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On a hand-knotted rug the fringe is not decoration. It is the exposed end of the warp thread the entire rug is tied onto, and when it goes the knots at that end begin releasing.
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Oriental Rugs
Warp threads run the length of the rug from end to end. Knots are tied onto them and weft threads pass between the rows to lock everything in place. Where the weaving stops, the warp continues and emerges as the fringe. Cut it short and you are cutting the structure the rug is built on. On machine-made rugs the fringe is usually sewn on afterwards and genuinely is decorative, which is where the confusion comes from.
Vacuum beater bars catch and tear them. Foot traffic at a doorway wears them. Furniture legs pull them. Once the fringe frays back to the last weft row, the end knots have nothing holding them and the rug begins losing pile row by row, which is a far more expensive problem than the fringe ever was. The first sign is usually a thinning band of pile along one end rather than the fringe itself.
Owners tidy a fraying fringe by cutting it level. That removes the length that was absorbing wear and brings the damage line closer to the foundation, so the next stage of fraying starts eating into the rug rather than into spare thread. It also removes the option of a straightforward repair later. If a fringe looks untidy, that is a signal to have it secured, not shortened.
A frayed fringe can be overcast, or a new fringe can be attached to sound foundation, provided the foundation is still intact. Once the field has begun to unravel the work becomes reweaving, which is skilled and costs accordingly. We check fringe and selvedge as part of every wash and secure them where needed rather than treating it as a separate job to sell you afterwards.
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