Broadly speaking, today’s carpet fiber market is characterized by two great divides-between low-cost PET filament and the higher-performing nylons, and between branded and unbranded fibers.

Back in 2000, staple nylon, which was already losing share, accounted for 33% of all nylon carpet fiber consumption, and last year it ended up at less than 4%. Polyester (PET) had a 7% share back ...