The fabric of an upholstered piece is the most visible sign of quality and design. Upholstery material likewise is the part most likely to show wear and soil. When selecting upholstery, you need to understand its durability, clean-ability, and resistance to soil and fading.
How will your upholstered pieces be used in your home? Couches, chairs, and ottomans getting just moderate quantities of wear will do fine with a less durable fabric.
Pieces subjected to everyday heavy wear requirement to be covered in hard, long lasting, securely woven fabrics.
When purchasing upholstery fabric or upholstered furniture, understand that the greater the thread count, the more securely woven the material is, and the better it will wear. Thread count refers to the number of threads per square inch of fabric.
Natural Fabrics
Linen: Linen is finest fit for official living-room or adult locations because it soils and wrinkles easily. And, it won't endure heavy wear. Linen does withstand pilling and fading. Stained linen upholstery need to be expertly cleaned up to avoid shrinkage.
Leather: This tough material can be gently vacuumed, damp-wiped as needed, and cleaned with leather conditioner or saddle soap.
Cotton: This natural fiber supplies excellent resistance to wear, fading, and pilling. It is less resistant to soil, wrinkling, and fire.
Wool: Sturdy and durable, wool and wool blends use excellent resistance to pilling, fading, wrinkling, and soil. Usually, wool is combined with a synthetic fiber to make it easier to clean and to decrease the possibility of felting the fibers (triggering them to bond together up until they look like felt). Blends can be spot-cleaned when essential.
Cotton Blend: Depending on the weave, cotton blends can be strong, family-friendly materials. A stain-resistant surface needs to be applied for everyday usage.
Vinyl: Easy-care and less expensive than leather, vinyls are perfect for busy household living and dining rooms. Durability depends upon quality.
Silk: This fragile fabric is only ideal for adult areas, such as official living-room. It needs to be professionally cleaned up if stained.
Synthetic Fabrics
Acetate: Developed as imitation silk, acetate can hold up against mildew, pilling, and shrinking. It offers only reasonable resistance to soil and tends to wear, wrinkle, and fade in the sun. It's not an excellent option for furnishings that will get tough daily use.
Acrylic: This synthetic fiber was established as imitation wool. It resists wear, wrinkling, soiling, and fading. Low-quality acrylic might pill excessively in areas that get high degrees of abrasion. High-quality acrylics are produced to tablet significantly less.
Nylon: Rarely used alone, nylon is typically mixed with other fibers to view it now make it among the strongest upholstery fabrics. Nylon is very durable; in a mix, it helps eliminate the crushing of napped fabrics such as velour. It does not readily soil or wrinkle, but it does tend to fade and tablet.
Olefin: This is a good option for furnishings that will get heavy wear. It has no noticable weak points.
Polyester: Rarely used alone in upholstery, polyester is blended with other fibers to include wrinkle resistance, remove crushing of napped fabrics, and minimize fading. When combined with wool, polyester worsens pilling issues.
Rayon: Developed as a replica silk, linen, and cotton, rayon is durable. It wrinkles. Current developments have made top quality rayon really practical.
For more information, contact:
Ultra-Guard Fabric Protection | Chicago Service Center
1807 W North Ave #387
Chicago, IL 60622
(312) 761-1227