Are Washable Rugs Any Good? A Straight Answer

Washable rugs have gone from a novelty to a category in about five years, and the marketing has got ahead of the honest description. Here is a straight one.

What they genuinely do well

They solve a specific and very common problem: a rug in a room where things get spilled on it. Before washable rugs, the options were a cheap rug you replaced every two years or an expensive one you had professionally cleaned at £80 a time. A rug you can put through a domestic machine changes the economics of owning a rug in a kitchen, hallway, nursery or dining room.

The non-slip woven backing is a real advantage too, and slightly under-sold. Not needing a separate underlay removes a cost and a thing that curls at the corners.

Where they fall short

• The largest sizes are not really machine washable at home — 155 × 230 cm and above need a launderette drum. That should be said plainly.
• Polyester does not have wool's thirty-year resilience under heavy furniture.
• Oil-based stains are harder than water-based ones.
• They feel like a textile, not like a deep plush rug. If softness underfoot is your priority, this is not the category.

Who should not buy one

If you want a single rug to last thirty years in a formal room that nothing ever happens in, buy wool. If you want maximum softness underfoot in a bedroom, buy a medium-pile rug. Washability is a trade, and if you will never use it, you are paying for a feature you do not need.

Who should

Anyone with a dog, a toddler, a hallway, an open-plan kitchen-diner, or a white rug they are frightened of. That is most households.