Interior Designers – An Update On using Facebook, LinkedIn WordPress blogs and Twitter

Posted: 17 January, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: interior designer, The Business Of Interior Design | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »
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Interior Designers have been moving much of their sales and marketing into the digital world over the last few years. Maybe this was because of great looking Apple products or maybe just because as new, young designers come into larger business they bring in with them the gadget trends of youth. Or maybe because all this digital e-stuff actually can work and can work quite cost effectively if done right.

I’ve written a few articles on this general subject over the years (I’ll reference some of them at the end of this post. However things have moved on in the real world and some of what I’ve PREVIOUSLY written has been superceded or improved.

1. Blogs, Twitter, Web sites, LinkedIn and Facebook – linking them

It’s still mostly true that you will use your web site as your show case for your business. Your blog will be a part of your website and, unless you sell products that require an up-to-date online catalogue, it is your blog that will contain the information that CAN AND SHOULD be regularly updated. (That will boost your google position). Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook come in as networks you are building. All good stuff.

The problem used to come in  how you would simultaneously update all these networks without having to manually re-submit the information. That would obviously be time consuming as would installing and keeping working additional pieces of software that glued all the bits of your marketing together.

Well now it is relatively straightforward to have your wordpress blog update your twitter account, your LinkedIn presence and your facebook business page. Similarly twitter can also update your facebook page automatically. Lots of these automatic links now exist within the main software websites (wordpress, twitter, etc) so you only have to write new information (blog posts or tweets or on your wall) once and then the software you use automates the distribution of that information across lots of different web site and online communities. Sorted, no mystery any more.

2. Vanity URLs on Facebook

This area used to be horrendously complicated and thankfully facebook have now simplified how to create a venity URL. What I mean by this is how do you create and use www.facebook.com/kothea …or of course you would have your business name at the end of that.

Essentially you can now just create a PAGE and give it a name (eg KOTHEA in our case) straight away. Gone are the ridiculous but well intentioned rules about having a certain number of fans.

3. Building networks with Facebook

You probably already know that once you have created you PAGE in facebook then you can use facebook as if YOU are the ‘page’. Rather than the person you really are. So rather than having your facebook activities in the name of ‘Joan Smith’ you make comments as if they are coming instead from your business ‘Smith Interior Design’.

google are also trying to “do a facebook”. This is their Google plus network. You can ignore that for the time being.When was the last time you or your kids used it?

Much better for your branding. Remember to be nice ad say sensible things and don’t get carried away!

4. Gadgets

Especially in the Interior Design and Architecture industry lots of people use Apple iphones and ipads. Of course your clients may well also use these devices but perhaps are also quite likely to use other ‘tablet’ devices and other smart phones like Blackberries.

Like you, your clients lead hectic lives. They are on the go and people are increasingly looking for  information on the move. So all the electronic marketing you do needs also to work on these devices so your potential clients can read it and find it.

This is not so hard to achieve. Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn will automatically do it. WordPress blogs will do it if you check a box in one of the admin features. It might be harder for your web site to do it properly so have a word with your web page designers.

You can use something like http://marketing.grader.com/ to tell you for free some of the more technical things (like working with mobile/cell phones)

 

Here are some of the posts I previously wrote or you can find them all in one go by <clicking here>

 

1. How to get links to your web site 

2. Interior Designers: Why does no-one visit your web site 

3. Interior Design Marketing Strategies 

4. Effective Ad Writing For Interior Designers on Facebook

5. Five Crucial Bits For Your Facebook Business Page

6. Seven Facebook Mistakes Interior Designers Make

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Interior Designers: How to specify A Luxury Cashmere Throw For Your Client Projects

Posted: 25 November, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic Fabric, Fabric Tips, home decor, interior, interior design, interior designer, interiordesign, modern homes, modern interiors, The Business Of Interior Design | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »
Luxury Cashmere Throw
Luxury Cashmere Throws

Luxury Cashmere Throws are often used by many designers to add that special finishing touch. The good ones look great and feel fantastic. As well as being aesthetically pleasing a throw can also be functional – keeps you warm!Bearing in mind how often your client will interact with (touch/use) such an item over time it is very important to specify your cashmere throws properly.

