Outdoor doormat made to measure, with your own design

Description

Custom outdoor doormat, made for rain, sand and shoe soles

Dirt starts outside. Mud, leaves, road salt, wet dog paws: everything lying on the pavement comes in on people’s shoes unless you stop it at the door. An outdoor doormat is that first stop, and at Designerwand you decide how it looks. Upload your logo, a photo or a line of text, or pick a design from the collection. We print it in full colour at your size and cut it to the shape you need.

The top layer is a coarse structured synthetic polyamide (PA), deliberately rough so shoe soles leave their dirt on the mat instead of in your hallway. Underneath sits a TPE backing with a high anti-slip rating: the mat stays where you put it, even when it is soaking wet. The material is cut-resistant, so it does not fray and no edge finishing is needed. Need to take a centimetre off around a threshold or a door frame later on? A utility knife is all it takes.

Why choose a custom outdoor mat

• Made for outdoors: weatherproof and anti-slip, stays firmly in place in wet weather too
• Coarse structure: scrapes sand and mud off shoes before they get inside
• Printed in every colour: logo, text or image, with no surcharge for extra colours
• Cut-resistant material: does not fray, so no border or edge finishing needed
• Any shape you like: rectangle, half circle, oval, runner or fully contour cut
• Solid build: 15 mm thick and 3.03 kg/m², so the mat does not blow away or curl up
• Lightfastness 6 out of 8: the print holds up well in outdoor sunlight
• PVC free and 100% recyclable, made in Germany
• Usable indoors too, for example in a garage, workshop or utility room

Design advice: allow for a coarse top layer

This is the most important thing to know before you upload a file. The top layer of this mat has a coarse structure, and that is exactly why it grabs dirt. That same roughness costs colour strength: a print comes across clearly less saturated and less sharp here than on a smooth surface, and visibly coarser than on our indoor doormat. So do not expect photo quality, but a strong image you recognise straight away from a few metres away.

That is what you design around, and then the result is strong. Three rules of thumb:

• Work with extra contrast. Light on dark or dark on light, never tone on tone. Two colours that sit close together will run into each other on this structure.
• Avoid small lettering and thin lines. A thin serif logo, an address line or a slogan in small type disappears between the fibres.
• Keep a minimum letter thickness of 1 cm. That is the thickness of the stroke itself, not the height of the letter. Go below that and the text on the mat will not be reliably legible.

A wordmark in a solid sans-serif, a logo in two or three colours, a large graphic pattern, an arrow or a welcome message: all of those come out well. Not sure about your file? Request our Simulation Service and you will see your design at size before you spend anything. Our designer also checks every order and will warn you if an element is too fine for this material.

Sizing, thickness and large formats

You enter the dimensions yourself in the configurator above. The smallest size is 40 x 60 cm, just right for a single front door, the largest is 198 x 600 cm for a wide entrance or a long walking line. Everything in between is simply possible, because there are no standard sizes. Not after made to measure at all, but a ready to go mat in a standard size? Then take a look at the doormat with border: three fixed sizes, a fixed price from €40 and no sums to do. That one is a slim, decorative entrance mat and not a dirt catcher for the spot where the weather hits, so there this outdoor mat remains the right choice.

With outdoor mats, pay attention to the thickness. This mat is 15 mm high, three times as substantial as an indoor mat, and you notice that with a door that opens outwards. So measure the clearance under your door before you order, or lay the mat in a recessed mat well or against the edge of a step. If it sits loose on the paving, those 15 mm are an advantage: the mat holds more dirt before it saturates.

Two things we would rather mention upfront. A tolerance of up to 1.5% applies to the delivered size: on 100 cm that is 1.5 cm at most, on 200 cm 3 cm at most. So do not plan your mat to the millimetre between two low walls or inside a mat well, leave a little room. And above 198 x 600 cm we split the design across several mats that you lay side by side. Those sections butt up tightly, but there is a visible seam between them. Seamless does not exist above this size, so we do not promise it either.

Maintenance: hand wash, no washing machine

You wash this mat by hand. Unlike the indoor version it is not allowed in the washing machine: the thick build and the TPE backing are not made for it. In practice that is rarely a problem, because you keep an outdoor mat clean mainly with the things you already have outside. Beat it or shake it out, rinse it off with the garden hose, brush stubborn dirt loose with a soft brush and a mild soapy solution, then let it dry flat. Sand and grit are the biggest enemies of the print, so the more often you beat the mat out, the longer your image stays bright.

Lifespan: a mat you replace and have printed again

Be realistic about this: a weatherproof doormat at an entrance is a consumable. Under intensive use, think of a shop door or the entrance to a sports club, count on a lifespan of less than 2 years. At a quiet front door it lasts longer. Rain, UV light and thousands of shoe soles do their work, and that goes for every outdoor mat.

That is not a drawback, it is an opportunity. Because you replace it periodically anyway, you get to choose again every time: reorder the same design if you are happy with it, or go straight for a new logo, a seasonal image or a current promotion. A custom outdoor mat with your own design is therefore just as much a communication tool as a cleaning product.

Outdoors, indoors or ready to go: three mats side by side

We make three mats and they are not interchangeable. If you are looking for something for a hallway, a corridor, an office floor or a showroom, the indoor doormat is the better choice: thinner, machine washable and with a much finer print. If you would rather not measure and a standard size will do, the doormat with border is the quickest and the cheapest way to go. If the mat has to handle rain, sand and road salt, choose this one. At a glance:

Technical specifications

Outdoor doormat with your own design

Whether you are after an outdoor doormat for a single front door or a wide exterior floor mat for a double entrance door: the way it works is the same. You supply the image and the size, we print and cut. Because a made to measure mat is not a purchase you redo on a whim, our designer first makes a visualisation at your exact size. The mat only goes into production once you approve it.

