Category: Upholstery Fabric

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Vicuna Silk Velvet (Vicugna) – Better Than Cashmere Silk Velvet?

Silk Velvet Fabric Upholstery Fabric Martindale Rub TestCashmere Silk Velvet is one of the world’s most luxurious fabrics. But is it THE most luxurious? Now this is a good question! and a little tricky to answer.

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 woollen 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 opportunity 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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New images on the KOTHEA web site.

Perhaps not the most exciting news you will read today I know! We have been aware for a few months that our web site images needed to improve. We re-used the same images again and again. So we have finally acquired a new image for just about every page, all reflecting the product we offer in the relevent area! Well, at least you can sleep soundly tonight knowing that we are happy. I joke of course.

Coming from the designer/producer/supplier of fabrics angle makes it a little tricky for us. We do not feel it is our job to stage our fabrics on a photo set in a room of our liking. We are not the interior designers, that’s your job! We may see one of our fabrics in a certain way – for example I always associate our faux leathers with bar stools (misspent youth). However you may well see many other angles: wall covering, cushions and so on. So we try not to second-guess you. the interior designer. So, our challenge is to show some of the fine detail of our products without you being able to either see it in 3D yourself or feel it. Tricky. Have a look.

Anyway, we hope you enjoy the photos (along with the parts of the new collections on flickr) and any comments will be greatly appreciated.

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KOTHEA 2010 Fabric Collections

Finally! Our summer collections have been decided and we will begin to introduce the new designs and colourways throughout the remainder of this year. We have been inundated with new work in the first part of this year causing our blog posts to be curtailed and our ‘spring’ collection to nearly be an autumn/fall collection. Not that we really do seasonal collections in any case.

I will return later in another post to KOTHEA’s awesome 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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What is the Martindale Shade Change?

There is no Martindale Shade Change test as such. If you have been referred to the Martindale rub test, the person referring you is asking about how durable your chosen fabric is to abrasion. The Martindale rub test result is particularly useful in indicating whether a fabric is suitable for its intended use.

Shade change is something different. Martindale tests are routinely undertaken on fabrics in the UK. In other countries different tests are used, such as the Wyzenbeek in the United States. As part of the Martindale test procedure it is becoming more common in the UK for a shade change assessment to also be undertaken.

When a fabric has been rubbed 3,000 times the Martindale test is paused and the fabric is examined to see how the shade has changed. It is then given a mark out of 5, with 5 being the best result indicating the least change.

A natural property of fabrics is that they show change with use. The shade change assessment determines how much of that change will be visible after a reasonable amount of use, with 3,000 rubs being the point at which this is assessed. It does not mean the fabric will wear out after 3,000 rubs. It has nothing to do with wearing out. If your fabric has a Martindale result of 50,000 rubs, the structure of the fabric starts to break down after 50,000 rubs. The shade change result at 3,000 rubs is a separate measure of visual change, not durability.

If your client is asking about fading caused by sunlight rather than shade change caused by wear, that is a different property measured by a different test. For a full explanation of how light fastness works and what grades to specify for different room orientations, see our guide to light fastness and the Blue Wool Scale.

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Or call +44 (0)20 8943 4904, email info@kothea.com, or message us on WhatsApp

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Getting a better Martindale abrasion test result for interiors fabric

Rumours abound that different testing houses give different Martindale abrasion test results for the same fabrics. Is there any truth to that?

Probably not.

Sometimes the tests can be carried out differently and so the results are different. There is a British Standard for abrasion testing which specifies how the test is done, if it is done in a different way then that may affect the result.

For example if we ‘know’ that a fabric is going to achieve about 35,000 Martindale ‘rubs’ then we would ask the testing company to test to 40,000 or if we were uncertain of the likely result we would ask them to test to end-point.

It is usual practice for the fabric to be rubbed in increments of 3,000 or so at a time. Clearly it is easier if a machine is left to run for 30,000 rather than 3,000 and then reset 10 times. Also the ‘correct’ (latter) way will give an accurate result of exactly when the fabric wears out.

