Carpet fiber is made from nylon, polyester, polypropylene or wool fibers. The type of fiber and color of the fiber used in the construction play a role in the style, cost and performance of the carpet product. All carpet yarn is manufactured from either staple or continuous filament fiber.

Staple fiber is a series of short, 6 to 7 inches in length, strings spun together to form one continuous filament. Several of these are twisted together to form a strand of yarn.

Continuous filament is manufactured as one long string. These are twisted and heatset together to form a strand of yarn. Both of these processes create yarns that produce carpet products with distinctly different looks and characteristics.