There are one or two wools that are possibly ‘better’ (ie warmer or softer) but they are extremely expensive (such as Vicuna). They are SO expensive and ‘rare’ that you will never come across them in reality unless you work in a very niche area of the fashion fabrics market. I have never even heard about such fabrics being available for interiors use, let alone seen or touched them. Although I would imagine it would not be dissimilar from cashmere!

Which brings me back to Cashmere Throws.

Maybe you already have a Cashmere Throw, or possibly a Cashmere scarf. They feel wonderful. It is not just marketing hype either, there are a variety of technical reasons why the Cashmere yarn makes fabrics that are warmer and softer to the touch than any other woolen yarn.

Yet there remains a huge variation in price from one Cashmere throw to the next. Why?

We have struggled to answer that question ourselves. Cashmere Throws can retail at £2,000. Yet the quality is only very good. Scarves too can easily cost several hundreds of pounds (and upwards).

So we are about to release Cashmere Throws that are better than everyone else. We are using: higher quality, thicker yarns than anyone else; sourcing our own designs, qualities and colours from the best mills.

I can guarantee that if you put one of our throws next to any competing alternative you would always choose a KOTHEA Cashmere Throw. We would even let our competitor choose the criteria that they wish to compete on! We are SO confident that our throws win on all counts.

Or you could go and buy one for £2,000 from somewhere else and be unsure that you have the best.

You can download this document by clicking on the pdf icon.

1. If you are sourcing furniture for your client then the vendor of the furniture needs to provide you with appropriate information to prove compliance.
2. If you are specifying fabric for furniture to be made up, then you need to ask the fabric supplier for the fabric’s compliance to the standards and/or arrange fire treatment.
3. You will need to ensure that you have specified the appropriate fabrics for the visible and non-visible parts of the furniture.
4. You will need to liaise with your upholsterer to ensure that any additional materials such as foam and fabric lining are adequate.

The cigarette and match tests fall under BS 5852. The test(s) involve the fabric being exposed to different ‘ignition sources’ essentially simulating possible real life causes of domestic fires. The ‘ignition sources’ are ways that the fabric could plausibly be burnt. There are 8 different sources/types of combustion but you only normally need to deal with sources 0, 1 and 5.
Source 0 = Cigarette (smouldering cigarette)
Source 1 = Match (simulated match)
Source 5 = Crib. (Wooden crib or Crib 5)

Source 5, or Crib 5 as it is frequently know as, is usually a contract standard for upholstery. In contract upholstery you might also come across BS 7176 which determines specific risk or hazard areas that your fabric is being installed into. In simple terms, BS 7176 covers all 3 of the above tests. Furthermore, whilst Crib 5 is the highest standard of the 3 tests it does not follow that a fabric which passes Crib 5 will also pass the cigarette and match test – even though it is likely to.

Exceptions, Mandates & Exemptions

• Fabric is exempted if it is 75% by weight of cotton, silk, viscose, wool i.e. 75% natural fibres. A FR inter-liner must also be used to keep the exemption.
• Furniture MUST IN ALL CASES pass the cigarette test. No exceptions.
• Cigarette Test will be undertaken using standard foam – this presents a worst-case scenario.
• For fabrics that do not inherently pass the required test then treatments are usually available, often where the back side of the fabric is coated with a fire resistant substance not affecting the look and feel of the fabric
• For already made-up furniture, we doubt that it is possible to treat it retrospectively to pass the tests. However it may be possible to prove that the fabrics that have already been used are in fact compliant.

Perhaps the most expensive yarn is from the vicuña (vicuna, vicugna), which is a camel-like animal found in the high alpine areas of the South American Andes. Whilst not an endangered species it is a rare animal and difficult to farm as it tends to escape!

Cashmere yarn comes from the cashmere goat and other goats such as the pashmina goat.

Cashmere and Vicuna have an outer layer of hair which is coarse and rough but protective for the animal. This is the guard hair. Underneath the guard hair is a warm layer of much, much softer hair. This underlayer consists of hollow-fibred hair that is an excellent insulator. The vicuna has the finest of these fibres of any (resultant) wool anywhere in the world.

About 400g of yarn can be produced from one Vicuna compared to 150g from the Cashmere goat, the latter being a smaller animal. There are many more Cashmere goats in the world and I suspect this is why Cashmere is relatively affordable – as it is produced in much larger volumes in a more competitive market.