I’m not sure why this is done not having read the British Standard myself in detail; maybe the fabric tension on the machine is meant to be checked every 3,000 rubs?

Anyway, if the test is not done properly then a LOWER result will be obtained.

So, providing a reputable testing house that is properly accredited has undertaken the test then it is safe to assume that the result is accurate. Of course the fabric piece that you buy may vary ever so slightly and this might cause minor variations. But that is the nature of some fabrics. A fault in the fabric may also cause it to wear out much quicker than expected but that fault should normally have been spotted by your upholsterer before they used it.

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Velvet

Velvets have become increasingly popular over the last 5 years. Both residential and contract usage of velvets have increased tremendously. Having been produced for hundreds of years velvets never seem to have lost the attention of discerning designers.

Interior Designers are often interested in the properties and manufacture of velvet – the two being necessarily related. The depth of the pile, the durability of the finish, the ease of maintaining the beautiful finish.

Velvet is made in one of two ways – cut or uncut:

1. Cut pile

a. Here the loom is configured to Continue reading “Velvet”

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Faux Leather Skin – Heavy Contract Upholstery Walling

LONDON, England. 07-DECEMBER-2009 11.30 AM: KOTHEA today announced it has expanded its extensive contract faux skin collections by the addition of KOFAUXLEATHER. KOFAUXLEATHER is a high durability, faux leather: a superb contract fabric with a very high Martindale result. It simply and effortlessly delivers longstanding elegance in all the right bars, hotels and marine environments both as upholstery and as a wall or door covering. It looks great.

KOFAUXLEATHER

Reference: 04-003-378

Colour Shown: Marle

Other colourways: 18

Width: 140cm

Repeat: none

Composition: 100% Cotton basecloth, 94% vinyl 6% polyester coat.

Martindale: 100,000++

Primary Usage: Heavy contract upholstery and walling.

Type of fabric: Faux Leather / Faux Skin

About KOTHEA.

KOTHEA are a Continue reading “Faux Leather Skin – Heavy Contract Upholstery Walling”

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Upholstery Curtain Cushion Domestic Textured Weave

LONDON, England. 02-NOVEMBER-2009 11.30 AM: KOTHEA today announced it has expanded its collections of residential textured weaves to include KOSHAZAM. KOSHAZAM has a striking and complex design which challenges the aesthetic intellect of the most discerning designers.

KOSHAZAM
Reference: 03-037-262
Colour Shown: Red Flower
Other colourways: 4
Width: 138cm
Repeat: 72cm
Composition: Mix
Primary Usage: Domestic curtains and
upholstery.
Type of fabric: Textured weave

About KOTHEA.

KOTHEA are a top-market fabric house based in Continue reading “Upholstery Curtain Cushion Domestic Textured Weave”

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KOTHEA Release KORAFT Fabric – New Raffia

LONDON, England. 05-OCTOBER-2009 11.30 AM: KOTHEA today announced it has expanded its panelling collections with the addition of KORAFT. Like KOTHEA, KORAFT is, well, just a little bit different and in the nicest possible way. KORAFT is just one of those products where you desire what you see – the very highest quality, beautifully textured raffia-like wall panelling also suitable for domestic upholstery. 

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 Continue reading “KOTHEA Release KORAFT Fabric – New Raffia”

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Velvet Fabrics by KOTHEA include Mohair Velvet, Cotton Velvet, Linen Velvet

Velvet Fabrics by KOTHEA include Mohair Velvet, Cotton Velvet, Linen Velvet & silk velvet. The most popular being mohair velvet the most luxurious being Cashmere Silk Velvet.

KOTHEA was asked “what is the difference between cotton velvet and mohair velvet upholstery fabric”.

More of an explanation about velvet is given here – essentially ‘velvet’ is the finish arrived at by a specific production process. That process can be applied to many fibres. Mohair usually refers to a silk-like fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat and cotton is a natural fibre that grows from the cotton plant.

This blog contains lots of posts on velvets both from: an explanatory point of view; a marketing/sales point of view; and a usage point of view – hopefully something for everyone. You can use the search tools to the right to find out more. Please feel free to ask questions.