Of course you can buy them from very many places. But how do you get a really good one? I mean really good, the best?

We have put together a series of designers’ worksheets. Here is a link to the main one <click here>. The worksheet goes through some of the things you should be looking for when coming to a decision on what to specify.

When looking at specific designs you might then want to look at this worksheet. <Click here>.

All the worksheets are listed here, <click here>.

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Interior Designers: Why does no-one visit your web site?

Posted: 24 November, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: interior design, interior designer, interiordesign, interiors, The Business Of Interior Design | Tags: , , , | 6 Comments »

Interior Designers can spend hundreds or thousands of pounds ($) on websites. That CAN be a good investment or it can be a total waste of money.

Not just interior designers, but people from many industries bemoan the fact that no-one is visiting their web site. Then the next (incorrect) step in thinking goes that “well maybe I need to pay someone to get links to my site”… or something along those lines. And so it goes on, more money is spent on technology, on social media, on the web, on the net, on web 2.0 – whatever you want to call it. I’m sure you recognise the picture, perhaps from other designers you know that have these awesome looking websites…with no visitors!

This all-too-typical situation raises a whole raft of questions, points and observations. I’ll try to cover a few of them here.

1. Why on earth should I visit your web site?

I think you, the interior designer, really have to answer this question. Yes I’m sure your site looks great. Yes I’m sure it highlights your services and showcases your past projects (hopefully!). But let’s say I’m a potential customer, really, why should I visit your site? What’s in it for me? Your site MUST address this issue. IE the issue of your customer. Your web site should NOT be set up solely to gratify the interior design company’s owners or marketing team or web designer…I’m sorry but what you guys think is not that important to most people! You need to add something to the (potential) customer. Ideally something that will take them on that metaphorical ‘voyage’ towards closer links with your company and ultimately turning them into a customer and advocate of your firm.

So, simplistically, your site needs to contain the words and images necessary to give the client the information they need in an appropriate format.

2. Why on earth should Google or Bing or Yahoo visit your web site?

This questions is important because even if your site is set up to cater for the needs of your perfect potential customer that’s absolutely no use whatsoever if the search engines do not place your company on the first or second page of a potential customer’s web search. And even if you understand this issue it is still awfully hard to achieve such a placing in search engine results.

So, part of the solution here relies on your site having sufficient words and properly ‘tagged’ images (I won’t go into that that means here, look elsewhere on this site or the net). Remember that google cannot really see images at all, only words. Look at the sofa/fireplace image below  only ONE OF YOU UK INTERIOR DESIGNERS IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY automatically came up with an image that I can could choose from to publicize on this blog. Only one. Amazing. And who are Rogue Designs? Never heard of them…but google.co.uk, wordpres.com and zemanta.com have and now so have you. Go figure!

interior design oxford rogue designs

So you have to have the right words. You have to know what the words are that your customers use in their searches (not so easy!) and then you have to use those words a lot…but not too much! How much is not too much? No-one really exactly knows. But you have to use them sufficiently frequently and towards the start of the various pages on your site. But just write stuff that makes sense don’t try to write the key words a million times per article… that doesn’t work either.

All well and good you might say. If you’ve got this far…which most people haven’t…you’re a long way down the line.

Now the next problem is that the search engines also look at the frequency of how often your pages change. So now you really have a problem. Even if you did a great web site last year Google will downgrade it’s importance in search results this year because the content hasn’t changed in the 12 months. The solution to this is of course to change your words and pictures a lot….but that takes time. Either your time or the time of someone that you pay for. That’s annoying and expensive. But that’s the way it is. Oh yes, and you quickly run out of interesting things that your customer will want to read. That’s annoying too.

If your web site has some sort of e-commerce facility ie products are sold, introduced, discounted etc etc. Then I think that meets the ‘sufficiently changing criterion’ of the search engines. But you are interior designers and many of you will not have a retail front or an internet based retail front. So you won’t be able to do that or won’t want to do that. So what you would do instead is write a blog. And that blog should ideally be a physical part of your web site not an add-on somewhere else on the internet. It must also be frequently updated with posts that contain the right pictures and keywords.