As an indication a Vicuna scarf would cost in excess of US$1000. As far as I know it is not produced in sufficient quantities to be available in a suitable form for interiors use (I could be wrong). But if it were it could be woven with silk to produce THE MOST EXPENSIVE AND BEST woolen silk velvet in the world. A further problem is that the Vicuna fibre can readily be damaged when dyed, again making significant production quantities problematic.

Now, as much of the Cashmere yarn produced comes from China, Australia and other countries…in fact just about anywhere other than Kasmir! it strikes me that is an opporutnity waiting to happen for some illustrious, economically-minded, goat breeder out there with friends in the textiles industry. If the production problems could be overcome I could see that there still would be a market for an interiors fabric retailing at in excess of GBP800/m  (US£1300/yard) – albeit a small one.

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Some velvets are woven with a nap others are not. It is not a problem either way. If there is a nap you need to know which way it goes as that affects the process of upholstering. When you run your hand down the mohair velvet or silk velvet the smoothed direction indicates the direction of the nap. Remember this, it is important.

I’m assuming that you have already checked that the fabric is not damaged and that each piece is from the same dye lot.

The nap should be upholstered downwards for:

- the back;

- the seat; and

- side surfaces.

The nap should be upholstered from the outside inwards for:

- arm rests.

How do you flip your cushions? Top to bottom or left to right?

Most people flip from top to bottom. It is therefore standard upholstering practice to upholster the front and the back the opposite way. IE when they are flipped over the nap is the same.

You should use a layer of wadding between the foam and the fabric. The wadding can be either cotton or synthetic it does not really matter but check with any fire rating requirements. Again check that you are using the right kind of foam but HR foam or cold foam are both fine.

However if the pile is vertical then we advise the additional use of a cotton slip-cover.

Going back to the foam for a minute we advise that you use white wadding. In certain circumstances it is possible that grey wadding will ‘bleed’ causing marks on your beautiful Mohair Velvet. For example this may be caused from moisture used in the cleaning process.

Always use wadding on the arm rests as a protective layer to help eliminate ‘sharp’ edges. Using wadding on arm rests will thus reduce wear and tear considerably.

For the piping never use synthetic piping cord, always use cotton piping cord. As with the arm rests this will reduce wear and tear by eliminating the ‘sharper edges’.

Again to reduce wear and tear also use the length of the fabric to make the piping. this will look better as well.

Happy Upholstering

I will return later in another post to KOTHEA’s quite remarkable sales figures for the financial year just finished. Most surprising, especially considering we are in the midst of a recession. We had our best ever year and by quite a large margin.

We expect some coverage of the new collections in World of Interiors and Elle decoration but, again, more on that at another time.

Where can you see our collections? Well, we are as elusive as ever but we are starting to digitize some images to our flickr feed (click the images on the right or here). The flickr update is ongoing, there is information on flickr now but some of the images are not final and some images do not have full associated descriptions / product details but we are woking on that this week. Our usual clients will receive the new collections in due course starting in late summer; if you need them more urgently for pressing projects of course we will be happy to oblige. Please get in contact in the usual way.

Not all are in production yet but most sampling is available now.

As a very broad summary we have:

1. New colours of several existing ranges including faux leather;

2. More velvets including patterned and crush;

3. Striped, double width linens;

4. Upholstery weight linen; and

5. A few more interesting one-off designs in limited colourways like the one heading up this blog post.

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Reference: 01-009-410

Colour Shown: Natural

Other colourways: 1

Width: 138cm

Repeat: none

Composition: 73% Cotton, 27% Viscose

Primary Usage: Panelling and upholstery, contract & domestic.

Martindale: 14,000 Rubs

Type of fabric: Rafia/Textured Weave

About KOTHEA.

KOTHEA are a top-market fabric house based in London serving customers throughout all of Europe and The Middle East. Founded in 1999 they have since continued to develop and sell an extensive range of timeless fabrics to the top architects, interior- and yacht-designers for projects ranging from mega-yachts to boutique hotels and from luxury spas to penthouses.

KOTHEA operate on a trade-only basis and their fabrics are available to the public through interior designers and specialist interior design shops such as Gotham, Interiors Bis and Fiona Campbell. KOTHEA also supply beautiful hand-woven linen fabrics and finished goods – throws and table linen.

