Afghan Kilim & Tribal Rugs

Fair trade you can see

Most Afghan rugs reach America through a chain: a collector who buys in the village, a dealer in the provincial town, an exporter across the border in Pakistan, a wholesaler in the United States, then the store. Every link takes a margin, and the weaver, who spent months at the loom, is paid first and paid least, usually whatever the collector offers that day. I buy as close to the loom as a rug allows, from the weaving families and the small workshops that work with them, and the agreed price goes to the people who made the rug, not to a middleman harvesting their work.

That is fair trade as we practice it: not a certificate on a tag, but a buyer who shows up, sees the loom and the people at it, pays them properly, and comes back the next year. We also commission new weaving in the sizes and quieter colors American rooms ask for, so the craft keeps paying the families who hold it, and especially the women who do much of the weaving.

Why I go myself

We keep our own full-time team in Afghanistan, my own family, who buy, inspect, wash and ship for us all year. I still go. A dealer's photo shows you what the dealer wants you to see; standing in the workshop shows you what is true. This market cannot be verified from Chicago. A hand-spun, vegetable-dyed Ghazni wool rug and a mill-spun, chemical-dyed copy look alike on a screen and cost very different money at the loom, and a rug woven in Afghanistan often leaves the region wearing a Made in Pakistan label. Seeing the work is the only way to know what you are paying for, to make sure the weavers were paid, and to keep our prices below what a store buying through importers has to charge.

Because of my past work with the U.S. military, these trips are harder for me than for most buyers. I make them anyway. Nothing on this page would be true if I did not.

Three trips in 2026

February, twice. North from Kabul through the Salang Pass in heavy snow, with only a trickle of traffic allowed through the tunnel, to buy in the weaving towns of the north and see the looms at work. August. The third trip of the year, on the road to Andkhoy and Aqcha, the rug-weaving capitals of Afghanistan, where the Turkmen families who weave Khal Mohammadi, Ersari and Aqcha rugs live and work: rugs bought, new weaving contracted, production checked and the shipment to Chicago arranged.

Earlier trips, 2021 to 2024

Kabul, 2021: buying and inspecting under COVID travel restrictions. Mazar-e-Sharif, 2023: the northern market, where Baluch and Turkmen pieces are traded. Kabul, August 2024: the finishing yard, where every rug goes through the dusting drum, a pre-wash, trimming, one last inspection and rolling for shipment; our Kabul team sat for a portrait that month on a Mamluk-design rug. November 2024: the second trip of that year, following the route rugs take from village workshops to the border, with a transit stop in Peshawar, the city most Afghan rugs pass through on their way out and the reason so many of them end up labeled Made in Pakistan. Ours are labeled where they were woven.

What you will find in this collection

• Kazak rugs: bold geometric medallions in brick red, navy and ivory on a thick hand-spun pile; the Afghan weaving of the old Caucasian designs.
• Chobi and Ziegler rugs: vegetable dyes and a soft antique wash in ivory, rust, sage and faded blue; the most asked-for Afghan rug for modern living rooms.
• Khal Mohammadi and Ersari rugs: deep reds and the classic repeating gul, woven by Turkmen families in the north.
• Baluch rugs: small tribal pieces and prayer rugs in dark red, brown and blue.
• Herati and other allover designs: the fine repeating rosette-and-leaf pattern, mostly in room sizes.
• Aqcha, Mauri and Bokhara rugs: the finest Turkmen knotting, small guls on red or ivory grounds.
• Afghan kilims, including Maimana: flatwoven and reversible, light enough to roll under one arm; right for dining rooms, halls and layering over carpet.

Sizes run from 2x3 mats and 2'6 x 10 runners to 9x12, 10x14 and larger room rugs, and we weave custom sizes to order. Every listing gives the measured size to the inch, honest condition notes and photos taken in daylight.

Why buy an Afghan rug here

• Direct import. We buy in Afghanistan and sell to you, so the same quality costs less than at a store buying through importers. Prices are marked on every rug, and we match the price of the same rug at any legitimate seller.
• Real provenance. When a rug here says Made in Afghanistan, it was woven in Afghanistan, by people we know.
• Inspected twice. Once in Kabul before it ships, again on our floor before it is listed.
• Try it at home. Take a rug home on approval from either showroom; online orders ship free in the U.S. with 30-day returns.
• The right pad, cut to the rug. Every rug page offers a Durahold Plus felt-and-rubber pad trimmed to that rug's size.
• Cleaning and repair. We clean and repair handmade rugs at our Chicago and Evanston showrooms, with methods suited to wool and natural dyes.
• Personal help. Message me for a daylight video of any rug, a side-by-side of two you are deciding between, or sizing advice for your room.

Ask me about any rug. Chat with us, or text a photo of your room to 847-863-1249 (Evanston) or 312-868-1898 (Chicago), and I will tell you plainly what fits. Or come and walk on them: 600 Dempster St, Evanston, and 4815 N Western Ave in Lincoln Square, Chicago.