Before you buy an expensive viscose rug there are certain things you need to know. Viscose weather marketed under the term rayon which is also sold as viscose is one of the weakest fibers out there and it's also one of the fibers that are used to create artificial silk or art silk. The problem is the Viscose fabric is weak, yellows, it loses color and it gets really ugly really fast. Viscose is made from paper pulp and it's put through a magical process that makes the paper pulp soft, shiny, and fuzzy. This is why Viscose will yellow with just water, it has cellulose content, and that cellulose will yellow or brown with contact from liquids.
You can tell the difference between a silk rug and an art silk rug also known as artificial silk by the thickness of the material itself. High-quality silk rugs are not only very thin and flexible but also incredibly detailed due to the number of knot counts per square inch, sort of like thread counts on expensive sheets. A typical art silk rug or viscose is thick the pile is flat looking and there's no shiny sheen of what you see on a true silk rug. A true silk rug is also very dense. They are thin but heavy.
A viscose rayon fiber will yellow with moisture and sunlight and this means a simple water spill on the rug will create what looks like a yellow pet urine stain. In addition, it is a weak fiber and it will shed easily as well as mat easily as the nap of the fibers gets more and more distorted from walking on it.
The real problem with viscose is that it's rayon. It is a fiber made of wood pulp and cellulose waste by-products. These fibers go through a very nasty chemical process to make them soft and have a sheen. The rayon making process is so toxic that it has been banned in the United States. Rug makers said "Hello" to India.
So basically, you bought an expensive rug that for all intents and purposes is made of shiny fuzzy paper. Of course spills or pet accidents...foot traffic. Anything short of sealing the paper in plastic is just going to wear on it rapidly.
The other problem is that if you bought a very expensive viscose rug on the advice of your designer or salesperson, you have actually been misled. Viscose is NOT silk. Viscose is not even artificial silk. You spent a lot of money on a fuzzy piece of wood pulp to put on your floor.
Be careful of the many different names given to viscose to mislead customers, art silk, bamboo silk, banana silk, man-made silk, lyocel, tencil, and faux silk.
We consider Viscose rugs a specialty fiber and we can clean viscose, however, it's more expensive per square foot than wool area rug cleaning. Viscose rugs MUST be cleaned at our facility where we have total control of the environment. Give us a call to discuss your Viscose rug cleaning.
Don't believe it? Here is an article by the FTC banning bamboo-rayon clothing from the USA.