KOTHEA’s trade customers would perceive their signature fabrics to include several ranges of velvet including the exclusive ‘cashmere silk velvet’, silks, linens, double-width sheers, faux leather and interesting weaves for upholstery often with high Martindale ‘rub tests’ making them highly suited to both contract and residential projects.

Founder and Executive Director, Lisa Parsons started KOTHEA more than 10 years ago after 11 highly successful years with Nobilis Fontan in Chelsea and Donghia in Chelsea Harbour. She says, “At KOTHEA we like to think we bring something a little different to the market. Our difference will be reflected in our customers’ eyes by unusual fabrics that complement our core fabric ranges; all augmented by our excellent levels of customers service, market knowledge and attention to detail.”

# # #

For Further Information

Please visit the company web site at http://www.kothea.com

Trademarks

KOTHEA is a registered trade mark of KOTHEA Limited. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Making Cushions

Making cushions can be trickier than you might think. For consistent, professional results we have our cushions made up by Tricia Tucker at www.softfurnishing.co.uk if you want instructions on how to make up cushions yourself then you could start by looking here www.alternative-windows.com/cushionindex.htm.

Try searching for particular technical characteristics like ‘Martindale’ or ‘ the specific type of product like ‘Mohair’ or ‘upholstery fabric’ or ‘textured upholstery’ .

Alternatively ask a question by commenting on this page and it will be answered.

Try searching for particular technical characteristics like ‘Martindale’ or ‘ the specific type of product like ‘Mohair’ or ‘upholstery fabric’ or ‘textured upholstery’ .

Alternatively ask a question by commenting on this page and it will be answered.

Use this page as a directory of the UK’s leading fabric suppliers.

Abbot and Boyd 020 7351 9985
Altfield 020 7351 5893
Alton Brooke 020 7376 7008
Borderline 020 7823 3567
Brian Yates 01524 35035
Brunswig 020 7351 5797
Bruno Triplet 020 7823 9990
Chase Erwin 020 8875 7441
Colefax 020 7244 7427
Colony Fabrics 020 7351 3232
Donghia 020 7823 3456
Gainsborough Silk 01787 372081
Henry Bertrand 020 7349 1477
Jab 020 7349 9323
Jane Churchill 020 7244 7427
Jrobertscott 020 7376 4705
KOTHEA 0870 285 4768
Kravet 020 7795 0110
Lee Jofa 020 7823 3455
Lelievre 020 7352 4798
Manuel Canovas 020 8877 6400
Nobilis 020 7351 7878
Pierre Frey 0207 376 55 99
Robert Allen 01494 474741
Sacho Hesslein 020 7352 6168
Silk Gallery 020 7351 1790
Turnell and Gigon 020 7259 7280
Watts Westminster 020 7376 4486
Zimmer and Rhode 020 7351 7115
Zoffany 08708 300 350

Many of these fabric companies sell a wide range of products including: chenille, contract fabric, faux / fake leather, mohair velvet, linen velvet, cotton velvet, wool,  hand woven products, natural silk, cashmere and damask for upholstery, curtains and cushions.

LONDON, England. 06-JULY-2009 11.30 AM: KOTHEA today announced it has expanded its extensive upholstery fabric collection by the addition of KOCAFELATTE. KOCAFELATTE is a somewhat quirky and hard wearing fabric with an unusual, fine patterned design. It is a striking fabric with a high Martindale result, achieved whilst maintaining the highest levels of exclusive design. It is well suited for a range of uses but targeted towards upholstery and cushions in either domestic or contract installations.

KOCAFELATTE Reference: 02-002-415 Colour Shown: Champagne Other colourways: 3 Width: 135cm Repeat: V9 – H9cm Composition: 100% Viscose Martindale: 40,000 ‘rubs’ Primary Usage: General upholstery or window treatments, contract & domestic. Type of fabric: Textured Weave

About KOTHEA.

KOTHEA are a top-market fabric house based in London serving customers throughout all of Europe and The Middle East. Founded in 1999 they have since continued to develop and sell an extensive range of timeless fabrics to the top architects, interior- and yacht-designers for projects ranging from mega-yachts to boutique hotels and from luxury spas to penthouses.

