Step onto the vibrant tapestry of ethical indulgence as we roll out the red carpet with a stunning collection of certified fair trade rugs.
These rugs are rolling up the traditional scratchy, plastic floor coverings that often support an industry rife with child labor. And the brands that make them not only prioritize responsible materials but also ethical manufacturing and low-waste production.
Just like you’ll be rolling out a new rug, we’re soon to roll out our new Brand Rating System. Think of it as a full-coverage assessment that examines brands against a range of impact areas, like circularity, transparency, and carbon commitments. You can learn more about the system here or keep the rug rolling with our current top picks that we’ve curated for you below.
We independently research all featured brands, and we ask them to confirm their claims. In many cases we personally review recommended products. This post contains affiliate links which means we may earn a commission if you buy something. We explain this further in our Terms of Use.
Ethical Rugs We Can Lounge On All Day
Lorena Canals is working towards zero-waste production with their new range of Rugcycled rugs. But the first-ever washable Fair Trade wool area rugs they’re making is our dog’s clear favorite.
Saving your home from toxic synthetics, not only are Parachute’s rugs fair trade, but they’re made of natural materials. They also offer a non-slip pad made using 100% recycled fabrics and natural latex backing.
Index: Fair Trade Rugs For The Home
- Lorena Canals Jump to brand
- Cold Picnic Jump to brand
- Parachute Jump to brand
- Salam Hello Jump to brand
- The Citizenry Jump to brand
- Burrow Jump to brand
- Loomy Jump to brand
- EI Ocotal Weavers Jump to brand
Lorena Canals
About Lorena Canals
Price Range: $40–$995
Lorena Canals is a woman-owned business that can help you furnish your home with fair trade recycled rugs of all manner of shapes, sizes, and colors.
Choose from round, rectangular, silhouette, runner, square, wool, cotton, and let’s not forget the Rugcycled rugs. This collection of sustainable rugs give a second life to the cotton leftovers from their productions.
Lorena Canals’ Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
The materials used include recycled cotton, pure cotton, and ethical wool, but the most sustainable material is the upcycled production scraps used to create their RugCycled ® line.
Non-polluting dyes are used for their cotton rugs, certified by international standards like GOTS and OEKO-TEX. The Woolable range of rugs is naturally colored, depending on the coat of the sheep.
Supply chain & labor practices:
The production process for all Lorena products follows fair trade practices. Most of the production workforce are women artisans based in India who work in ISO 9001, 14001, and 18001-certified conditions.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
All rugs are delivered to the customer in shipping bags made of plastic that is 100% recycled and 100% recyclable.
Upcycling their scraps reduces their impact on natural resources. Water used in the dyeing and washing process is recycled and up to 75% of the water is recovered and reused. A further reduction in water consumption is made by using a more efficient “cone-dyeing” method, saving around 75% of water compared to “piece-dyeing”.
Our Personal Review of Lorena Canals Rugs:
“Our favorite (and clearly our dog’s as you can see in the picture above) is the Woolable Rug Autumn Breeze. The minimalist color palette goes with most color schemes so it’s a safe bet which for us was a necessity because we have an eclectic (i.e. not very co-ordinated) mix of decor. The soft wool is problematic in that we have a very hard time getting off the floor! Great for playing twister though. It’s also clear that the stitching and craftsmanship is a cut above other conventional rug manufactures. We expect this to last for many years to come.”
Review by Joy McConnochie, SJ’s Co-founder
Cold Picnic
About Cold Picnic
Price Range: $150–$1,950
Bring a splash of color into your home with one of Cold Picnic’s brightly, fun patterned rugs which are hand-tufted or woven.
They have a range of sizes and dimensions to suit whichever living space you need to fit out. We especially love their Crocodile rug, it’s one of their all-time bestsellers and for any animal-loving kids it’s absolutely on-point.
Cold Picnic’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Cold Picnic uses a range of materials, including 100% New Zealand wool with OEKO-TEX certification, bamboo silk, organic cotton and hemp.
As part of their commitment to reducing waste in manufacturing, they have also started using leftover yarn for their Deadstock rug collection. Products are added to the collection intermittently, as leftover yarn becomes available at their factory.
All yarns are dyed in small batches using sustainable dyes and the finishing process doesn’t use toxic chemicals or flame retardants.
