I've only recently bought my first wool rug. I've always had synthetic. I'm sure others will chime in, but the synthetic have never shed. I think the amount of shedding varies. I have no idea if ours is "bad" or not.

Also, my one cat can pull up the threads on the wool. Not sure I will ever do wool again with pets. I love the feel of the wool, though.

Synthetics shed synthetic fibers....cotton sheds cotton fibers and wool, wool fibers.
By shed...do you mean that you are getting fuzz from the cut ends of the yarn/fiber? or that the actual pile is coming lose from the backing? A softly made, softly twisted rug will shed....all it's life. A tighter twisted yarn on a rug with very dense pile won't shed much and then only when new.
Tray a real hand made rug, made in the middle east not in China, and you won't have a problem. You get what you pay for.

Maybe this is stating the obvious, but a flat weave rug won't shed as much as a rug with pile. A hand-knotted rug won't shed as much as a hand-tufted rug because the fibers are knotted to the backing rather than just punched into the spaces in the backing. The best way to tell, though, is to see the rug in real life and tug at the fibers. If they come out freely, the rug will shed forever.

I tend to agree that you get what you pay for, but I also have found that tufted wool rugs shed terribly and seemingly forever. I think it is a cheaper way of making the rug than weaving a rug and is now a favorite method for lots of manufacturers/retailers. I suspect they recognize the problem since the word "tufted" does not seem to be front and center in ads any more.

I bought a very good hand-knotted wool rug years ago that never shed. I have a reasonably-priced machine-knotted wool rug that never shed and I also have (had-passed to DS and DIL)a very inexpensive rug made of polypropalene that I love. It is soft, is still in perfect condition 15 years later, and never shed.

The other drawback to hand tufted rugs is that they cannot be cleaned as vigorously as hand knotted rugs. I've had hand knotted rugs - from the O all the way to one my in laws bought us from Turkey and *hand knotted* ones have never shed. Any hand tufted rugs - it's canisters full every time you vacuum. Ick. And it's a shame because some of the hand tufted rugs are very pretty and fresh and modern. That said, I am always on the lookout for reasonably priced hand knotted rugs from O or other retailers. Aside from withstanding cleaning and not shedding is that hand knotted rugs have a light and a dark side, so you can really get the best side to complement your room's lighting.

I've tried hand hooked rugs too, but my dogs destroy them. I don't think they shed as much as the tufted sort, though. But I do tend to think they generally have a more casual look - or at least all the ones I've purchased have.

We have one small Navaho wool rug, several hand knotted wool rugs from Turkey, and a couple of silk hand knotted ones from China (bought on a trip there) and none of them shed.

Rugs that shed aren't a good option for me, allergies. But I do LOVE the Dash & Albert indoor-outdoor rugs. They're colorful and easy care. Here's a link:

Here is a link that might be useful: Dash & Albert

is that true for all of Albert and Dash rugs?

I bought three beautiful hand tufted area rugs from Wayfair.ca. They were beautiful, and the colors matched my decor. However, they shedded bagsful of stuff, and eventually, I realized that the shedding would never stop. I paid quite a bit for these rugs, and yet, they've been sent to the garbage dump. I will never buy one of these rugs again, and I warn everyone else to do the same.