Fabric
BY CAROL POLSKY
Newsday Staff Writer
Nowadays, outdoor fabrics are so sophis- ticated they’re coming back indoors.
The stiff canvas twills of not so long ago have been replaced by durable, stain- and moisture-resistant fabrics that don’t fade in the sun or mildew in moisture, yet look and feel like cotton, chenille, boucle, taffeta and velvet. New collections of outdoor fabrics from high-end fabric companies have quickly become top sellers, and designers are happily using them for clients with children, pets and red wine.
Designer Sherrill Canet of Locust Valley and Manhattan used outdoor fabrics in all the main rooms of a large Quoque beach house, for floor-to-ceiling sheer drapes in a sun-filled room in Locust Valley, and in a family room in Connecticut. She designed her own covered porch with outdoor fabrics that could easily go inside, blurring that line between in and out.
“From the beginning, when it was stiff outdoor canvas, to now, where you can get a fine-feeling paisley, you can add to all your luxurious fabrics in any room in the house. It’s quite a transformation,” she says. “They’re very durable and they do clean up well.”
Philip Gorrivan, an interior designer in Manhattan, says he’s using them more and more, especially for clients with young children. He likes them on dining chairs and kitchen banquettes, on bathroom furniture and as shower curtains. “The fabrics have gotten so much more interesting, the weaves and the textures and the patterns have gotten so good-looking, there’s so much to choose from.”
New fabrics this year
He adds, “This is the first year that I’ve seen such a range. All the major fabric houses have launched or are in the process of launching an outdoor fabric line.”
Companies such as Donghia, Lee Jofa, Perennials by David Sutherland, Duralee, Kravet, Zoffany and Rogers and Goffigon’s Delany and Long division, among others, all have collections that were intended to bring interior elegance outdoors, but ended up bringing outdoor durability and performance inside.
Lee Jofa Fabrics, for example, first introduced its outdoor Solarium line last year. Its second edition came out in July and included a taffeta plaid and a “very lush velvet” made in France, creative director Stephen Elrod says. “You would never, ever, ever guess it wasn’t a proper cotton velvet.” Up next, a weave that looks like raffia.
The line wasn’t created to be used indoors, Elrod says. “We were shocked to find out how many people were specifying it for the indoors. That was not the impetus for us to take the direction we took, so it’s been a very pleasant surprise.”
At Zoffany USA, for example, where its Caribe outdoor collection is one of its top 10 sellers, company president Jack Bentley notes, “The indoor aspect of this is driving sales of outdoor fabrics.”
Bringing the outdoors in
Gorrivan, at this summer’s Hampton Designer Showhouse, used a screened-in porch as a lab to test outdoor fabrics from Zoffany, Perennials and Duralee – his theme was the “new outdoors,” bringing interior luxe outdoors – and was impressed with their performance. But while he put a Zoffany fabric on a skirted sofa and embroidered sheer panels for the porch, other designers were bringing luxe in.
One chose Lee Jofa’s chocolate velvet with a tonal damask to cover a bedroom’s walls without even knowing it was an outdoor fabric, Elrod says, while another used outdoor fabric to create an indoor tent with matching daybed.
The Sunbrella line is perhaps the best known of outdoor fabrics, and at 47, is certainly the oldest. It’s made in the United States by Glen Raven and began life as material for awnings, then found use in boats and in convertible cartops, and finally patio cushions and umbrellas. Yet until perhaps five years ago it was invariably a flat twill, and many thought it would remain out on the patio.
But as the outdoor furnishings industry matured and demanded more than “solids and stripes,” the company responded with new jacquard weaves and patterns, says Greg Rosendale, the company’s furniture products manager. “And our customers were pushing us from the other side, the high-end product lines.” Companies including Donghia, Kravet, B. Berger, Old World Weavers and Lee Jofa (for perhaps a third of its outdoor collection) use Sunbrella fibers made in a mill under license to Sunbrella.
Adds Spooky Apple, Sunbrella’s advertising manager, “They’ve opened our eyes to the possibilities out there.”
Not every high-performance fabric started out as an outdoor fabric, however. Crypton, invented and produced by a couple in Michigan, is primarily an indoor fabric that first gained traction as a product for nursing homes, fast-food stores and other commercial uses. Only its new outdoor line, In and Out, is colorfast.
The company Crypton, which also produces totes and William Wegman-designed dog beds, recently won awards for its new Michael Graves fabric collection, designed by the famed architect and product designer. Children’s furniture manufacturer ducduc uses Crypton for its child-friendly dining seating cushions and rockers.
Made to be cleaned
As far as performance, not all the outdoor fabrics are made the same or perform the same. Although most say they clean easily with soap and water, they have different degrees of water repellency. Sunbrella, for example, will say that its acrylic fibers will not absorb moisture, but will let them pass through the weave. Crypton, on the other hand, says it forms a barrier.
Sunbrella fibers are solution-dyed acrylic, meaning the acrylic is dyed before being made into fibers, so the color runs through the fibers rather than resting on the surface and is therefore colorfast even in bleach or sun. They are treated afterward to make them soil- and water-resistant, and will have to be re-treated over time.
Some fabrics, including Zoffany’s, are treated with Teflon in the manufacturing process that may wear off over time. Yvonne Beecher, director of marketing for the Connecticut-based company Rogers and Goffigon, which introduced its first outdoor collection two years ago only to find that buyers were choosing it for indoor furniture, says its acrylic fibers’ Teflon coating, giving it stain and water repellency, would last through about 10 home launderings. “You can pour water on it, and it just beads up and bounces off,” she says, although advising that spills be cleaned up promptly.
Crypton is made of synthetic or cotton fibers encapsulated in polymers and baked on coatings it claims will last with the fabric. Crypton produces a line of upholstery cleaners but says a diluted mixture of dishwashing or laundry detergent and water works well, too. Most of the companies offer cleaning instructions and suggestions.
But it seems clear that these fabrics are here to stay in active interiors. As designer Eric Cohler says, “Things happen, things spill in life, and this generation of solution-dyed acrylics helps people feel safer about spending money on expensive fabrics if they feel they’re not going to be ruined,” he says.
Given its success, expect to see more choices yet, as fabric companies continue to add to their collections. At Donghia, for example, product development director Allison Kettlewell says there was great interest in using Sunbrella fibers for indoor looks, “maybe going more traditional.”
“I believe it’s the biggest growth area for Donghia,” she says, noting she’d covered her own living room furniture in the fabrics after her twin babies were born. As Donghia marketing director Vera Vandenbosch notes, its high-performance fabrics had quickly become a top seller: “It’s creeping up to almost 20 percent of our total textile business. It’s very significant.”
Some of the high-end fabrics are sold only to the trade and come with high-end prices (one line, for example, is $170 a yard). Other fabrics can be obtained less expensively at chains such as Jo-Ann’s Fabric and Crafts and Calico Corners, as well as local design centers.