Supply chain & labor practices:
The production process takes place in a GoodWeave and Care & Fair (C&F)-certified factory in India. Certification demands complete supply chain transparency and a commitment to children’s rights, worker’s rights, and strengthened worker communities.
There is also a small family-run factory in India with 20 employees that manufactures the range of bathmats. The factory is SA8000, GRS, and GOTS-certified.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
The factory is 100% dependent on solar energy, and all hand-tufted weaving machines also use solar energy to run.
Plastic wrapping and tubing used for protection during transportation are reused, while the bath mats are packaged in locally sourced compostable bags. The plan is for this packaging to be rolled out for the entire product range.
Parachute
About Parachute
Price Range: $89–$1,899
If you love soft neutrals and earthy tones like we do, Parachute’s entire range of home decor can help you cover a lot more than just your floor.
But sticking to the topic for today, they offer fair trade kitchen rugs that can also suit other smaller spaces and fair trade wool rugs like the Rib Wool Bedroom Rug which adds a cozy aesthetic to bedrooms and lounges alike.
Parachute’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Only natural materials are used to produce Parachute’s range of handwoven rugs in a blend of 75% non-mulesed New Zealand wool and 25% OEKO-TEX cotton. For high-traffic and outdoor areas, they also offer fair trade jute rugs.
You can also enjoy a non-slip rug experience by purchasing Parachite’s rug pads, made using 100% recycled synthetic fibers and latex backing.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Parachute’s certified fair trade wool rugs are made in a factory that meets rigorous social, environmental, and economic standards Many items are also Craftmark certified as handmade by traditional artisans.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Parachute is a Climate Neutral Certified company, compensating for its footprint with verified carbon credits. The company has a circular program—the recycled down pillow, made of sanitized down from returned Parachute pillows.
Salam Hello
About Salam Hello
Price Range: $275–$1,842
Salam Hello brings Fair Trade Moroccan rugs from the Atlas Mountains directly to the United States. Founded by Mallory Solomon, Salam (Arabic for “peace”) Hello connects directly with Moroccan women to bring their one-of-a-kind rugs to market with full price transparency and fair wages.
Every rug is different, designed entirely from the artisan’s imagination. The symbols on Naima’s Family-Made Hanbel depict protection from evil, strength, beauty, and respect, to name just a few. The rug itself was woven by Naima’s sisters-in-law, aunts, and cousins—truly a family affair.
Let’s not forget Salam Hello’s range of handmade Boucherouite Moroccan rugs, crafted from a mix of yarn, recycled clothing, and textile scraps.
Salam Hello’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
These hand braided fair trade rugs are made with sheep, goat, or camel wool. The artisans use “live wool”, which means it’s taken from live animals, without harm.
The wool is then washed, carded, brushed, handspun into yarn, and dyed using local, naturally sourced spice, plant, and herb blends. For example, olive leaves turn the wool a light green color while henna leaves create an earthy red.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Salam Hello meets every artisan face-to-face. They ask the women to share the stories behind their textiles and involve them in negotiations to ensure they’re fairly compensated for their time and labor, never offering below an artisan’s asking price.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Each rug is crafted from start to finish by a single artisan using a wooden loom and hammer comb. Completed rugs are cut off the looms on days corresponding to the cycle of the moon, then washed, dried, and brushed by hand.
Community & charitable giving:
Solomon hopes to help Berber women expand their business and puts 10% of profits back into their communities and provide them with tools to support their rug-making.
The Citizenry
About The Citizenry
Price Range: $399–$4,589
The Citizenry offers a wide selection of handwoven rugs including area rugs, runners, and accent rugs. There are also hand-knotted rugs, such as the Lalita hand-knotted area rug made using the finest New Zealand wool in a Fair Trade workshop in Bhadohi, India. Multiple sizes are available for all the different rugs and there are various colors to choose from.
The Citizenry also sells rug pads made from felt and natural rubber.
The Citizenry’s Ethical & Sustainable Practices
Materials:
Various materials are used, including wool, cotton, and natural jute. The wool is ethically sourced, protecting the welfare of animals at every step of the process.