KOTHEA operate on a trade-only basis and their fabrics are available to the public through interior designers and specialist interior design shops such as Gotham, Interiors Bis and Fiona Campbell. KOTHEA also supply beautiful hand-woven linen fabrics and finished goods – throws and table linen.

KOTHEA’s trade customers would perceive their signature fabrics to include several ranges of velvet including the exclusive ‘cashmere silk velvet’, silks, linens, double-width sheers, faux leather and interesting weaves for upholstery often with high Martindale ‘rub tests’ making them highly suited to both contract and residential projects.

Founder and Executive Director, Lisa Parsons started KOTHEA more than 10 years ago after 11 highly successful years with Nobilis Fontan in Chelsea and Donghia in Chelsea Harbour. She says, “At KOTHEA we like to think we bring something a little different to the market. Our difference will be reflected in our customers’ eyes by unusual fabrics that complement our core fabric ranges; all augmented by our excellent levels of customers service, market knowledge and attention to detail.”

# # #

For Further Information

Please visit the company web site at http://www.kothea.com

Trademarks

KOTHEA is a registered trade mark of KOTHEA Limited. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

A material’s degree of resistance to the fading effect of light.

Upholstery
AATCC 16 Option 1 or 3-2003 Grade 4 minimum
at 40 hours

Direct Glue Wallcoverings
AATCC 16 Option 1 or 3-2003 Grade 4 minimum
at 40 hours

Wrapped Panels and Upholstered Walls
AATCC 16 Option 1 or 3-2003 Grade 4 minimum
at 40 hours

Drapery
AATCC 16 Option 1 or 3-2003 Grade 4 minimum
at 60 hours

QuickTime Movies (click link to play)
Colorfastness to light

TEST METHOD
AATCC 16 Option 1 or 3 – 2003*
The AATCC 16 Option 1 and 3 are test methods of the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC). ACT recognizes both methods where the only difference is the light source being used. In AATCC 16 Option 1 a Carbon-Arc lamp is used as the light source and in AATCC 16 Option 3 a Xenon-Arc lamp is used. Under both methods a strip of fabric (part of which is protected by a special paper card) is placed in a fadometer and exposed to 40 hours of accelerated fading units (AFU). After the exposure the difference in color between the exposed and protected parts of the fabric are compared to the AATCC gray scale and the degree of fading is rated.

Grade 5 = no fading
Grade 4 = slight fading
Grade 1 = high degree of fading

* For complete technical details about AATCC 16 Option 1 or 3 – 2003: http://www.aatcc.org

Source: Association for contract textiles (USA)

Transfer of dye from the surface of a dyed or printed fabric onto another surface by rubbing.

There’s the usual stock answer where a fabric company would quote something which sounded like we were dress makers. “The in-vogue colours are the colours on the cat-walk”. Luckily I didn’t answer that way, partly because I haven’t been to a Paris catwalk for a while and partly because what colours we wear are not the colours we design our interior spaces with. I have a few reds and ochres in my wardrobe but none on my walls. Similarly I probably have proportionately very much more taupe around the house than around my body. So clearly the cat-walk comparison is wrong.

The time delay as well. There must be 2-6 months delays in getting the very latest fashions from the catwalk to the mass market retail outlets. It’s pretty hard to turn out new fabric collections regularly in that timeframe.

And then I thought some more. The job was for a Mediterranean villa. Are the colour trends in this country and in this climate the same as in such warmer climbs? Probably not. Hotter climates favour colours that are physically cooler. Picture the white houses of a stereotyped Greek village.

And then I thought about personalities. The villa owner is a wealthy and aesthetically discerning business leader. Will that sort of person have the same tastes and influences as the middle classes of a London suburb? Or will their Chelsea architect/designer reflect the aesthetic views of their personal domain? Some well-known designers push the same colour schemes again and again – because they look great and they work. Is that a trend?

So I came to the conclusion that what defines a colour trend will vary. It will vary by geography, by social aspirations & standing and many other factors. I’m not sure they vary by time that rapidly how we furnish, organise and decorate our houses does change but that change is more on the scale of a decade than the fadish seasonal change for clothing.

That seemed a bit of a cop out answer though. Let’s be analytical about it. What colours do we sell the most of? Well, to be honest, it is still the classic-contemporary feel. So plenty of taupes, white, muted neutrals and the delightfully named beiges. Even with the acidic greens, purples and violent colours of the early 2000s that were blasted in our faces on ‘Changing Rooms’; I have to say that the upper end of the market very, very rarely asked for or bought these colours. So surely the colours we sell are the ones that are on-trend? Maybe, but maybe also we self select the markets we target, the products we stock and hence the type of customer we attract.

