What coir is, and how coir mats are made

Coir is the coarse fiber from the husk of a coconut: the layer between the outer skin and the shell. It is stiff, springy and takes water without falling apart, which is why it has been the doormat fiber for well over a century. It is the only material we sell. This guide covers what the fiber is, the four ways it becomes a mat, and what it does well and badly.

From husk to fiber

Coconuts are grown for their meat, water and oil. The husk is left over, so coir is a byproduct: a fiber that would otherwise be waste, made with no petroleum feedstock. The fibers are cleaned and sorted, then either set upright in a dense brush pile or spun into yarn and woven. Our mats are made in India, the center of the world's coir trade.

Each strand is far stiffer than a carpet fiber. Pressed against a sole, thousands of them flex, get into the tread and brush grit loose, and the grit drops down into the pile where the next shoe cannot pick it up. That is the whole job of a doormat, and nothing at a door does it better.

Four ways coir becomes a mat

Vinyl-backed: a brush on a non-slip back

Coir fibers stand on end, tips up, set into a vinyl back. Every step meets the stiffest part of the strand, so this is the hardest-scraping coir mat. The back grips tile, wood and sealed concrete, keeps grit from sifting through to the floor, and holds every fiber at a cut edge. That last point is why our custom cuts are all vinyl-backed: the mat can be cut square to any size, to the half inch, and the edge stays put.

The vinyl-backed doormat is ½″ thick, low enough for most doors to swing over, in ten sizes from a 17 × 30 in step mat to a 3 × 12 ft runner. Cut to size, it comes ½″, ⅝″, ¾″, 1″ or 1¼″ thick.

Woven-backed: coir all the way through

The pile is woven through a back of coir yarn on a handloom, and the edges are woven and bound by hand. There is no vinyl or rubber anywhere in the mat, so water drains through and it dries from both sides. A woven-backed mat is heavy enough to lie flat without a grip layer: a 3 × 5 ft mat weighs 20 lb or more. It comes 1″ or 2″ thick, from a 14 × 24 in step mat to 4 × 6 ft.

Weaved: coir rope

Instead of a cut pile, the fiber is twisted into thick rope and woven back on itself, a full inch thick, with no backing. Every ridge is a scraping edge and mud falls through the open weave. The weaved mats are the roughest scrapers we sell.

Matting: coir by the roll

Coir is also woven flat into matting and sold by the roll, for aisles, corridors, stages and long walkways: ½″ woven matting 50 yards long in six widths from 18″ to 72″, and 6 ft rolls of vinyl-backed coir for cutting on site. Rolls travel by freight, so we quote them to your ZIP before anything is ordered. See rolls and matting.

What coir is not good at

• Standing water. Coir tolerates rain if it can dry. A mat that stays soaked weakens at the base of the fiber and sheds. Under a roof or an overhang, coir lasts for years; out in the open, a rubber mat is the better choice. Coir, rubber or synthetic sets out where each one wins.
• Full sun. Sun pales coir from gold toward wheat. That is only color, but years of all-day sun dry the fiber until it turns brittle.
• The first few weeks. Every new coir mat sheds loose fiber, then settles. Caring for a coir mat says what is normal and what is not.

Coir and the environment

The fiber itself is renewable and biodegradable. Be exact about the back, though. A woven-backed mat is natural fiber through and through. A vinyl-backed mat has a PVC layer that does not break down; it is what buys the grip, the moisture barrier and the clean cut edge. If a mat that composts at the end of its life matters most, choose woven-backed.

Will coir mark the floor?

Coir will not scratch a floor: the fiber is stiff, but far softer than wood, stone or tile. Two cautions. A dyed mat that stays wet can leave a little color on pale, porous stone, and any mat that traps water underneath can mark wood over time. A vinyl back stops water passing through; with a woven-backed mat on a sealed indoor floor, lift it to dry after wet weather.

Choosing between them? Choosing a coir mat goes through backing, thickness and size in order.