Carpet Sculpture Training Weblog

By Jerry Grillo

Your mother always warned you not to leave any footprints on the carpet. She never said anything about carpet leaving its footprint on you. But it already has, in so many ways.

There’s the economic footprint Georgia’s enormous carpet industry is leaving on the state, especially the Northwest region, and the aesthetic footprint it leaves on the nation and the world:

- The carpet and flooring industry employs more than 45,000 workers in Georgia with a payroll topping $4 billion - the largest of any manufacturing sector in the state.

- The world’s four largest carpet companies, and seven of the 14 largest, are located in Georgia (Shaw Industries, Mohawk Industries, Beaulieu of America, Interface, Milliken, J&J Industries, Collins & Aikman Floorcoverings).

- More than 80 percent of the U.S. carpet market - which supplies 45 percent of the world’s carpet - is controlled by mills located within a 65-mile radius of Dalton. That equals about $10 billion in business activity within a golden tufted circle.

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