And really I would probably question the original question as well. Fabric is much more than colour; texture and design are also key.

So where did that leave me? I probably should have thought of a sophisticated way of saying “just buy what you like” or “get to know what your client likes and sell them that” and said that, but I didn’t.

Essentially you need to look at the Martindale or Rub Test result for the specific fabric in question. Two silk velvets can be quite different.

As with all velvets a proper cleaning regime is important to extend the life of the fabric.

One of KOTHEA’s silk velvets has a rub test/Martindale of 25,000. This is more than adequate for general upholstery.

LONDON, England. 04-MAY-2009 11.30 AM: KOTHEA today announced it has expanded its product range by the addition of KOTWIG. KOTWIG has an off-the-wall textured design. It has a high Martindale score which is unusually achieved without incorporating polyester. It is highly suitable for a wide range of uses including heavy upholstery and wall treatments in either domestic or contract installations.

Flickr Image Of KOTWIG

Full information can be found <here>.

KOTWIG

Reference: 14-002-436

Colour Shown: Brown – Light Brown

Other colourways: 20

Width: 145cm

Repeat: None

Composition: 43% Linen, 36% Viscose, 21% Cotton.

Martindale: 40,000 ‘rubs’

Primary Usage: General upholstery or wall treatments, contract & domestic.

Type of fabric: Textured Weave

About KOTHEA.

KOTHEA are a top-market fabric house based in London serving customers throughout all of Europe and The Middle East. Founded in 1999 they have since continued to develop and sell an extensive range of timeless fabrics to the top architects, interior- and yacht-designers for projects ranging from mega-yachts to boutique hotels and from luxury spas to penthouses.

KOTHEA operate on a trade-only basis and their fabrics are available to the public through interior designers and specialist interior design shops such as Gotham, Interiors Bis and Fiona Campbell. KOTHEA also supply beautiful hand-woven linen fabrics and finished goods – throws and table linen.

KOTHEA’s trade customers would perceive their signature fabrics to include several ranges of velvet including the exclusive ‘cashmere silk velvet’, silks, linens, double-width sheers, faux leather and interesting weaves for upholstery often with high Martindale ‘rub tests’ making them highly suited to both contract and residential projects.

Founder and Executive Director, Lisa Parsons started KOTHEA more than 10 years ago after 11 highly successful years with Nobilis Fontan in Chelsea and Donghia in Chelsea Harbour. She says, “At KOTHEA we like to think we bring something a little different to the market. Our difference will be reflected in our customers’ eyes by unusual fabrics that complement our core fabric ranges; all augmented by our excellent levels of customers service, market knowledge and attention to detail.”

LONDON, England. 06-APR-2009 11.30 AM: KOTHEA today announced it has expanded its product range by the addition of KOCOSMIC. KOCOSMIC is a little bit quirky; like a faux skin without trying too hard to mimic nature. It has high rubs and is suitable for a wide range of uses including heavy upholstery and wall treatments in either domestic or contract installations.

KOCOSMIC

Reference: 03-004-378
Colour Shown: 3 Silver
Other Colourways: 19
Width: 140cm
Repeat: None
Composition: 100% Cotton base cloth, 95% Vinyl 5%, Polyurethane outer.
Martindale: BS5690 100,000
Primary Usage: Heavy upholstery, wall treatments, contract & domestic.
Type of fabric: Vinyl
Other: Passes BS5852 Schedule 4 Part 1 Cigarette Test, Schedule 5 Part 1 Match Test and Crib 5.

About KOTHEA.

KOTHEA are a top-market fabric house based in London serving customers throughout all of Europe and The Middle East. Founded in 1999 they have since continued to develop and sell an extensive range of timeless fabrics to the top architects, interior- and yacht-designers for projects ranging from mega-yachts to boutique hotels and from luxury spas to penthouses.

KOTHEA operate on a trade-only basis and their fabrics are available to the public through interior designers and specialist interior design shops such as Gotham, Interiors Bis and Fiona Campbell. KOTHEA also supply beautiful hand-woven linen fabrics and finished goods – throws and table linen.

