet (with two notable exceptions) few rug manufacturers and brands attended. This led me to wonder, first, why? And second, who is and isn’t using AI in the industry?  

I conducted an anonymous poll. Sixty per cent of respondents said they weren’t familiar with the NRF Big Show. The remaining respondents cited a mixture of reasons, including lack of approval to attend, prioritisation of other trade shows and scheduling conflicts. 

Considering this year’s event was held mere days before Maison & Objet, immediately followed by Shoppe Object and Heimtextil, scheduling is an understandable concern. Those shows tend to attract professionals in product development and some marketing/PR, while the Big Show primarily draws attendees from IT, digital marketing, systems analysis and operations.  

More telling is the finding that the industry doesn’t know what the Big Show is—or doesn’t see itself reflected in it. And that signals a missed opportunity to plug into conversations that increasingly influence how products are developed, marketed and sold.  

Insights from Industry Voices & Research

In my conversations and research, I found that AI for rug and carpet makers remains a largely unexplored and untapped resource. This is understandable when viewing the industry’s slow adoption of technologies such as selling online, social media, and its tardiness to connect with ‘influencers’ and ‘content creators’. A safe and steady approach can hinder advancement and ultimately profit.  

There are some outliers, and their approach is thoughtful and direct. Nourison’s VP of marketing, Feryal Rehman, reported that ‘We use AI across marketing, visualisation, content operations and internal workflows, not as a replacement for craft, but as a multiplier for speed, consistency and scale. Product integrity, material truth and craftsmanship remain non-negotiable.’  

Similarly, Zollanvari’s marketing manager, Sebastian Ghandchi, said that the brand’s dual approach reflects its pragmatic use of technology while also honouring the preservation of artisanal heritage. He stated, ‘We utilise AI primarily as a linguistic and marketing support tool to translate the complex, soulful narratives of our nomadic weavers into evocative content for our global partners,’ adding: ‘AI has data; our weavers have soul.’ 

On the more cautious side regarding AI, Ryan Higgins, principal of Tamarian, said, ‘There is no major barrier to AI—it is an exciting technology. However, our business mission is human-focused… we rely on interpersonal communication to provide customer service.’ 

However, Higgins remains open-minded, saying, ‘I am not worried, but optimistic that AI may eventually be woven into the heritage. Looms themselves are a technology, and tech is also changing and advancing. I see the conversion of images into graphs in ways that make weaving and material consumption more efficient, just as computer-aided graphs have in the past fifteen years.’ 

From the brands behind AI—bigger ones include Adobe, Amazon, Adyen and even J. P. Morgan—the capabilities of AI extend beyond room renders, efficiency and coding. At the simpler end, a large language model (LLM) can analyse, organise and retrieve data from websites that generate answers to queries and enhance customer support via chatbots.  

A good example is a consumer asking ChatGPT, ‘Who makes the best outdoor rugs?’ ChatGPT scrapes the web, including rug websites, Wikipedia, customer reviews, etc., and answers with options. Our query generated answers with Home Depot, NuLoom, West Elm and more. That tells a story: those websites are utilising LLMs, at the very least, to drive consumers to their products.  

Vivek Pandya, lead insights analyst for Adobe, explained, ‘This moment gives a lot of businesses and manufacturers, of all sizes, new potential. And the players that understand the trends can take advantage of them. So, with the brands that are putting out a lot of information across their site, you think about what their Wikipedia entry looks like, where they have really drilled down into the specificity around what they offer, and it makes it very possible for these LLMs to track across their site effectively.’ 

From there, the offerings grow, from customer journey and insights to marketing campaign management and efficiencies, to forecasting product orders.  

Perhaps the future of the industry isn’t a choice between algorithm and artisan, but a partnership that uses technology to amplify storytelling, improve operations, and create space for what matters most: human creativity, material truth and timeless craftsmanship.

If the industry can lean into that balance, AI doesn’t become a threat—it becomes another thread in a much longer, richer tapestry. 

Words by Rachel Fasciani