Gulistan, a time-honored name, has a long & rich history of over 80 years of service as a premium manufacturer of fine (medium to high-end) carpets. Carpeting is a fashion product that should bring warmth, beauty and a sense of pride to homes and businesses, and we have a reputation for creating the most beautifully finished carpets in the floor covering industry.

At Gulistan we care about quality, style & tradition. Our backing system, Dura-bak, boasts a premium performance rating, and our fibers (all type 6,6 nylon) are Stainmaster or Wear-Dated branded. Top quality raw materials allow us to produce quality products customers expect.

“Signature Dealers” are our most stellar retail outlets. They, along with independent dealers and national chains, give us our marketplace strength. We’re proud of our loyal customers and strive to find new ways to service them and optimize their growth.

Gulistan operates three facilities in North Carolina with an over 600-member workforce.

In 2005 Gulistan ventured back to its original passion - RUGS.

Our founders began selling oriental rugs in Freehold, New Jersey in 1924. With the advent of tufting, Gulistan Carpet moved its manufacturing effort to Aberdeen (N.C.) and closed it’s Freehold plant, a move made famous when Bruce Springsteen alluded to the Freehold plant’s closing in his song “My Hometown.” Springsteen’s father Douglas, once worked at the mill. Some rugs from that plant were donated to the Monmouth County Historical Association Museum and remain there today.

The “Gulistan Rug & Home” Collection, launched Surfaces 2004 with great success, includes a stunning array of woven polypropylene, wool, tufted Stainmaster nylon, washable scatter rugs, and a comprehensive package of outdoor mats. This collection offers distinguished products that appeal to the fashion-conscious consumer and are natural extensions of our broadloom offerings.

 

History

Gulistan Carpet began manufacturing under the Gulistan name in 1924, but the company’s roots go back to an Armenian textile importer who founded a business in Turkey in 1818. His only children, Arshag and Miran Karagheusian, inherited their father’s business. The brothers moved to London in 1896 and stated an import-export business but soon relocated to the United States.

Their first Oriental, or “Persian”, rug shipment arrived in the U.S. from Turkey in 1899, and New Yorkers flocked to the Karagheusian company showroom, decorated by Tiffany Studios.

The brothers bought a factory in Freehold, New Jersey in 1904 and traveled to Kidderminster, England, the capital of British carpet manufacturing, to bring sixty Brussels and Wilton power looms -- plus the weavers to run them -- to Freehold (the factory operated from 1905-1961).

The company introduced the “Gulistan DeLuxe” rug collection in 1924. “Gulistan” (the title of a thirteenth century Persian poem) means “garden of roses” in Persian. During World War II, Gulistan produced duck cloth for the war effort instead of carpet. In 1946, the company published the Gulistan News Bulletin for its customers. The Gulistan brand surpassed the company name (Karagheusian) and was applied to all products.

Gulistan purchased its Aberdeen, N.C. plant in 1957. In 1964, J.P. Stevens & Company purchased A&M Karagheusian and the Gulistan name. In 1988, JPS Textile Group, Inc. purchased the firm, and the division became JPS Carpet Corp. In 1995, in-house mill executives bought the company and renamed it “Gulistan Carpet, Inc.”

On August 28, 2003, Hampton Capital Partners, LLC, purchased the company, renaming it “Gulistan Carpet.” Hampton’s investors include Ronile, inc., a Rocky Mount, Virginia-based supplier of dyed yarns to the floor covering industry and the owner of Bacova Guild, Ltd., a leading supplier of rugs, mats and bath products.

At Surfaces 2004 in Las Vegas, Gulistan Carpet unveiled its line of high-fashion rugs for the home. The collection includes full-size woven rugs as well as washable scatter rugs and outdoor mats.

Gulistan Carpet operates North Carolina plants in Aberdeen (main plant), Turnersburg (yarn processing) and Wagram (dyeing).