After a near three-year legal process, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) determined that PTT, the fiber used in Mohawk SmartStrand carpets and previously classified simply as polyester, merits its own subclass. The ruling comes in response to a petition jointly initiated by Mohawk Industries and DuPont in 2006.

Going forward, the fiber will be referred to as triexta, which is marketed by DuPont under the trademark Sorona.

The two companies petitioned the FTC to establish a new polyester fiber subclass for triexta after independent testing and retailer and consumer testimonials revealed the yarn takes durability, stain resistance and softness to a new level and shares with polyester little more than a chemical structure.

The ruling is significant for the carpet industry as a whole. This is the first extension approved by the FTC for textiles in five years and the first for residential carpet since nylon in June 1959.

For Mohawk, the FTC ruling validated what the manufacturer says it has been seeing and hearing from retailers and salespeople across the country: “This product is truly different in what the retailer has historically experienced in polyester,” said Tom Lape, president of the company’s Residential division. “Most importantly, we have what we believe to be the most substantial third party, the FTC, agree with our representation of how different triexta is from the ordinary polyester products on the market today.”

Ralph Boe, president and CEO of Beaulieu of America, said even though his company does not currently market PTT, the ruling “carries on polyester’s growth. Triexta is a polyester, so I think it will help retailers who carry PET as well. That’s where carpet’s growth has been over the last couple of years, and it will continue.”
Lape noted, “This will help retailers who are still on the sidelines and give more confidence to those who got on early.”