The room is perfect. The carpet goes well with the sofa, which blends harmoniously with the color chosen for the walls. Then the muddy labradoodle comes bounding in with other ideas.
“We joke with clients all the time about how pets really keep us in business,” says Mike Carter, one of the co-owners of Fiber-Seal of the Lowcountry. There’s a truth to it, though—beautiful interior design only works if it can be kept beautiful. That perfect carpet and luxury sofa have got to be able to withstand life. Pets shed and track dirt. Glasses of red wine spill. Kids? There’s a long list of what kids can do.
“Everyone has their days,” Carter says. “Rugs can get ruined pretty quick.”
And that’s where Fiber-Seal of the Lowcountry comes in. Using Fiber-Seal products and methods, the company offers services that are both preventative and reactive to stains and other problems. The products, all of which are eco-responsible, are meant to protect against stains in the future while making them easier to clean up. Fiber-Seal works with any soft surface—carpets, area rugs, upholstery, window treatments—and it offers several levels of service. (The Prestige program includes three full-service visits pre-scheduled during a 12-month period.)
The company is also an expert on the materials it’s protecting. There are all sorts of fabrics on the market. Some are made for durability and to withstand wear and tear, others aren’t. And all of this can get really complicated, really quick. Many new fabrics with various stain-repelling properties have come on the market just in the last five years, Carter says. The average person looking to keep their dream house looking dreamy might not want to do all the homework on exactly what sort of sofa or carpet works best for their needs. That’s the kind of advice the Fiber-Seal team can offer.
“You have fabrics around that you can literally pour bleach on, and it will clean up every time,” Carter says. “But you also have fabrics we see all the time where if you even pour water on it, it begins to break down. Some people are hyperaware of what they’re buying and how they’re going to be able to clean it. But then we have clients, which I totally understand, who would prefer not to worry about it and just let us deal with it. Some people really want to know every last detail about their fabrics, but some people would rather not fuss with it.”
People can even bring fabric samples to their location to get more information on how it cleans. “We will use our most aggressive cleaning methods and detergents and see how the fabric sample holds up,” Carter says.
The methods Fiber-Seal uses have been honed around the country since 1971. Fiber-Seal of the Lowcountry is the local licensee of a brand that operates across the United States. From the beginning, part of the Fiber-Seal Fabric Care System involved local service centers so that customers weren’t on their own trying to figure out a product when they had spills or stains. Customer service was a key component of the Fiber-Seal way from the beginning, and it remains central to what Fiber-Seal of the Lowcountry does today.
The Fiber-Seal brand might be national, but Fiber-Seal of the Lowcountry is very much a local company, operated by family and friends. Carter’s brother, Chap Manning, began working at Fiber-Seal of the Lowcountry in 2008. It was then owned by Bonnie Oulla, who was also Manning’s business and ethics professor at The Citadel. Manning worked under Oulla for a decade before taking over the business in 2017. Carter came on board that year, as did Manning’s best friend, John Cobb. Both became co-owners the following year; today, Cobb’s younger brother also works for the company.
The brothers and friends have built up a diverse clientele that doesn’t just include homeowners. “Over the years we’ve developed a good relationship with a number of designers,” Carter says. “A designer will spend a lot of time installing pieces and furnishing a new home just the way a client wants it.” But then they need someone to keep it that way. “Luckily they have us, and that’s Fiber-Seal’s purpose and guarantee,” he adds.
The company also expanded its territory to include Bluffton and Savannah. But that growth has happened organically. “We never want to outpace our quality because that’s what got us to where we are now,” Carter says. “We are spreading out, and we’re excited about that, but we’re in no rush. It’s quality over quantity.”
Erik Petersen was formerly editor of Fort Lauderdale Magazine, columnist for the Nottingham (U.K) Post and reporter for The Kansas City Star. He likes his homes how he likes his bourbon: neat, southern and significantly more than 10 years old.
