This rug has nice thickness (my dogs love it as you can see) and a pretty pattern. It's got a lot of texture to it visually, which I enjoy, but not everyone may like its variability. Depending on which way the nap is lying, it's lighter or darker-- you can see in the pics the before and the after (after I brushed my foot across it). Therefore it ends up having a random lighter/darker gray effect depending on how you walk on it, and can look splotchy as a result. I don't mind this because it hides the doghair from my two black dogs, but it might not be everyone's cup of tea. It did shed like the devil at first, but that has lessened.