Questions, answered

Every catalog piece is woven for you after you order. You choose the design and the size, our weavers in the Middle Atlas make it, and we ship it to your door. Production times by size are below; you’ll get clear updates while your piece is on the loom. Questions at any point go to hello@zarbish.com. We reply within 24 hours, usually in 4 to 6.

Typical production by size: 3 x 5 to 4 x 6 ft, 3-4 weeks. 5 x 8 to 6 x 9 ft, 4-5 weeks. 8 x 10 to 9 x 12 ft, 5-6 weeks. Larger than 9 x 12 ft, 6-8 weeks. Runners, 3-4 weeks. Delivery adds 3-7 business days after production. During peak periods handweaving can take longer; if your timeline will differ, we tell you before you order, not after. We’d rather give you the honest number than the fast one.

Yes. Clear timelines and clear updates at every production stage, from order confirmation to shipping with tracking.

In our workshop in Beni Mrirt, in Morocco’s Middle Atlas, where women weave by hand. Every Zarbish design is woven in this one workshop.

Yes. Any catalog design, any size. Choose custom size on the product page and enter your dimensions; the price calculates automatically. Before production starts, you’ll confirm your exact dimensions in writing, so there’s never a surprise. Custom sizes are made to your spec, so they can’t be returned; the written confirmation is your protection. Handwork has a finishing tolerance of 3 to 4 cm (about 1.2 to 1.6 in) on the confirmed dimensions.

When in doubt, go bigger. The most common rug mistake is sizing down, and a rug that’s too small shrinks the whole room. The rule designers use: the front legs of your furniture should sit on the rug. Start with our Size Guide, room-by-room layouts with real dimensions. A good trick: tape the size out on your floor and live with it for a day. And if the right size isn’t standard, we make any size.

We ship worldwide, free, from Morocco. If your country isn’t in our checkout list, contact us and we’ll arrange it. We can’t ship to P.O. boxes, and addresses can’t change after shipment.

Free, worldwide, on every order.

US: no. You pay zero import duty, and the price you see at checkout is the final price, with nothing due at your door. Elsewhere it depends on where you are. These are typical estimates; the final amount is set by your customs authority, not by us. EU and UK: VAT plus roughly 2.5-4% duty typically applies. Canada: typically 8-10% duty plus GST/HST. Australia: duty-free under AUD 1,000. UAE: 5% duty plus 5% VAT, fixed by law, applies on all orders. Outside the US, duties are the buyer’s responsibility; we’d rather you know now than at your door.

Your piece ships once production completes, then arrives 3-7 business days later, with tracking.

Standard orders: within 24 hours of purchase, yes, full refund, no questions. After 24 hours cancellation closes, but standard sizes remain returnable for 30 days after delivery. Custom sizes: cancellable until you confirm your dimensions in writing; after that, your piece is in production to your spec. Custom designs: cancellable until you approve the mockup.

Returns depend on product type, not intent. Standard sizes: returnable within 30 days of delivery. Custom sizes and custom designs: not returnable; each is protected by its own confirmation step instead, you confirm dimensions in writing or approve the mockup in writing, so you always know exactly what’s being made before it’s made. Full details on the returns page.

No. None. No restocking fee, no handling fee, no signs-of-use deductions. A returned standard-size piece gets a full refund. The only cost that can be yours is the return shipping itself, and only when the return isn’t our fault, such as ordering the wrong size or changing your mind. If the piece arrived defective or wrong, the shipping is on us too.

Simply. Email hello@zarbish.com within 30 days of delivery and tell us you’d like to return; we reply with exactly what to do, including how to pack it, rolled and never folded, and where to send it. You ship it back, and once it arrives you get a full refund with no fees deducted. You are never left hunting for couriers or chasing a silent inbox; we answer, and we walk you through it.

We make it right, your choice of replacement or full refund. Email hello@zarbish.com; a couple of photos help us improve, but they’re never a condition for fixing it.

Your rug is woven by hand to that design. Small variations in color, pattern, and pile are the signature of handmade work, not defects. The photos are an honest representation, and the variation is why no two Zarbish pieces are identical.

Yes. New hand-knotted wool sheds for the first weeks, sometimes enough to worry you. It settles with regular gentle vacuuming, no beater bar. It’s the wool relaxing, not the rug failing. Care: vacuum gently, rotate twice a year, blot spills immediately. Every rug is washed in our workshop before it ships and arrives ready to use; we do not offer a professional cleaning service. Full guide: Care Guide.