KOTHEA’s trade customers would perceive their signature fabrics to include several ranges of velvet including the exclusive ‘cashmere silk velvet’, silks, linens, double-width sheers, faux leather and interesting weaves for upholstery often with high Martindale ‘rub tests’ making them highly suited to both contract and residential projects.

Founder and Executive Director, Lisa Parsons started KOTHEA more than 10 years ago after 11 highly successful years with Nobilis Fontan in Chelsea and Donghia in Chelsea Harbour. She says, “At KOTHEA we like to think we bring something a little different to the market. Our difference will be reflected in our customers’ eyes by unusual fabrics that complement our core fabric ranges; all augmented by our excellent levels of customers service, market knowledge and attention to detail.”

# # #

For Further Information
Please visit the company web site at http://www.kothea.com

Trademarks
KOTHEA is a registered trade mark of KOTHEA Limited. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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Have a look at some of our thoughts on the year ahead as shown in the excellent on-line design directory The House Directory. An excerpt from the MARCH 2009 edition is shown below.

For a sneak preview of some of our new fabrics we have a 2009 flickr feed.

LONDON, England. 02-MAR-2009 11.30 AM: KOTHEA today announced it has expanded its product range by the addition of KODEKOBA, a fabric suitable for domestic upholstery. KODEKOBA has an unusual weave and texture. The striking weave makes the fabric highly suited for high visibility areas.

KODEKOBA

Reference: 02-001-386
Colour Shown: Light Brown
Other colourways: 3
Width: 140cm
Repeat: None
Composition: 55% Cotton, 26% Viscose, 9% Polyester.
Martindale: 18,000 ‘rubs’
Primary Usage: Residential upholstery & Cushions.
Type of fabric: Textured Weave

About KOTHEA.

KOTHEA are a top-market fabric house based in London serving customers throughout all of Europe and The Middle East. Founded in 1999 they have since continued to develop and sell an extensive range of timeless fabrics to the top architects, interior- and yacht-designers for projects ranging from mega-yachts to boutique hotels and from luxury spas to penthouses.

KOTHEA operate on a trade-only basis and their fabrics are available to the public through interior designers and specialist interior design shops such as Gotham, Interiors Bis and Fiona Campbell. KOTHEA also supply beautiful hand-woven linen fabrics and finished goods – throws and table linen.
 
KOTHEA’s trade customers would perceive their signature fabrics to include several ranges of velvet including the exclusive ‘cashmere silk velvet’, silks, linens, double-width sheers, faux leather and interesting weaves for upholstery often with high Martindale ‘rub tests’ making them highly suited to both contract and residential projects.

Founder and Executive Director, Lisa Parsons started KOTHEA more than 10 years ago after 11 highly successful years with Nobilis Fontan in Chelsea and Donghia in Chelsea Harbour. She says, “At KOTHEA we like to think we bring something a little different to the market. Our difference will be reflected in our customers’ eyes by unusual fabrics that complement our core fabric ranges; all augmented by our excellent levels of customers service, market knowledge and attention to detail.”

# # #

For Further Information
Please visit the company web site at http://www.kothea.com

Trademarks
KOTHEA is a registered trade mark of KOTHEA Limited. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Share & Enjoy

1. Domestic

a. Curtains – No treatment is required.
b. Upholstery – The fabric must be treated to reach the match test (BS5852: Part1: 1979: Source 1).
The designer must first check the fabric passes the cigarette test (BS5852: Part1: 1979: Source 0).

Note:
The cigarette test meets the equivalent European standard BS EN 1021-1.
The match test meets the equivalent European standard BS EN 1021-2.
Fabrics containing 75% mixed-natural or natural fibre content do not usually require treating as they normally pass ‘the cigarette test’. You must use a Schedule 3 interliner (fire retardant to CRiB 5) though.

2. Contract

a. Curtains – The fabric must be treated to BS5867: Part 2: Type B.
Some fabrics meet this standard naturally, most do not. Some fabrics cannot be treated for this standard.
b. Upholstery – The fabric must be treated to BS5852: 1990: Source 5 (CRiB 5).
This involves the fabric being back coated and most fabrics can be treated in this way.

Note:
BS7176 covers BS5852: 1990. And BS5852: 1990 covers BS5852: Part 1: 1979 and BS 5852: Part 2: 1982. So the info above in 2b is correct. This treatment meets European standards.

