An application of fashion cycle methodology to change in residential floor coverings, 1950-2000

Abstract

Established research methods for investigating stylistic change were applied to a consumer product category outside the arena of clothing or personal appearance. Residential carpet sales expanded in the United States with the post-1945 growth of tufted carpet manufacturing, but by the 1990s, as consumers and builders made other floor covering choices, carpet sales were suffering. Quantitative content analysis of 1033 pictures in two consumer interior decorating magazines counted depictions (within room types) of single and combined floor covering surfaces (wall-to-wall carpeting, room-sized and area rugs, and wood, ceramic/stone and vinyl floors), as well as visual carpet structures (average cut pile, shag, loop, and sculptured) and colour-differentiated patterns (no pattern, shaded pattern, and pronounced pattern). Graphed results presented some visual patterning that reflected accepted definitions of inclining and declining trends, normal (bell-shaped curve) fashion cycles, and classic (flattened curve) fashions. Significant correlation statistics suggested cycling in structural appearance categories, and colour-differentiated categories.