Close your eyes and picture your perfect space. The walls are the right color, and the furnishings are exquisite. Every detail is how you envisioned it. Now look down. What are your toes squished into? A rug, but not just any rug. A vintage, antique beauty in soft, muted colors, with rich texture and distressed design, perfect for your modern home.
Now open your eyes. Look around your space. What’s missing?
A rug from District Loom is, of course. You need a quintessential piece to pull everything together and create your ideal space. You don’t want some cheap, manufactured rug that everyone else has; you want a one-of-a-kind showpiece. You need a rug that checks all those design and decorating boxes but can also stand up to your kids, dogs, and, well, life.
When District Loom’s Owner/Founder, Heather Leroux Cade, launched her business in December 2018, her mission was to offer authentic, handmade, heirloom vintage and antique rugs that stand out as the design feature in any room and withstand the rigors of everyday life. Cade has always been a decorator. When she was a kid, her mom let her redesign her room every year. But her scientific brain won out on the career choice when she became a nurse practitioner. She never lost her passion or eye for design, though, and in a “great resignation” move, she finally quit her job to become an antique rug merchant.
District Loom started as an answer to Cade’s frustration trying to find rugs for her own home. She knew that even though her background wasn’t in interior design or textiles, she had a good eye and passion for learning. Over the past few years, Cade has evolved District Loom and developed trusted international trade partnerships to obtain ethically sourced, on-trend rugs. District Loom imports rugs from all over the world, as well as curating U.S. finds. On a rolling basis, it presents its best treasures to shoppers through its online market and brick-and-mortar store. It features a concierge shopping experience rather than the old-school rug gallery approach.
District Loom doesn’t produce rugs, it acquires vintage and antique rugs. Their supply chain is a sourcing one, not a production one. Handmade, vintage rugs are more durable than machine-made due to their natural fibers and hand knotted technique. District Loom curates mostly wool rugs. Sheep’s wool contains lanolin, a natural stain and water repellent, which offers a higher level of protection than polyester, machine-made rugs. And because its business model revolves around the “use what you have” concept, it sources antique rugs that will last and not add waste to the world. It enjoys a partnership with CarbonClick who offsets carbon emissions related to shipping and Eden Reforestation Projects that plants 100 trees per every 1 rug sold.
District Loom’s focus on timeless design, authenticated quality, sustainability, and unique finds landed it a partnership with one of Cade’s favorite stores and powerhouse retailer, Anthropologie. District Loom’s line is a boho-femme, more affordable one-of-a-kind vintage Turkish collection. Other notable past and present collaborative collections with industry-leading designers include collections with Lauren Liess, Zoe Feldman, and Unique Kitchens and Baths. District Loom also recently curated an authentic antique collection for The Expert, with the collaboration starting in Fall 2022.
Located in Bozeman, Montana, District Loom provides additional items, like their antique rug remnant handmade pillows. Its services include offering expertise to trade and design-minded individuals. One unique service is their Memo program which provides a check-out option for locals to try rugs in their homes free of charge. District Loom’s pricing is competitive, offering inventory at all price points.
One of District Loom’s favorite parts of acquiring antique and vintage rugs is learning a bit of their story. From motifs to types of knots to tones and shapes of the rugs, the rug merchant knows the more worn and the richer the past, the more unique and gorgeous the rug. The thought of each rug’s journey adds to the thrill of finding the beautiful creations.
The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Apartment Therapy, and Mountain Living Magazine have all featured District Loom. Visit them on Instagram (@districtloom) and Facebook to see luscious photos and videos for inspiration and nuggets of knowledge.
It’s time to finish your perfect room by rolling out that one-of-a-kind, this-rug-is-made-for-this-space vintage find that can withstand the tests of time and life. It’s time to visit District Loom.