3. Other Uses
Head boards, bed covers, wall coverings, yachting and aviation may have differing requirements.

There is a broad equivalence of British and European standards. However the standards for the USA are different to Europe.

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KOTHEA introduces KOCHENCAT, a versatile and extravagant fabric delivering understated excellence for designers in the yacht, spa and boutique hotel markets.

An extensive colour palette covering 27 colours gives colour options for every interior. Gold, lime, charcoal, taupe and ivory complement all discerning schemes and the luxurious feel of a fabric mixed with chenille and cotton delights all the senses.

Combine beauty with practicality and you get KOCHENCAT. This versatile, textured weave is suitable for demanding environments; it has the superb durability demonstrated by high Martindale ‘rub’ characteristics and can be further treated to resist the demands of water and heat – as is always expected in the yacht and hospitality industries. It is equally at home as upholstery, as panelling or as curtain material.

Versatility, beauty, dependability: KOCHENCAT.

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A Summary Is Given Below

LONDON, England. 01-FEB-2009 12.30 AM: KOTHEA today announced it has expanded its product range by the addition of KOCHENCAT, an upholstery, panelling and curtain fabric suitable for both contract and residential usage.

Name: KOCHENCAT
Reference: 19-002-431
Colour Shown: Red
Total Colourways: 27
Width: 140cm
Martindale: 50,000 ‘rubs’.
Usage: Curtains. Upholstery. Panelling.
Type of fabric:  Textured Weave.
Composition: 49% Cotton. 31% Polyester. 20% Chenille.

Fortunately static is rarely noticed when curtains are hung, this is partly because of the chosen combination of materials and partly also because the weight of the material overcomes the weak power of static electricity. However if you do have this rare problem then you have already invested a lot of time, effort and money into buying curtain material and having them made up and hung. Do you have to start again?

Before answering that dreaded question it is important to understand what causes the problem in the first place. There is little point in re-making the curtains if the same problem is going to happen again.

Static is a natural phenomena. The main way in which static is created is when two materials are rubbed together causing an excess electrical charge on their surfaces. It is not, however, caused by the friction itself and it is not caused because a material is synthetic/man-made.

All materials differ in their propensity to cause static. It takes the properties of TWO materials to cause static; one must be good at giving up ‘electrons’ and the other good at receiving ‘electrons’. The better that each of the materials are at giving/receiving ‘electrons’ then the more static there will be. For any scientists reading, you might remember that this is measured by The Triboelectric Series.

On the Triboelectric Series; hair, wool, glass, nylon and fur are good at giving up electrons. Whereas silk, paper and cotton are at the other end of the scale and are bad at giving up electrons. Conversely; wood, metals, polyester and styrene are bad at attracting electrons whereas at the other end of this side of the scale polyurethane, polyethylene, vinyl/PVC are good at attracting electrons.

Thus a combination of PVC and hair would produce the most static whereas cotton and wood would produce the least. If you think about combing your hair then this should ring true.

Polyester is very similar to gold, platinum, brass, silver, nickel and copper in its static generating properties. Whereas, cotton is one of the lowest materials on the scale.

So the first lesson, bearing in mind the above, is that the choice of materials ie the curtain and the lining are critical. Also any surface that the curtain comes into contact with is important. So the second lesson is to consider the location.

Let’s turn now to how the curtain is made up. An experienced, professional curtain maker should know how to avoid the static problem.

Taking an example of a mixed composition fabric. Let’s say 40% cotton, 40% viscose and 20% polyester. And let’s also say that the material is loosely woven and has movement. Looking at such a fabric an experienced curtain maker would say that the fabric ‘needed taming’ and that a light cotton inter liner should be used. In addition to that the following details should be followed:

• The interlining should be locked in with 3 inch stitches. This should not be knotted;
• At the leading edge the interlining should be serged and locked in;
• The hem should be herring bone stitched. The stitches should not be too large and should not catch the face fabric; and
• Because of the nature of the fabric, the hem should slightly break on the floor.

These are not generic solutions to all curtain static problem. But they should be considered by the curtain maker.

So we have seen that: the choice of material; how the design works when hung; and how the curtain is made up, all have impacts on the creation or dissipation of static.

Essex Flameproofing,

Textiles FR, and

TEK Treatments

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