WaterHog Fashion Entrance Mat — 3x5 Commercial, Fabric Border, Bi-Level, Indoor/Outdoor

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What the WaterHog Fashion Entrance Mat Is

It is a 3-by-5-foot commercial entrance mat with WaterHog's signature bi-level surface and a tapered fabric water-dam border. The bi-level ridges scrape soil and moisture off shoes and drop it into the channels below shoe level so it does not re-track, and the raised border holds the water at the door — WaterHog rates the water-dam at up to about 1.5 gallons per square yard, over a gallon on a mat this size. It is 3/8 inch thick, anti-static with solution-dyed yarn that resists salt, ice-melt and sand, built from recycled-content synthetic fiber and an SBR rubber backing with recycled tire rubber, and made in the USA.

It is an entrance mat — the passive layer of slip control that keeps tracked-in water and grit off your interior floor — not an anti-fatigue mat, which cushions standing workers. It comes with a universal cleated backing for carpet or a smooth backing for hard floors, so match the backing to the surface. It is the inside absorber in a two-stage system paired with an outdoor scraper mat, and it sits alongside the rubber-border WaterHog Eco Premier in the range. Browse all entrance matting.

The Two-Stage System: Scraper Outside, Absorber Inside

Entrance matting works best as two mats doing half the job each, and this WaterHog is the inside absorber. Outside the door, a rubber scraper mat knocks the heavy stuff off shoes — grit, mud, slush, snow. Inside the door, the WaterHog captures what is left: the water and fine soil still on the sole, held down in the bi-level channels and behind the water-dam border. Run only one stage and the other half gets through — a scraper alone leaves water to track across your lobby, an absorber alone clogs with grit — so the two mats are a system, not alternatives.

That system is your building's first line of slip defense. The more tracked-in water a mat traps at the door, the less reaches the interior floor to become a slip hazard, and the less your team has to mop and dry behind foot traffic. But matting is a layer, not the whole program: past the mats, a wet floor still gets wet floor signs and drying. And the mat only keeps working if it is maintained — vacuumed daily in weather season, extracted when soil-loaded, and dried fast. Our entrance-mat guide and wet-floor-sign guide cover the full slip program.

Pros & Cons

Specifications

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Frequently Asked Questions

How does the WaterHog bi-level surface work?

The mat surface is bi-level: raised ridges scrape soil and moisture off the soles of shoes, and the recessed channels between them drop that soil and water below shoe level, so it is not picked back up and re-tracked further into the building. Around the edge, a raised water-dam border holds the trapped water in the mat instead of letting it spread onto the floor. That scrape-and-hold action is what makes a WaterHog trap far more than a flat mat.

What is the two-stage entrance matting system?

Good entrance matting is two mats doing half the job each. A rubber scraper mat outside the door knocks off grit, mud and slush; an absorbent mat like this WaterHog inside the door captures the water and fine soil left on the shoe. This Fashion mat is the inside absorber. Running only one stage lets the other half through — a scraper alone leaves water, an absorber alone clogs with grit — so pair this with an outdoor scraper for the full system.

Cleated or smooth backing — which do I need?

Match the backing to the floor under the mat. The universal cleated backing has gripping cleats that dig into carpet to hold the mat in place, so it is for carpeted floors. The smooth backing lies flat and grips a hard floor — tile, stone, sealed concrete, wood — without cleats that would not grab and could let the mat slide. Putting a cleated mat on a hard floor or a smooth mat on carpet invites sliding, so confirm the backing for your surface.

Fashion (fabric border) versus a rubber-border WaterHog?

The Fashion model has a tapered fabric water-dam border — a softer, cleaner-looking edge that suits lobbies and front-of-house entrances. The Classic and Eco Premier WaterHogs use a raised rubber border instead, which is more rugged and higher-holding for heavy-traffic or service entrances. The bi-level trapping surface is the same WaterHog design; the border is the difference. Choose the fabric border for appearance, the rubber border for maximum ruggedness.

How much water and soil does it hold?

WaterHog rates the water-dam border to hold up to about 1.5 gallons of water per square yard, so a 3-by-5 mat holds well over a gallon before it needs attention — the bi-level channels keep that water down at floor level, not up where shoes re-wet in it. It also traps a large amount of dry soil and grit in those channels. The capacity is why matting is measured by how much it keeps off your floor, not just by size.

Is this an entrance mat or an anti-fatigue mat?

An entrance mat — its job is to trap tracked-in water, dirt and grit at the door for slip control and floor protection. That is a different job from an anti-fatigue mat, which is a cushioned mat placed where people stand for long periods to reduce leg and back fatigue. They look like mats but solve different problems: put a WaterHog at the door, and an anti-fatigue mat at a workstation. Do not substitute one for the other.

Is a mat itself a trip hazard?

A correctly sized mat with the right backing, lying flat, is not — it is a slip-control tool. The hazard comes from a mat that curls at the edges, bunches, slides, or stays saturated: any of those turns the mat into a trip or slip risk of its own. So keep it flat, use the backing that matches the floor, do not overlap or fold it, and replace it when it curls or will not lie flat. A worn mat that stops trapping water and starts tripping people has failed at both jobs.

How do I maintain it?

In the weather season, vacuum it daily to clear dry soil from the channels, and extract it with a carpet extractor when it becomes soil-loaded. Dry it fast after washing — air movers speed that up so a wet mat is not sitting on the floor. Keep a spare mat to rotate in while one is being cleaned, so the entrance is never uncovered. Maintained this way a WaterHog keeps trapping at full capacity; left dirty and packed, it stops working.

Does the mat prevent slips on its own?

It is the passive layer of slip control — it captures much of the water and grit that would otherwise reach and wet your interior floor, which meaningfully reduces slips at the entrance. But it does not eliminate all moisture, especially in heavy rain or snow-melt, and a floor beyond the mat can still get wet. So a mat is part of your slip program, not the whole of it: on a wet floor past the matting you still put out wet floor signs and dry the area. Layer the controls.

Is it eco-friendly and made in the USA?

Yes — it is made in the USA from solution-dyed polypropylene fiber (the recycled content is the ~20% tire rubber in the SBR backing) with an SBR rubber backing that includes recycled tire rubber, so it carries real recycled content. The yarn is solution-dyed and anti-static, which means it stands up to salt, ice-melt and sand and holds its color and appearance far better than surface-dyed matting. The recycled construction and US manufacture are documented specs, easy to cite in a green-procurement conversation.

When should it be replaced?

Replace it when the bi-level surface has crushed flat and no longer scrapes or holds, when it curls or will not lie flat after cleaning, or when it stays saturated and soil-loaded even after extraction. At that point it has stopped trapping water and may have become a trip hazard, which is the worst of both worlds. A mat on a busy weather-season entrance wears faster; inspect it through winter and budget replacement rather than running a dead mat.

What is the WaterHog Fashion mat not?

It is not an anti-fatigue mat (that cushions standing workers), not a rubber-border Classic or Eco Premier (this is the fabric border), not a self-stick floor tile, and not a total slip-prevention system by itself. It is a 3-by-5 commercial WaterHog bi-level entrance absorber with a fabric water-dam border, for trapping tracked-in water and soil at the door. Match the backing to your floor, pair it with an outdoor scraper, keep it flat and clean, and still sign wet floors beyond it.