Inside Story: Interior Blockouts unveiled

BLINDWARE

After a spell out of the market due to supply issues, the window furnishings industry recently breathed a sigh of relief with the re-entry of SunBloc, Melbourne-based Blindware‘s best-selling blockout fabric. “SunBloc has proven itself to be a completely versatile blockout fabric over its seven years in market,” says Managing Director Grant Norton. “Understanding the importance of SunBloc’s unique 3200mm width, performance stability, contemporary colours, and overall reliability, the product development team at Blindware has searched tirelessly for a supplier who can replicate the product exactly, and is excited to announce that SunBloc is now back in stock.”

Norton says the product’s ability to pull together the design elements of an interior has proven critical. “The style of a home of office interior, be it classic, modern, Hamptons or Scandinavian, can seem disjointed if the windows in different rooms are covered with different fabrics, which is often the case in dwellings or commercial premises with larger windows. Cohesion is a key element of a high impact design, to give the interiors a sense of connection and a clean, stylish appearance. There simply hasn’t been another high-quality blockout fabric that can effectively cover windows to four metres and even larger. Giving home and business owners a cohesive look is one of the biggest benefits of our SunBloc fabric, which provides the added benefit that it can be easily rail-roaded to cover the largest windows.”

Made using a custom woven 600-denier base cloth, SunBloc has body without bulk, and a high-quality feel at an affordable price. Coupled with Blindware’s chain-free ZeroGravity spring assist system, SunBloc is positioned as an ideal blockout fabric for use in the nursery or living areas, providing privacy and darkness while being completely child safe, and an almost weightless, feather light operation.

Available in a timeless colour palette, Norton says particular attention has been paid to the depth of colour in the SunBloc range. “We want our black to be a true black, not a charcoal or grey. We want white to be clean and bright. It’s imperative to us that customers get the colour they ask for, and that it looks amazing in situ. That has always been our aim with Blindware fabrics, and SunBloc certainly delivers on this.”

WILSON FABRICS

Wilson Fabrics’ range of seven new blockout blind fabrics are being released over the months of June and July. 

“Thredbo, Barrier Reef, Sydney, Daintree, Noosa, Longreach and Uluru have been highly anticipated and are receiving great attention from our business partners and customers, here in Australia, but also in the US,” confirms Wilson Fabrics CEO Chris Sencek. 

In September, the company will also be re-launching its core blind fabric range including Mercury, Boston, Tuscany, Broome and Concord with new colour palettes, along with five new blockout draperies. “This is clearly a busy and exciting time for us and our partners who have been supporting our products made in Australia all the way through for years.”

“With these releases, we’ve made the choice to stick to our identity and core values; Today, manufacturing and selling Australian made products is being recognised as an asset, a must even. Beyond the obvious support to the Australian economy that this offers, making Australian Made blind and drapery fabrics means that we have to meet very high product standards and requirements. That may not be the case in many other countries.”

“In addition, we do make sure that our products include features and benefits that are competitive and make sense for our market and the environment. Therefore, all our blockout blinds are PVC and Lead Free, Fade Resistant, coated to be Pitch Black blockouts, Fire Resistant to Australian standards, provide excellent protection against ultraviolet radiation and are protected by Stain Protect to repel stains and spills.”

Like many businesses, Wilson Fabrics’ biggest challenge at the moment is the economic climate due to Covid-19. “This is a crisis like no other and considering the impact it has had on so many people and businesses, we consider ourselves lucky. We understand that our customers are more selective than ever. They cannot afford to be buying a product of low quality and/or with low demand. Transparency, product training, on-going communication are some of the ways we’re helping customers make an informed decision.”

“As the world is going into recession, we do expect some tough times ahead of us. That being said, there’s also an opportunity for our category. Current travel restrictions mean that consumers are more likely to adjust their budget and spend more in re-decorating their home and buying Australian made products.” 

SHAW

Over the past decade the Australian market has become increasingly demanding with regard to blockout fabrics, says Marketing Manager Sarah Harris, who adds that the finish and colours are like any other item of soft furnishing and are subject to intense customer scrutiny. 

“There is a need to complement current interior design trends. Even the humble direct coated fabric is expected to have colours which coordinate with bestselling paint colours. Price is important, but not at the sacrifice of performance. Customers are increasingly discerning and knowledgeable with regard to the fabric’s attributes and characteristics, enquiring about composition, environmental accreditation and fire classification certificates.”

