Carpet shading is a common phenomenon which causes carpet to appear to be a different colour or shade depending on it's orientation. The pile of the carpet will always lie in one direction and depending on which direction the ambient light comes from the pile will absorb or reflect more light hence making the carpet look lighter or darker.. When we make sets of mats the direction of the pile is always taken into account.
This is an extreme example - these two mats are absolutely identical, however they are photographed outdoors in direct sunlight in the middle of summer. The result of rotating one mat through 180 degrees is dramatic and shows just how much of an effect orientation can have. However when placed back indoors under normal light, the difference in colour even with the 180 degree rotation would be much less.
Of course, when orientated the same way (as intended) the mats will be identical regardless of location or light.