Because of what’s in them: natural wool, hand-knotted over weeks by the weavers of our workshop, made to order in your exact size. A piece like this is built to stay in a room for decades; the honest comparison isn’t a machine-made rug’s price, it’s its lifespan. We don’t price for seasons; we price for the years the piece will live with you. Every square meter is densely hand-tied, and every knot is a moment of a weaver’s time.

Different objects. Machine-made rugs are printed or tufted in minutes from synthetic fibers; a hand-knotted wool rug is built knot by knot, ages instead of wearing out, and can be made in any size to any design. One covers a floor; the other stays in the family.

Honest answer: lighting changes everything. Our photographs are edited toward neutral light and the true color and texture of the rug, as close to the piece itself as we can make them, so they are a faithful starting point, but warm evening light will make ivory creamier and colors deeper. Natural wool also has subtle tone variation by nature. And because your rug is woven for you from natural wool and natural dyes, it will vary subtly from any other piece; that variation is the craft, not a flaw. Our natural dyes are fixed so the color does not transfer or shift with use, and the wash in our workshop checks every color against the final design before the rug ships. If color is critical, we’re happy to share extra photos before you order.

Because we make it. Every made-to-order piece is woven in our workshop in the Middle Atlas; there’s no sourcing chain to take on faith. And handmade shows: slight irregularities in the knots, the back mirroring the front, variation no machine produces. Our weave runs to about 70,000 knots per square meter, counted on our own looms; density like that cannot be faked by a machine loom’s uniform grid.

New wool smells like lanolin, like a big wool sweater, for the first days. It airs out quickly in a ventilated room. Our rugs are natural wool; dye treatment varies by design. Wool is naturally hypoallergenic and resists dust mites better than synthetics, though anyone with a true wool allergy should take that into account.

No. The stated size is the woven rug itself. Tassels add about 4 in (10 cm) at the ends, beyond the listed dimensions. Every made-to-order piece comes with a choice: with tassels or without.

Yes, on every piece: Short (0.4 in / 1 cm), Medium (0.8 in / 2 cm), or Shag (1.2 in / 3 cm). Short suits doorways and busy rooms; shag is the deep, soft option.

Yes, on hard floors. A thin felt or felt-and-rubber pad keeps the rug from creeping, protects the wool where it meets the floor, and makes a hand-knotted pile feel deeper underfoot. It is the one accessory worth buying on day one. Full guidance in the care guide.

Tell us what you imagine: any design, any size, any color. We create a visual mockup; you approve it in writing; payment confirms the approval; production starts. Because your piece is made to that approved design, custom orders can’t be cancelled or returned once approved; the mockup approval is your protection. You’ll see your first mockup within 1 hour while we’re open (every day, 10:00 to midnight, Morocco time (GMT+1)), or within 1 hour of our next opening.

Yes. Different colors, a changed motif, your version of our design. That runs through the custom flow: mockup, written approval, then production. Different size of an unchanged design? That’s simpler: order it directly on the product page.

Within 1 to 8 working hours of your request (every day, 10:00 to midnight, Morocco time (GMT+1)).

Trade pricing details are confirmed with your approval.

The same honest production times as everything we make, and multi-piece projects get a confirmed schedule against current production load before you commit.

Yes, to the centimeter. You confirm exact dimensions in writing before production. Handwork has a finishing tolerance of 3 to 4 cm (about 1.2 to 1.6 in) on the confirmed dimensions.

All orders are paid in full at checkout: trade, custom, and large projects included. Production begins after payment, and you’re protected the same way every order is: written mockup approval for custom designs, written size confirmation for custom sizes, 30-day returns on standard sizes.

Yes, that’s the advantage of made-to-order. Same design, same size, woven again for your next project. Small handmade variation between pieces is the nature of the craft.

Honestly: handweaving has a floor. We’ll always tell you the real timeline before you commit, and we plan project schedules around it with you.

Every rug we make carries the Zarbish name. That’s not a limitation, it’s the point: one workshop, one standard, one signature. We don’t offer a white-label service. Specifying for hospitality, volume, or a large project? The Trade Program is built for exactly that: volume pricing, custom sizing, and project support. Get in touch.