There are essentially two classifications of dyeing carpet styles: pre-dyed and post-dyed yarns. Pre dyed yarns are dyed before the fibre is woven or tufted and post dyed yarns are dyed after the fibres are woven or tufted into the backing.

The most common method of pre-dying is solution dying. Synthetic fibres begin as pellets; they are placed in a container and heated to the fibre melting point. The different colored pellets melt down and spread throughout the mix. The melted pellets move through something very similar to a shower head to produce hair like strands. Chilled air is blown across the melted strands to return them to a solid state. Visualize a carrot which has color all the way through (solution dyed) as opposed to a radish that has the color on the outside only (post dyed).

The most common pre dying methods are beck dyeing, continuous dyeing and Print dyeing. Beck dying is used with heavier products and polyester fibres. With this method the blanket is submerged in a dye bath and the temperature is raised to open the dye sites of the fibre. The negatively charged dye molecules attach to the positively charged dye sites. This is the most expensive method of the three, but is required to achieve a good dye penetration on heavier products.

Continuous and Print dying are very similar in that both run a tufted blanket through spray jets that continuously apply dye to the fibres. These methods of dyeing can produce large amounts of finished carpet per hour significantly reducing the cost of the carpet.