Blockout fabrics are at the core of Shaw’s range which encompasses a wide range of plains and textures, widths and colours. “Our latest textured additions are Linesque which has received an overwhelming response, and most recently launched Chatsworth, an elegant jacquard in contemporary colours. Both are the result of a new manufacturing partnership with European a based manufacturer Berteks. From a commercial perspective, Shaw has an exceptionally wide width blockout Icon FR at 3200mm wide, and includes options for white and charcoal backing, developed with longstanding and respected partners Chen Hong. These manufacturing partnerships are key to Shaw’s development success in the blockout sector and Shaw values their ongoing support, despite the current challenges presented by COVID-19 restrictions.”

THE SHANN GROUP

“The internal blockouts category is an area that’s performing really well for Shann,” says Melissa Vine, National Product Manager – Industrial Fabrics. “It has been such an incredible and unpredictable period and as people are bound by restrictions and spending more time at home, it’s been a great time to start early spring cleaning, updating homes with renovation projects and of course, the big trend – home offices. 

“This is being reflected in the market and speaking to our customers, many of them are reporting “better than expected” order books and queries.  Shann’s Customer Service and Imports teams have been working throughout to support our clients and collaborating with our suppliers to ensure we have sufficient stock levels to manage their upsurge in orders.”

“From a product perspective, Shann recently launched two new colours in the Castille range, Ghost and Battleship. Ghost is a light ghost gum grey and Battleship is a mid-dark grey with a matching coloured back. The new colours were designed to complement the existing Castille palette, mimicking natural earth tones, colours found in nature, and providing a backdrop to trends being seen in layered contrasting decor.”

“Further to the additions to Castille, in our blockout internal category we are currently working on the re-launch of the popular Motif range and market researching some new fabrics and designs that will have a distinctively local flavour.”

“We’ve got some exciting ranges coming and of course, it will be important to monitor the dynamic new landscape and find new ways to deliver solutions, to allow us to transform these times into collaborative and positive ways we can interact and support our customers and our staff.”

LOUVOLITE

Steve Birtles, our Director of Business Development at Louvolite makes the case for interior blockout fabric specific to vertical blinds. “There are a number of alternative ways of reducing levels of light entering into a room whilst also achieving interesting different visual effects. One that immediately comes to mind may surprise a number of readers, the humble but still amazingly popular vertical blind. ‘Don’t be silly, there are too many light gaps between the louvres,’ you may well say. However, think on this. Take an 89mm Vogue black headrail and select one of Louvolite’s many opaque vertical fabric options, let’s say Topaz Slate  (grey is the new beige don’t you know). Now here is the real trick – manufacture 127mm louvres and fit to the 89mm track to provide significantly more overlap than would be seen with 89mm fabric. Ideally this would be fitted outside recess to further enhance the reduction of light.”

“This use of a vertical louvre blind can, by tilting the louvres, allow the homeowner to significantly reduce direct light ingress whilst retaining light entering in another part of the room. Alternatively full closure of the blind creates an effective blockout product.”

Birtles says Louvolite’s Vision product has become such a well-recognised and popular product that it can  be viewed as part of core domestic product options, and is also becoming more popular for commercial use too.

“Louvolite’s opaque options for Vision are its Sienna fabric, which is FR, and its new Rimini fabric that offers the same opacity performance, but is not FR. Depending on the amount of light the consumer needs to eliminate, the Sienna and Rimini Vision products achieve a very reasonable job – that said there will be narrow horizontal light ingress around the solid panels. This effect actually adds to the definition of the product and may be an added feature to certain consumers who do not see the need for a more complete effect.”

Louvolite’s cellular offerings include Luna, a three metre wide cellular fabric that is opaque and can be used with any of the typical cellular operating systems available.

Blockouts are critical for another “go to” product for reducing light levels – the roller blind, Birtles adds.  “Obviously many years ago in Australia, somebody decided that glass was cheaper than bricks and mortar and windows became much larger than typically seen elsewhere. To accommodate those wider windows, roller shade fabrics needed to reflect that and Louvolite’s fabulous new Latitude collection achieves this, featuring all roller fabrics at wide width. This eclectic range shows products by colour and also splits them into light filtering and blockout sections to allow ease of selection for the consumer and ease of use for the blind maker. The Latitude program is stunning and hits all the right notes for the Australian market.”