I Tried Two DTC Washable Rugs to Fit My Home’s Different Design Needs

If there’s been any trend in rugs the past several years outside of checkerboard or Moroccan, it’s washable. Everyone with a dog, child, or tendency to spill red wine while gesturing too much during a dramatic episode of reality television wants a rug they can’t ruin.

First popularized by Ruggable a few years ago, washable rugs are flooding the market right now, but they also can get a bad rap; they’re often associated with cheaper, nonnatural materials, meaning that the very thing that makes them ideal also lowers their value. So I set out to test two from each side of the spectrum: those marketed toward people with children, and those aiming for a slightly higher-end design experience that just want something they know they can clean for sure in the future.

The Kid-Friendly Brand: Tumble

Tumble, a direct-to-consumer brand launched in 2021 by a consultant and a home furnishing executive, set up their company with the intent to fill holes left in the market by other washable rug companies. "After speaking with dozens of customers and analyzing thousands of reviews, we identified common pain points like insufficient cushioning, curling corners, and challenges in keeping the rugs flat," the brand’s cofounders told Entrepreneur magazine. "Although many washable rugs were marketed as convenient, the reality often involved heavy furniture rearrangement, turning a simple task into a hassle. To address this, we not only focused on making our rugs stain-resistant but also prioritized developing safer, nontoxic materials and earning environmental certifications that ensure they’re safe for children and pets." The rugs come in lots of different patterns, many of which mimic the lived-in, distressed, it’s-already-vintage style that is so popular these days, but are also abstract and geometric, largely in relatively muted colors.

As noted on the brand’s FAQ page, Tumble rugs actually will fit in a home washing machine, while many washable rugs won’t. (This will come into play in my test later.) But because of all the problems the brand is trying to solve, its rugs are a very specific type of product. While there’s a faux fur option, so far, the rest of the rugs Tumble sells are flat and untextured, relying more on pattern for design than texture. They also come with a padded mat underneath them, much like activity mats for children. In this way, though Tumble only launched a specific kids’ line last year, the rugs—regardless of which category they’re placed in on the website—are perfect for use in a nursery or playroom.

Which is exactly what I got mine for. The sample the company sent for me to test is essentially a really good-looking play mat—and I mean that as a compliment. I chose the Fez in 8 x 10’ for my daughter’s room, which retails for $389, and is 100 percent polyester, and soon it was on its way. The box it arrived in was big, and flat—it’s heavy, but we all know how rugs work. In this case, however, it’s not actually the rug itself that is heavy, but Tumble’s locking mats—which you can simply wipe down, should they need cleaning—that go below it.

The rug comes with clear instructions on how to put it together—the mat comprises puzzle pieces that must be placed in a specific order—and on how to affix it in the corners to keep it from moving further. True to their word, there is no slippage here. And though the website said it would fit under the clearance of most doors, we had to situate ours further into the room than I would have liked for now (the door is too low on its hinges, which we’ll adjust later).

Once you put furniture on top of your Tumble rug, there’s really no moving it, so though I can wash it in our washer, I can’t imagine wanting to move everything to get it up and then put it back in place. I accidentally stepped on it in muddy shoes though, and once the footprint dried, it vacuumed right up without a mark. Besides the keeping it clean aspect, the best part is how it is essentially a play mat that looks good—a challenge they’ve risen to meet for sure.

The Ones That Don’t Look Washable: Revival

Founded a few years before Tumble, Revival is another player in the DTC rug world, one that cuts down on costs by cutting out the middleman of wholesalers and retailers. It was founded by players from Brooklinen and Blueground, and while they sell many regular rugs, washable rugs soon became one of their offerings. "Something we hear from customers time and again is that they appreciate that our rugs are washable, but don’t look washable," the company says on its website.

For our guest room, I wanted a substantial, adult rug, but one I knew I’d be able to clean, as it was in a high-traffic area. So I went with the graphic Taylor in Moss in an 8 x 10’, which the company describes as a "soft, high-pile washable wool rug" sourced from New Zealand and India. It sells for $749. It arrived rolled up, and was very heavy; the UPS person who delivered it actually came and checked that we were home before bringing it to the door.

The Taylor, which is high-pile, feels great; exactly like any "normal" rug you’d find, and looks it too. There’s no interlocking rug puzzle piece set, and though they do recommend a rug pad for their washables because they are thinner than the regular ones to allow for pliability, though they’re not so thin you’d notice any difference as a non-rug expert. One thing to know is even though this rug can be put in a washing machine, that’s not a washing machine you’d (likely, I guess I don’t know your life) have at home. The size I got is large enough that I’ll need to take it to a commercial washer to get it cleaned because my washing machine at home won’t be able to handle it (specifically an 80-pound washer at minimum). One might think then: what’s the point? To me, it’s the flexibility to know it can be cleaned, even if it would be a bit of a hassle to do it, and that if you spot wash it, the fabric will be forgiving. So far it’s been holding up great to vacuuming, and hasn’t required even a spot treatment.

Though the brand notes that shedding can happen for the first several months (and a friend who actually got rid of a Revival rug had complained about this to me) I haven’t noticed it at all. In fact, nothing about the rug screams washable at all—which was exactly what I was going for.

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