Carpet, or carpet tile having a tough resilient backing may be prepared by incorporating a fleece (6) into a foam backing on a carpet. The foam (5) is applied to the back of a carpet and the fleece (6) is overlaid and the foam and fleece are crushed together and gelled preferably using a drum laminator (10) then dried in a conventional oven (13). The resulting carpet may be cut into carpet tiles. The carpet or tile has lay flat properties and good abrasion resistance.