Performance fabrics for office furniture: pros and cons

Performance fabrics are an excellent choice for those who want to save energy and increase comfort levels in the workplace.

They're also great for improving the air quality of your home or office by reducing the amount of dust mites and other allergens that can cause respiratory issues. But if you're not careful about which performance fabric you choose or how you use it, it could end up doing more harm than good.

When it comes to choosing the right fabric for your furniture, there's a lot more to it than just picking a colour. This is because there are many factors that go into creating the perfect fabric for your home or office.

Recap: Performance fabrics are designed to be durable and long-lasting, with features like stain resistance, high colour fastness. This makes them ideal for use in high-traffic areas such as kitchens and bathrooms. They are also ideal for outdoor use because they are mildew resistant, UV stable and antibacterial.

Here are some tips on how you can get the most out of your performance fabrics:

Choose Your Workspace Furnishing Fabric Wisely

When you are looking for the right furniture fabric, you want a material that is durable and easy to clean. You also want it to match your decor. That is why you should choose your furnishing fabric wisely.

One of the main benefits of using performance fabrics in homes and offices is that they're durable and long-lasting. There are several types of materials used in these fabrics, such as polyester, cotton and rayon.

Each has its own unique properties and benefits, but they all share one thing in common—these materials are strong enough to withstand daily wear and tear without showing signs of wear and tear quickly. If you want to make sure that your upholstery lasts for years on end, then choose a durable material like FibreGuard or FR-One fabrics.

Performance fabrics are a great choice because they last longer than traditional fabrics and can be cleaned with just water and soap.

Read more: Interior design matters in the workplace: here’s why

Choosing the Right Furniture Fabric Type for Your Needs

The first thing you need to do when choosing your furniture fabric is determine what type of furniture you're looking for. Then, look for a material that will meet those needs in terms of durability, cleaning requirements and appearance.

It’s also important to consider how much sunlight enters each room so that you can select upholstery fabrics that won’t fade or wear out quickly due to exposure to UV rays. In addition to choosing fabrics based on their durability and colourfastness, also consider whether they are flame resistant or stain resistant if this is important for your needs.

For example, if you need something durable enough for outdoor use but still attractive enough for indoor use, then stainless steel mesh would be ideal because it's stain resistant and very durable while still being breathable enough for outdoors use.

How to tell if the furnishing fabric you're buying is high quality

Performance fabrics can help you get more out of your interior design. They are used in a range of interiors, from offices to kitchens. However, they are often misunderstood by designers and homeowners.

The best furnishing fabrics are given rigorous tests by fully accredited laboratories to ensure their durability and reliability.

Tests include:

• MARTINDALE & WYZENBEEK WEAR RESISTANCE (EN 14465, ASTM D4157)
• PILLING & BRUSH PILLING (ISO 12945-2, ASTM D 3511)
• COLOUR FASTNESS TO LIGHT (ISO 105-B02)

For a comprehensive list of textiles tests that will help you be informed enough to purchase the perfect performance fabrics for your needs, visit the Mechanical Textiles Tests page on the main FibreGuard website.

If you are not sure about quality, ask a trained fabrics expert who can help thanks to their in-depth knowledge on all things performance furnishing fabrics and interior design. They will be able to guide you through the many options available so that you end up with exactly what you need for your home or office space.

How high-performance furnishing fabric is made

Most performance fabrics are made from synthetic yarns, such as polyester, acrylic and nylon. These yarns are treated with a high-performance solution before weaving to ensure the consistency of the finished product.

Some performance fabric finishes are applied by immersing the woven fabric in a treatment solution or applying it to the surface.

There are some kinds of materials you find frequently when browsing catalogues of high-performance furnishing fabrics. Polyester, for example, is a staple in performance fabric. It resists water, abrasions, stretching, shrinking, wrinkling, and pilling. It is also highly versatile when woven to resemble natural fibres like linen and cotton.

Learn more about different kinds of fibres and fabrics here: 13 Things About Textile and Fabrics You May Not Have Known

High Performance Fabrics Tip: look for their sound absorption properties too!

The use of performance fabrics in the home has become more and more popular. In fact, if you have a keen eye for style and quality, you will notice that many of the latest high-end interior designs are using performance fabrics in their designs.

Performance fabrics are generally used in the home as sofa covers, curtains and blinds. They are designed to be durable and easy to clean, but they also have other benefits too.

Using performance fabrics with high sound absorption properties can turn what might seem like an unsuitable fabric into something quite powerful. You might, for example, think that velvet is too soft and delicate to be used in your high-traffic interior space.

Yes, the soft velvet that is used to create luxurious sofas and chairs. It's known for its luxurious hand-feel, but it's also available as a high-performance fabric, often with an enhanced ability to absorb sound.

So, perhaps surprisingly, if you look for a velvet with the right credentials, it can be a great choice if you need to create an area where people will be able to sit quietly and talk without being disturbed by noise from outside.

Let's look at FR-One fabrics: following acoustic testing under ISO 354-11654, the majority of these inherently fire retardant fabrics have been classified as ‘Extremely Absorbing’ category A and B. Read more about these sound absorbing fabrics here: Why sound absorbing drapery fabric is the perfect choice.

Cleaning high performance upholstery

Maybe you’ve reupholstered your furniture in performance fabric and the inevitable happens: there's a spill, mud gets tracked onto it, or a pet jumps up on it. It happens to us all eventually. How can you make sure you're cleaning it with the best results?

First of all: relax. Your performance fabric has been specifically engineered by textile designers for this very moment.

Let's use FibreGuard fabrics as an example. To ensure lasting performance, FibreGuard's furnishing fabrics are tested after washing multiple times: this confirms their easy clean properties won’t diminish after washing and are permanent.

In fact, during development a total 17 different stains are applied to FibreGuard fabric, and they all must be then removable under a range of different conditions.

All common household stains must be easy to remove, even after being left on the fabric for a few hours.

For tougher messes, use a small bar of mild soap if necessary. It’s important not to use a bristle brush or harsh bleaching agents on performance fabric as these will compromise the integrity of the fabric fibres. Remember, as with any stain or soil, the faster you can act to remove the stain, the better the results will be.

If you're purchasing performance fabrics by a different brand, please check with their cleaning teams, because unlike other performance fabrics, FibreGuard's fabrics are cleanable with water only. No bleach allowed. It's extremely harmful for the environment, and even your skin. That's why we engineered our fabrics to be cleanable without resorting to such a harsh, toxic chemical.