What is High-Performance Fabric?
High-Performance fabric, also known simply as performance fabric, is an extremely durable upholstery fabric ideal for furniture that receives lots of daily use. Performance fabric stands up to wear and tear from kids and pets plus it’s stain resistant, water resistant, odor resistant, and easy to clean. That means performance fabric will not only extend the life of your furniture, it will look good doing it, too.
Where to Use Performance Fabric
Suitable for use in any upholstery setting, performance fabric is ideal for high traffic areas like your living room, dining room, playroom, office, or breakfast nook. Because even tough stains like wine, chocolate, and coffee can be cleaned from performance fabric, it is perfect for the most lived-in areas of your home.
If you’re someone who loves the fresh, modern look of white furniture, performance fabric can deliver your look without the associated anxiety of soils and stains. Kick back and enjoy your home knowing performance fabric can handle whatever your life throws at it.
How to Choose Performance Fabric
When it comes to performance fabric, you have more style and color choices than ever. From neutral woven basics to statement-making patterns, you can enjoy your favorite designs and colors for years thanks to performance fabric treatment.
There are a variety of popular performance fabric brands to choose from with Crypton, Revolution, and Sunbrella making an enduring name for themselves. While brand names are occasionally a helpful indicator of quality, the most important factors to consider when purchasing a performance fabric are the materials used.
Most performance fabrics are constructed from synthetic yarns like polyester, acrylic, nylon, and olefin. Typically the yarns are treated with a high-performance solution before being woven into fabric to ensure the consistency, longevity, and endurance of the finished product. Some performance fabric finishes are applied by soaking the woven fabric with performance treatment or applying a layer to the surface. When considering the best type of performance fabric for your space, here are a few things you should know:
- Olefin: Olefin doesn’t need to be treated with a performance solution as it is inherently resistant to stains, water, mildew, and abrasion. Additionally, olefin is easy to clean, which makes it ideal for use in high performance fabric.
- Acrylic: Like olefin, acrylic fabrics resist water and mildew and are easy to clean. It is also shrink and wrinkle resistant. Acrylic’s abrasion resistance is lower than others, and after extended use it will begin to pill if it doesn't have a performance coating.
- Nylon: Resistant to mildew, mold, and shrinkage, nylon fabrics are extremely durable and is a staple in performance fabrics. Nylon can stain easily if not treated with a performance solution, but once treated stains are a thing of the past.
- Polyester: Polyester 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 fibers like linen and cotton.
How to Clean Your Performance Fabric
So you’ve reupholstered your furniture in performance fabric and the inevitable happens: a spilled drink, an accidental smear of chocolate, a four-legged friend’s muddy paw prints.
Step one: Relax. Your performance fabric has your back. Since each durable fiber is encased with performance solution, moisture will bead up on the fabric surface and you can quickly go in and blot the moisture away. Any remaining soil can be dabbed away with a damp cloth.
For tougher messes, use a mixture of mild soap and water and gently dab with a towel. 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 fibers. Remember, as with any stain or soil, the faster you can act to remove the stain, the better the results will be.
The Takeaway
Performance fabric is an innovative solution to the daily wear of furniture. Since performance fabrics come at a variety of price points, even a small initial investment can save you from frequent reupholstering due to stains, pilling and wear. And with limitless color and style options, you’re sure to find the perfect fit for your space.
Ready to begin exploring performance fabric? Browse our online options here.