Outdoor mat with logo for businesses

At a company entrance a printed outdoor entrance mat does two things at once: it keeps the dirt outside and it puts your brand on the doorstep, literally. That works at the entrance to a sports complex, a hotel, a shop or an office, and it works for practical messages too: an arrow to the right entrance, opening hours, a welcome in two languages. Keep the message short and large and it stays legible on this structure. With lengths up to 600 cm you can lay a continuous path from the car park to the door, and with contour cutting we will follow the shape of your logo or a semicircular step if you want.

Outdoor doormat at your front door

At home the outdoor mat is the first thing visitors see and the last thing you think about yourself. A shame, because that is exactly where you can do something personal: your house number large and clear, the family name, a silhouette of the dog, a graphic pattern that matches your facade or your front door colour. It also works nicely at a shed, a garden house, a carport or the door to the utility room, and in a garage or workshop you simply lay the same mat indoors. Pick a size wider than your door and you will always step on it instead of around it.

From design to the mat at your door

You enter the size above, choose the shape and upload your design or select one from the collection. Our designer places your file at the size you entered, judges whether the details are large enough for this top layer and sends you a visualisation. As soon as you approve it, the mat goes into production and you will have it within 15 working days. Want to know more about delivery? Read all about shipping and delivery times. Unsure about your file, the shape or the size? Get in touch and we will look at it with you before you order.

Frequently asked questions about outdoor doormats

Why does the print on an outdoor mat look less vivid?

That comes down to the coarse structure of the top layer. The fibres stand rough and irregular, so the ink is spread over an uneven surface and the light breaks differently than it does on a flat surface. Colours stay recognisable, but they are noticeably less saturated, and fine transitions fade. This plays a bigger role on an outdoor mat than on the indoor doormat. So design with generous blocks of colour and strong contrast, and judge your design from a few metres away rather than on your screen. We always send a visualisation first, so you know what you are getting.

How thick do the letters on my outdoor mat need to be?

Keep a minimum letter thickness of 1 cm. That is about the thickness of the stroke the letter is drawn with, so not about the height of the letter. A thin, elegant letter 10 cm high can still be too fine, while a solid sans-serif letter of the same height stays perfectly legible. So for text, go for a bold weight and put it on a background with plenty of contrast. Not sure whether your logo makes it? Send it in, we will measure it and tell you honestly whether it works.

Can the outdoor doormat go in the washing machine?

No, you wash this mat by hand only. The 15 mm build with TPE backing is not made for a washing drum. In practice you maintain it outside: beat or shake it out, rinse it with the garden hose, brush stubborn dirt loose with a soft brush and a mild soapy solution, then let it dry flat. Looking for a mat you can simply put in the machine at 30 degrees? Take a look at the indoor doormat.

What is the difference with the indoor doormat?

Four things. This outdoor mat is 15 mm thick against 5 mm indoors, has a coarse top layer instead of a low pile velour one, you wash it by hand instead of in the machine, and the print is coarser with less colour strength. In return, this mat handles wind and weather and holds far more sand and mud. Rule of thumb: outside the door you choose this one, inside the door you choose the indoor doormat. Cannot decide? Get in touch and we will think it through with you.

Can I use this mat indoors as well?

Yes, you can. It is made for outdoors, but indoors it works just as well in places that get properly dirty: a garage, workshop, utility room, changing room or a porch where people come in with wet shoes. Do allow for the thickness of 15 mm with doors that swing over the mat. If you are looking for a mat for a hallway, office or showroom, where the floor is cleaner and the print needs to look its best, the indoor version is more suitable.

Does the mat stay put in rain and wind?

Yes. The TPE backing has a high anti-slip rating and stays firmly in place in wet weather too. The weight helps: at 3.03 kg/m² a mat of 100 x 150 cm weighs a good 4.5 kg, and that does not shift under a shoe or a gust of wind. Do lay the mat on a flat, clean surface. Loose gravel or leaves underneath take the grip away, exactly as with any other mat.

How accurate is the delivered size?

A tolerance of up to 1.5% applies to the size you enter. On 100 cm that means a deviation of up to 1.5 cm, on 200 cm up to 3 cm. For a mat lying loose in front of the door you will never notice it. If you want to fit it snugly into a mat well or between two raised edges, deliberately allow a couple of centimetres of room. The material is cut-resistant, so you can trim the mat on the spot with a utility knife without the edge fraying.

What happens if my mat needs to be larger than 198 x 600 cm?

Then we split the design across several mats that you lay side by side. 198 x 600 cm is the largest size that comes off the machine in one piece. We cut the sections so they butt up tightly, but a visible seam between them remains. We will agree with you where that seam goes so it is as unobtrusive as possible, for example not straight through a logo or a line of text. For long entrance paths a single run of up to 600 cm is therefore often the calmest solution.

How long does it take before I have my mat?

The delivery time is 15 working days, counted from the moment you approve the visualisation. We make that visualisation after you have ordered, so you see your own design at the right size before anything is printed. Want an impression sooner? Request our Simulation Service. All the information about shipping is at shipping and delivery times.