Useful Information

Fire Retardancy

All fabrics in the UK must meet the UK domestic or contract fire regulations set out by FIRA (www.fira.co.uk). As all of our fabrics have various backcoatings, you should enquire with us to make sure you select the right fabric for your job. Certain fabrics may be able to be treated with an FR coating to make them suitable for contract use or a fire retardant interliner can be used in its place. If in doubt please contact us for more information.

Martindale Abrasion Test

Martindale Rub Test

The Martindale test also known as the Rub Test measures upholstery fabrics to see how durable they are against abrassions. Each fabric is continuously rubbed until a visible change appears. The higher the number of cycles in this test then the more durable the fabric is. This number can then be used to categorize the fabric into one of the following groups:

Light Domestic Use - Generally light weight fabrics which are suitable for light careful living room use.

General Domestic Use - Fabrics for general domestic use are suitable for most upholstery use.

Severe Domestic Use - These fabrics are suitable for upholstery likely to be used a lot by people throughout the day.