Sunbrella

Sunbrella awning fabrics were first created in 1961, to meet the challenge of an awning canvas with a substantially longer life than cotton. It moved into marine canvas in the 1970s, outdoor upholstery in 1982 and indoor upholstery in 2002.

The difference is in how the colour gets there. Sunbrella performance fabrics are made of 100 per cent solution-dyed acrylic, which means the fibres are saturated with colour and UV-stabilised pigment before they are spun into yarn, rather than printed or dyed afterwards. That is why the colour goes all the way through and why it stays. Upholstery and specialty fabrics carry a five year limited warranty, and shade and marine fabrics a ten year limited warranty.

The main plant is a one million square foot facility at Anderson in South Carolina, with further sites at Lille in France and Suzhou in China. Sunbrella is the flagship brand of Glen Raven, a family-owned company founded in North Carolina in 1880 as a cotton mill.

For outdoor work this is the cloth we specify more than any other, and for a good reason: an Essex garden puts a cushion through sun, rain and salt air, and a solution-dyed acrylic is the only common answer that survives all three without going chalky.