I guarantee you (with caveats! hmmm) that if you do that, then blog weekly for a month and then write an ‘appropriate’ article/blog page; within an hour or so it WILL be on the first page of google for a suitable ‘keyword search’ (techy term, sorry) but obviously things too generic like bbc or ‘interior designer’ won’t work. Maybe, of course, a week or month later it won’t be on the first page as something ‘better’, or more recent or more ‘trusted’ is written! Sorry again! But at least you will have proof that what I am saying has some truth in it. I did the same thing in about September 2011 for our new ‘Luxury Cashmere Throws‘. Click on that link and see if we still come up. If we do still come up then, of course, I am wonderful (hmm) but the more generic you get such as with ‘Cashmere Throws‘ then the less likely our articles will be to come up. [So here 'Cashmere Throw' is a quite generic search with many results returned; but adding in something specific to the market I am targeting, ie the word 'luxury', narrows the results sufficiently so that my new/well-written post figures highly].

Indeed if KOTHEA’s articles still do have a first page listing for that search then it will be because we have been doing this blogging thing for quite a while. And if you have done just that then Mr Google gives you extra gold stars (pagerank) and you rank even higher in search engine results.

So if you are just starting out with a blog and use the wrong or widely used keywords then you will not appear on the first page of your customer’s searches. You have got to be in it for the long term.

Now, to complicate things further. Take a closer look at the search I got you to do on Luxury Cashmere Throws. If you actually click through onto the page in question. You, as a customer, may well be disappointed!! (See I am fallible). The pages that were coming up top were an image of ours on FLICKR and a general press release on one of the colours of our throw. So if you were looking to buy a throw then those pages might not have been good enough for you. Maybe you’d have gone off and looked somewhere else very quickly? Well yes probably. Especially because I did not include a ‘call to action’ to take you from that click to our website or request samples page further down the sale process.

So even if you do the right technical things ie intelligent(ish) blogging, then that’s no good if the customer is not drawn further onto your web presence and actually goes on to buy something. So I committed the cardinal e-sin. I got a click but did nothing about it to convert it into a sale.

3. The Big Brands

If you have a big brand then people will visit your site because they know the brand and at least vaguely associate that brand with selling what they want. So in that situation, it is your branding driving web site visits rather than the content of the site per se or how good the search engines think your site is.

So you smaller interior designers have yet another problem to overcome. Branding of course is a whole different kettle of fish of which web-presence is only one part.

4. Link Building

You will probably get hundreds of overseas based companies emailing you every day to say they can boost the SEO of your web site or guarantee you inbound links to boost your ranking. Hint… they can’t really. And even if they can…it won’t last. And even if they do what are they going to link to? Remember you have to have stuff that your customers is genuinely interested in, can they write that? I doubt it. YOU have to do it.

5. Social Media

And now of course you have to have a presence on Facebook and twitter and all the rest of it. Well, yes you probably do. But don’t get your hopes up too much.

Bizarrely I think that Twitter may well end up being the most effective. There will be the odd few of your blog posts, that effectively get syndicated across like minded people on Twitter, and those few posts will hit home to them and turn into something for your business.

Facebook. Only really useful I think as a mechanism for interacting with people on the move (via smart phones) or who just spend their time in that world more than the other parts of the digital world.

If your blog automatically sends updates to your facebook business page and twitter i think that will be enough to cover you there.

Before you embark on building a facebook world for your potential clients think again why on earth would they come to your facebook world for anything other than a cursory look or query? When they do you have to respond to that but the reality is that you will not have some all-singing all dancing interior design world on either the web or twitter. And even if you do who will go there… other interior designers or your clients!

Good luck. Getting clients was never easy – if that’s any consolation.

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Wyzenbeek – Martindale – Abrasion Testing

Posted: 31 May, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Contract Fabric, Domestic Fabric, Fabric Design, Production & Details, home decor, interior, interior design, interior designer, interiordesign, interiors, modern homes, modern interiors, Upholstery, Upholstery Fabric | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments »
Nähzwirn 3-fach

Image via Wikipedia

I would be rich if I were to be given one pound for every time we are asked, “What is the best upholstery fabric to use on my sofa?” Typically the questioner means ‘most durable’ rather than ‘best’.  You could buy a near bullet-proof fabric with a Martindale score of several hundred thousand but could you live with it!

