A Brief History

1950-1985

In the 1950's, two brothers Abdullah and Nasser Al-Sorayai began importing hand knotted and machine woven rugs into Saudi Arabia from other Middle Eastern and Far Eastern countries. In the 1960's and 1970's, the American and European tufted carpet industries were born and began to produce carpet that was accepted well in Saudi Arabia. The Al-Sorayai brothers soon became the leading tufted carpet importers in the Saudi Arabian market.

1985

The decision was made to begin manufacturing in Saudi Arabia. The Company purchased new Van De Wiele Jacquard Wilton looms along with all the necessary auxiliary equipment and began producing polypropylene and acrylic woven rugs. At the same time, the company began installing new loop tufting machines and producing polypropylene carpet for the Saudi Arabian market. Both of these operations were expanded yearly to meet the demands of the market.

1992

The company moved into residential carpet manufacture with the construction of a new state of the art factory to produce level loop printed carpet, cut and loop carpet, scroll patterned carpet, and nylon saxony cut pile carpet. In the middle of the decade, dye becks were added to provide polyester saxony cut pile carpet to the product lines. As new technology was added, experienced technicians were brought into the company to keep the machinery operating at peak efficiency.

1996

The dryer on the printing line was enlarged to permit loop carpet to be printed at a rate of one 35 LM roll per minute, making it one of the fastest carpet printing machines in the world. The company also opened a polypropylene and nylon yarn extrusion plant, the Jeddah Industrial Yarn Factory (JIYFCO). It was built with the very latest technology available and to produce the highest quality yarn possible.

1997

The Mattex Division began production. This division extrudes and processes its own yarn and weaves the best primary and secondary polypropylene backing available today to the carpet industry. A portion of this production is being sold in a number of countries worldwide.

1998

The company began producing the plastic material used to wrap the carpet rolls and placed an order for the machinery to produce paper cores used in forming the rolls of carpet. No American or European carpet manufacturer was integrated to this extent.

1999

The Company began backing tufted carpet on a new finishing range that was considered the largest carpet range in the world. It had more drying area than any dryer ever built. It had the largest carpet shearing machine in the world according to its manufacturer. With fully automatic cutting and wrapping machine for the finished rolls, it was 50% faster than the two existing finishing ranges combined. The existing range was converted to also allow the application of a gel foam backing directly to the carpet. It was also used for applying other types of backing to the carpet as changing trends and demands were noted in the market.