Supply chain & labor practices:
The Citizenry is the first home retailer to have 100% of products (like sustainable cushions) made with a Fair Trade process, audited and guaranteed by the World Fair Trade Organization. On average, workers are paid 2x the fair trade wage requirement.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
To help consumers save money and to prevent returned items from ending up in landfill, there is a program called Second Home. The platform gives resale and good-as-new returns a second home, all up to 35% off.
Community & charitable giving:
The Citizenry believes in supporting their artisan communities and reinvests 10% of profits to help their artisan partners take their crafts and businesses to new places.
Burrow
About Burrow
Price Range: $185–$899
The founders of Burrow wanted to take a new approach to furniture because they were frustrated with having to make compromises between quality, affordability, and convenience.
Initially, this non-toxic furniture brand’s focus was on modular designs made using premium, durable materials that would last for years.
But it wasn’t long before they expanded their inventory to include rugs. They come in a range of earthy colors and sizes and all of them, including the Prairie Modern Rug are made from 100% recycled polyester, with a hand-tufted texture that balances feel with vacuum-friendly properties.
Burrow’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
All of Burrow’s performance rugs are made using 100% recycled polyester fibers. Burrow’s furniture uses sustainably sourced hardwood and non-toxic fabrics.
Supply chain & labor practices:
While furniture pieces are actually made in the USA, they also partner with a heritage rug maker in India to craft rugs by hand, contributing to an ethical economy in rural areas, providing quality jobs with high standards for working conditions.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
The modular design of Burrow furniture means items can be packed into manageable boxes and shipped just like a normal package. Recyclable packaging materials also help to keep their footprint low.
Loomy
About Loomy
Price Range: $348–$10,500
If you’re looking for “the right way to rug”, Loomy provides the solution by enabling you to buy ethical rugs directly from the artisan creators.
Choose from a selection of outdoor rugs, and luxury vintage rugs (such as the one-of-a-kind Auburn Vintage rug), or customize your perfect Loomy area rug, accent rug, or runner.
Loomy’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Loomy uses natural fibers such as wool, jute, cotton, and hemp. Select rugs are made from a blend of wool and viscose fabric, which we suggest avoiding if you can since viscose isn’t the most sustainable semi-synthetic fabric.
Loomy’s collection of outdoor rugs is made from PET, a man-made fiber made from yarn spun from recycled plastics (e.g. plastic bottles and other waste from our oceans).
Supply chain & labor practices:
This non-toxic rug brand works with family-owned, small manufacturers in India, Turkey, Portugal, Nepal, and Morocco and ensures products are produced with fair labor and fair market conditions.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
5 billion pounds of rugs go to waste each year—amounting to 2% of the total US landfill mass. Loomy instead offers heirloom quality products made using a small batch, handmade process to provide rugs you can pass on.
EI Ocotal Weavers
About EI Ocotal Weavers
Price Range: $71.94–$131.94
El Ocotal Weavers is a collective of women who live and work in the small village in the mountains above Matagalpa, Nicaragua, one of the poorest regions in the Western Hemisphere.
The collective was started by a mother-and-daughter team Ivy and Carol Blackmore. There was no weaving tradition in the village but Carol brought a loom from the United States and they started teaching basic weaving skills. More looms were added and the weavers and their families built their workshop with the help of a grant.
You’ll find rugs in striking colors including coral, amber, cream, and sage in styles of runner rugs, and area rugs made using cotton warp and recycled fabric. Placemats and table runners are also part of the selection.
EI Ocotal Weavers Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
The weavers use a cotton warp and recycled cloth usually sourced from used clothing stores in the city of Matagalpa. Because they use recycled cloth, their products include a range of natural and recycled synthetic fabrics.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Prices are determined through consultation with the weavers to ensure they are receiving fair payment for their products.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
The collective is working towards implementing sustainable land management practices on several acres of land they own. Products are shipped in cardboard packaging to reduce plastic waste and one of their US offices is powered primarily by solar power.
Dawn is an avid animal lover and vegetarian currently living as self-sufficiently as is possible in the beautiful country of Bulgaria. She made this move from the UK ten years ago with the desire to better understand and experience living life sustainably and low-waste. Dawn is an ardent advocate for sustainability, using her writing as a platform to address critical issues and ignite a passion for impactful solutions in others.