‘Simple’ measures of durability such as Martindale and Wyzenbeek overlay complex structures of the fabric. This covers the construction of the yarns and design of the weave weave as well as the fibre chosen. Furthermore, finishes, sofa/furniture design, maintenance regimes and usage are variables that very significantly affect the life of your fabric.

More Martindale links here and here and here

There is a close link between fiber strength and yarn strength. Yarns are twisted to add strength – generally a tighter twist gives a stronger yarn. This is measured in Twists Per Inch or Meter (TPI or TPM). Tightly twisted yarns are generally smooth and dense. This brings us to weave design. Weaves can be extremely complicated and difficult to structurally model and understand. Just knowing the fibers, yarn and weave construction still doesn’t answer the basic question – an objective measurement is needed. Test were developed to determine wear. They are better known as abrasion tests and many Interior Designers today refer to these test results as THE way to measure fabric durability. Abrasion test are supposed to forecast how well a fabric will wear in upholstery applications.

There are two tests: Martindale in Europe and Wyzenbeek in the USA. The tests are different and there is no correlation between the two. With Wyzenbeek (ASTM D4157-02): a piece of cotton duck fabric or wire mesh is rubbed in a straight back and forth motion on a piece of fabric until “noticeable wear” or thread break is evident. One back and forth motion is called a “double rub” (dbl rub). Whereas with Martindale (ASTM D4966-98): the abradant in this test is worsted wool or wire screen, the fabric specimen is a circle or round shape and the rubbing is undertaken in a figure 8, unlike the straight line of the Wyzenbeek. One figure 8 is a cycle – hence the terms Martindale cycles.

Contract fabrics would normally meet these criteria:

General contract: Wyzenbeek 15,000 Martindale 20,000

Heavy duty contract Wyzenbeek 30,000 Martindale 40,000

Whereas for domestic applications:

Light residential Wyzenbeek 6,000, Martindale 9,000

Medium use residential Wyzenbeek 9,000 Martindale 15,000

Heavy use residential 15,000 Martindale 30,000 or higher

The higher the result the more likely the fabric is to be more durable. (Source of the above figures can be provided on request to the author)

With figures over 100,000 then there may be an issue with the applicability of the results and certainly how the fabrics’ care regime is implemented will have more of an influence on its longevity.

Some commentators question the validity of test results. In my experience in the UK, test houses are independent and are strictly monitored by British Standards and no one fabric company is big enough to be able to ‘ask for’ results to be skewed. Nor, I’m sure, would any fabric company want to put a supplier in that position if only for the reason that it is in no-one’s interests to undermine the authority of independent industry bodies that, in general, regulate for the greater good of all.

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Upholstery Velvet – Sourcing Luxury Velvet (Mohair) in The UK

Posted: 16 February, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Contract Fabric, Domestic Fabric, interior, interior design, interior designer, interiordesign, Product Comments, Upholstery, Upholstery Fabric | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »
Luxury Mohair Velvet For Upholstery

Luxury Mohair Velvet For Upholstery

Luxury Upholstery Velvet is notoriously difficult for interior designers to consistently source. Sourcing a generic velvet is easy enough but often velvets vary greatly in quality with many being relatively cheap and scoring relatively well with Martindale results but they just look ‘cheap’. The look and feel of the velvet are, after all, two of several important reasons why you are specifying it in the first place.

A further problem is the composition. When, for example, you say you want a Mohair Velvet that is what you want: a velvet made out of Mohair and NOT lots of other things PLUS a bit of Mohair.

Whilst Mohair velvets are generally very good across the market they too can vary significantly in quality. So even when you buy a Mohair Velvet you are not necessarily getting the durable, luxury, fantastic looking product that you hoped for.

Further complications come when looking at Velvets made of a mix of yarns. Well some of the mixed fibre yarns too are actually excellent in quality!

So I guess I’m saying that there really is no sure and fast way of knowing that what you are buying without actually seeing the fabric AND being assured of its technical characteristics, notably Martindale as we are considering upholstery here.

Most KOTHEA luxury upholstery velvets have inherent Martindale rub tests of in excess of 20,000 rubs with several collections exceeding 100,000 rubs fo rcontract usage – 20,000 Martindale being eminently suitable for domestic upholstery.

