Outdoor rugs help complete an outdoor room, yet they are often treated as an afterthought in exterior design. Lynne Meredith is on a mission to change that with Outalux, a line of custom outdoor rugs and pillows designed in-house at her studio in Atlanta.
Meredith began on the design side with a custom indoor rug business, and now Outalux is carving out a niche with high-end, custom-made outdoor rugs — products Meredith says fill a long-ignored gap in the market.
Meredith launched her original brand, MVM Custom, in 2013 to serve interior designers and architects with bespoke indoor rugs. But the pandemic shifted demand quickly.
“I started to get a lot of requests for outdoor rugs,” she said. “Within a year, 50% of our sales were coming from only 10% of our SKUs — and all of those were outdoor.”
Seeing the momentum, she separated the outdoor program into its own brand, Outalux, in 2023. The strategy was built on a clear insight: While the market is full of “cheap and cheerful” outdoor rugs, few offer a sophisticated, design-forward look with true customization, according to Meredith.
The brand uses recycled yarns, and the rugs are ethically sourced. But Outalux’s edge, Meredith says, comes from how the company is structured. She maintains her own office and team in India, where every rug is inspected before it ships directly to customers — eliminating U.S. warehousing, handling costs and added transit time.
“We don’t touch anything in the U.S.,” she said. “Everything is custom, and because we hold our own yarns — including a palette we developed ourselves — we’re able to cut out the dyeing stage and significantly shorten lead times.”
Outalux made its High Point Market debut this fall through a co-branded partnership with Jensen Outdoor, where the rugs were displayed in the company’s Interhall showroom.
Meredith stresses the partnership is not a sales relationship but a strategic pairing, but said it benefits both brands because it helps complete outdoor vignettes. While Outalux only sells direct to consumer at the moment, Meredith said she’s open to expanding the business and working with retailers to eventually sell the products online.
“It’s a learning curve for retailers because they’re used to stocking product,” she said. “But we’re small, focused and growing steadily.”
The brand is also expanding its product categories with the introduction of outdoor pillows, produced unconventionally. Instead of using standard jacquard or printed fabrics, she partnered with a high-end garment factory in India — one that produces ornate wedding saris — to create pillows featuring embroidery on solution-dyed acrylic.
“The craftsmanship is another level,” she said. “I don’t believe anyone else is doing embroidery on solution-dyed acrylic at a high-end level. It’s very different, very unique.”
Online sales may start with pillows sometime in 2026, depending on ongoing discussions with e-commerce partners.
Meredith sees enormous opportunity in the outdoor category. This, combined with her belief that a brand is only as strong as its team and its artisans, drives the company’s focus on craftsmanship, customization and category expansion.
As Outalux explores growth in both product offerings and distribution, Meredith says the mission remains the same: elevating the outdoor experience through design, texture and thoughtful execution.
