The pile is the front-side of the carpet, on which one usually walks. After a carpet is completely knotted, it is brought down from the weaving chair. The irregular high pile will be then sheared evenly. Depending upon the origin and the kind of the carpet the height of the pile is different. Nomadic carpets are usually more highly sheared. Regular carpets have middle to thick height pile. Very valuable carpets with fine knotting have a low pile height.

The current condition of the pile of used, flat or retired old carpets do not influence its value. With rare antique pieces completely different value criteria apply, also in the evaluation of the pile and/or its preservation, so that even fragments of museum pieces obtain high prices.