In addition to non-velvet, textured upholstery we have many luxury velvets suitbale for upholstery including Italian Silk Velvet (high quality, luxury velvet), Cashmere & Silk Velvet (the ultimate velvet), trevira Velvet (inherent fire retardancy), Mohair Velvet (high quality, luxury velvet),

Most of our velvet is available by the metre with no minimum quantities.

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Fabric Tips #13: Velvet Curtain Making

Posted: 14 February, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Curtain Fabric, Fabric Tips, interior design, interior designer | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »
米其林寶寶兔

Image by tenz1225 via Flickr

Here are some additional pointers to consider when you are making a curtain using a velvet. Remember that a velvet is just a type of fabric and the fibre(s) that the velvet is made from is important.

So for example we would always recommend that you line a curtain. This gives a superior appearance but also reduced the amount of light going through the fabric hence limiting as much as possible the effect of any fading.

If the velvet has a pile that can be flattened in one direction then we would recommend that you have the pile going downwards for SHINY velvet fabrics and PATTERNED VELVETS.

If however you make up the curtain with the pile upwards then this will deepen the colour so you cold make the curtains this way for cotton velvets and Trevira Velvet and Mohair velvets.

These are general guidelines and it is not necessarily wrong if you make up the curtain ‘the other way’ just so long as you understand the implications to the finished look and performance of the material.

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Fabric Tips #12: Rolling a velvet

Posted: 14 February, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Contract Fabric, Curtain Fabric, Domestic Fabric, Fabric Design, Production & Details, Fabric Tips, interior design, interior designer, Upholstery, Upholstery Fabric | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »
Alpaca-wool.

Image via Wikipedia

You’ve just ordered a new velvet and unrolled it to admire your purchase. But how do you re-roll it?

When you roll almost any fabric you should have the face on the inside. With a velvet this is the pile so you have the pile on the inside.

Some, but not all, velvet piles stand straight up others will ‘lay down’. for the former it does not matter which way you then roll the fabric (provided the pile is on the inside). However for typically longer pile which lays down (ie you can brush it flat with your hand in one direction only) then you should roll the fabric down the pile as you return it to its roll.

Hopefully that made sense. Good luck.

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Fabric Tips #11: Mohair Velvet – How To Store

Posted: 14 February, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Contract Fabric, Fabric Design, Production & Details, Fabric Tips, interior design, interior designer, Upholstery, Upholstery Fabric | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »
Alpaca-wool can be made into luxurious alpaca velvet

Image via Wikipedia - Alpaca Wool can be made into luxurious alpaca velvet...if you can find it

How to store Velvet.

The same instructions apply to all velvets.

Some background first: As an interior designer you buy and handle many fabrics. You may have wondered why some fabrics come in rolls of up to 100m whereas other come in much smaller lengths. Is this because of their value? The likelihood of them being sold quickly enough? Or perhaps longer lengths of some fabrics would be just to heavy for someone in a warehouse to physically carry or indeed too heavy for a courier to carry? Or perhaps it’s something to do with the thickness of the roll?

Well there is some truth no doubt in all of these reasons and others to. But one very important consideration with a velvet and especially with a Mohair velvets is the weight of the fabric and the weight of the fabric ON ITSELF. Because velvets have a pile they are thicker and heavier than other fabrics as they contain more material; similarly some velvets such as many mohair velvets have a dense pile…again more fabric and more weight.

There comes a point when the sheer weight of the roll of fabric becomes too much for the pile of the first part of the wrapped fabric on the roll and the inherent weight of all the fabric can cause damage to the pile. So velvets and especially mohair velvets have smaller lengths on the roll. Sometimes 25m but sometimes also 40m and 50m per roll.

So the length of fabric on a roll will be impacted by the weight of the fabric per linear metre AND the fact that a pile fabric can be more affected by added weight than other fabric.

So, how to store.

