I’ve come to a conclusion

Which is that I hate fringe. Carpets, mexican blankets, various vests, certain shawls, I just hate it. At best it’s annoying, at worst it’s a tangled, screwy and un-fixable mess.
Don’t even try to wash something fringed except by the most careful, laborious and time consuming hand wash method. Don’t take your oriental carpets to the professionals to be re-fringed and fixed unless you have a private income.

I suspect that fringe was made popular by the wealthiest of the victorian upper classes as a way to instantly discern when visiting others, who had enough money to hire a full-time fringe caretaker as a servant.

And the biggest no-no about fringe is don’t try to cut it off. You will then find you’re beyond the valley of time and patience to fix the filthy, knotted, burr-ridden mess it will become. Needless to point out that that only helps if you want the entire item to become one, big ball of matted fringe. Just give it or throw it away beforehand.