Which is more socially responsible: a machine made or hand made rug?
I didn't realize that buying rugs had anything to do with being socially responsible. There is nothing made better than a hand made rug. It increases in value when properly maintained and adds much to the beauty of a home. Machine made rugs are mostly junk. There really isn't a choice. I ony buy hand made rugs.
Socially responsible? Never with a rug, does not even make sense. Look when buying a rug, spend a littel extra money on a handmade rug. It is more durable, it will last hundred of years if taken care of. I have three Persian rugs that are over 100 years old. They are solid and beautiful. In my girls room I have a man made pottery barn kids rug. Every time I vac the girls rug it gets sheared from the vacuum and is falling apart after one year. This happened as well from a rug from JCPenney. Good luck!
Child labor is so frowned upon in the rug importing community, it's rather difficult to find products made with child labor anymore. Many higher end handmade rug manufacturers and importers actually sponsor schools and housing for their workers' families - see Rugmark and Care Fair. Machine made rugs tend to be of lower quality, and while I wouldn't necessarily say they put people out of work, they do require a lot of energy to run the power looms. Old fashioned hand knotted rugs made on wooden looms are pretty much carbon neutral, and if you buy the ones made with vegetable dyes, they're really quite ethical, relatively speaking.