1. Store horizontally

2. Store with no other, external weight applied to the fabric.

3. Covered up to avoid exposure to dirt and dust i the air  -especially if stored for long periods

Typically you will find that many of our velvets come to you in special containers where the velvet is on a roll and suspended by special cardboard ends in the boxes. For small volumes of velvet on a single roll there is often no need for these special containers. Where the velvets are supplied in suspended roll containers it is safe to store the velvet in this form. Ideally youwould have a horizontal racking system for rolls of fabric as lengths can easily be cut off as and when you need them but cleary most interior designers do not have this facility.

The safest method of course is to let your supplier hold the stock and order cut lengths from them. It de-risks you damaging the fabric. Unless of course the supplier can specifically reserve entire rolls just for you, you would have the potential problem of dye lot or batch variation of colour with many fabric dyes. There would normally be a charge for an additional service such as this.

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Upholstery Linen – Sourcing Luxury Linen in the UK

Posted: 17 January, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Contract Fabric, Domestic Fabric, interior design, interior designer, interiordesign, Upholstery, Upholstery Fabric | Tags: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »
Upholstery Linen

Upholstery Linen

Upholstery Linen is notoriously difficult for interior designers to source. Sourcing linens for curtains is easy enough but often linens are not woven with sufficient strength to score Martindale results that are high enough to warrant using the fabric for upholstery.

Some suppliers can be a little evasive and will quote the weight of the linen as a measure of the linen’s quality. The implicaiton being that the higher the weight the better suited the fabric will be for upholstery. There is some thuth in that implication but you cannot say for certain that a high weight linen is inherently suitable for upholstery. Get the Martindale!

Most KOTHEA luxury upholstery linens have inherent Martindale rub tests of around 20,000 rubs with one range further strengthened to 85,000 rubs for contract usage – 20,000 Martindale being eminently suitable for domestic upholstery.

Furthermore when buying upholstery- (or curtain-) linen you need to know whether or not it will shrink when washed. Linen ALWAYS shrinks. So what you have to find out is whether or not it has been pre-shrunk before you buy it. A common way of pre-shrinking linen is through the sanforisation process.

Here are the details of our new 2011 upholstery linens that are named Recline, Relax and Restful. We have many others, these are just the new ones:

Name: Recline

Usage: Luxury Contract Upholstery

Colourways: 24

Width:   135cm

Comp:  54% Li 35% Co 11% Pa

Weight: >350g/m2

Notes:   Martindale >85,000

Request Samples

Name: Relax

Usage: Luxury Domestic Upholstery

Colourways: 24

Width:  135cm

Comp: 100% Li

Weight: >265 g/m2

Notes:   Martindale >15,000

Request Samples

Name: Restful

Usage: Heavyweight Luxury Domestic Upholstery

Colourways: 4

Width:  135cm

Comp: 100% Li

Weight: >470 g/m2

Notes:   Martindale >45,000

Request Samples

Contract Upholstery Fabric – How to Specify It

Posted: 9 January, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Contract Fabric, Environmental, Fabric Tips, interior design, interior designer, interiordesign, interiors, Panelling & Wallcovering, Upholstery, Upholstery Fabric | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Here is a VERY quick guide to specifying contract fabrics. Contract Fabrics 101 if you like. It shows you the main areas you need to consider.

1. Determine Use

Is it panelling or seating? for the latter you will need to consider flammability (cigarette, match and crib 5) and abrasion (Martindale)

2. Fabric Composition

The composition of the fabric including the yarn and weave will affect the fabric’s long term wear, appearance and technical performance.

Natural fabrics such as wool can be more expensive but generally offer good feel and technical characteristics such as natural flame retardancy.

Man-made fabrics usually are more easily cared for but can look cheap if not properly chosen.

3. Flammability

The single standard for contract seating which is acceptable throughout the EU is EN 1021 Parts 1 and 2 (cigarette and match). Higher level standards in the UK are BS 5852 and BS 7176.

The standard which applies to vertical surface fabrics is BS 476 Part 7.

4. Abrasion

You should be looking at the Martindale properties of the fabric. <Here> is more information on the Martindale rub test.

5. Environmental Considerations

Generally natural fibres like wool are good. And man-made ones less so, NYLON is not great.

6. Care and maintenance

Generally contract fabrics will look bad because of dirt rather than because they wear out. So follow the manufacturers instructions on care and maintenance.  Basically wipe away stains quickly and vacuum clean regularly.

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