Fabric has been used for thousands of years to provide humans with warmth, comfort and covering. At some point in our collective furnishing history someone got the brilliant idea that if you added cushioning to a wooden furniture frame it made sitting much more agreeable to our body! Thus was born the concept of upholstered furniture.

Upholstery fabrics need to work extra hard because they receive constant abrasion and rubbing from use and we expect the fabric to last for a reasonable amount of time. Durability is one of the basic measures by which we rate textile and the furnishing industry has developed standards of wear testing. Interior designers are used to using test data labels on fabrics that indicate test results for color fastness, durability, abrasion and tensile strength.

One of the most delicious parts of my profession is that I get to feel, gaze at and use many gorgeous fabrics all the time. There are a growing number of manufacturers who are devoting research and development time to the production of GREEN textiles for upholstery, panel covers, cubicle cloth and wall covering. These manufacturers tend to be commercial textile makers so you may not have ever heard of them before now.

The challenge as this trend developed was how to make the same variety of texture, pattern and feel that we know from more traditional weaving techniques. Carnegie Fabrics is a contract furnishing industry leader and has worked with bamboo, recycled polyester and brand new bio-based fabrics. Bio-based fibers are made from starch-based plants such as corn, rice, and beets. The starch portion of these crops is fermented and converted into sugar to produce lactic acid which is then polymerized to form polylactic acid. The PLA polymers are spun into fibers. These are marketed under the brand name INEGO fibers. PLA is the only new fiber classification in 50 years.

Back when I was studying textiles in college, polyester was the new kid on the block. Polyester is sought after for its strength and lack of wrinkling. Carnegie Fabrics uses both post-consumer polyester waste from soda and water bottles and post-industrial process waste. By learning how to remake waste into textiles, less junk is going to landfills and there is less demand for virgin polyester products.

Another leader in sustainable fabrics is is Pallas. Designer Kristin Fraidenburgh has created the “High Fidelity” line from soft and luxurious rapidly renewable bamboo and the sheen of recycled polyester. Bamboo yarn is made from the pulp of the bamboo plant. Bamboo grows without much water besides rain and very rapidly renews itself. Bamboo fabric is naturally anti-bacterial, bio-degradable and hypoallergenic. Bamboo is now a popular fiber for sheets, blankets, towels and clothing because of the silky hand as well as the renewable characteristics. We are just now beginning to see it included in commercial textiles.

Tencel® is the registered trade name for Lyocell, which a biodegradable fabric is made from wood pulp cellulose. It became popular in the later 1990s and was first seen in apparel because of the soft hand and wrinkle free quality of the fabric. Now days you can find Tencel® sheets, upholstery fabric, blankets and towels. This fiber is more absorbent than natural properties of cotton.

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