Semper Hopkins’ Favourite Three Ranges of Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Upholstery Fabrics
I’ve always been interested in understanding how things are made. My career before upholstery was in Corporate Retail working for The Co-op Food within Trading and Own Brand Development. I had the opportunity to work with suppliers and manufacturers to sustainably source my own label food products. Some of my favorite days were visiting factories and sites, seeing how products were made and I asked so many questions!!! One of the reasons I chose to work with the Co-op was for their ethics and sustainability values.
This passion for sustainability hasn’t gone away but now I get to do it for my own business. I’ve been busy working away in the background to find a greener and more sustainable way forward.
Part of this work has been finding a range of eco-friendly fabrics for our upholstery workshops and I’m pleased to announce we have chosen three ranges supplied by Warwick Fabrics Amatheon Wool, Eco Velvet, & Oxford Eco. The fabrics are all amazing quality, durable, stylish and luxurious. UK We have chosen them specifically for their different qualities to suit the style and design of furniture that we are teaching clients to make.
I find it fascinating and like to understand how things are created, even more so when I know we are doing a small bit to help the environment. Read the rest of this blog to find out how each fabric is made and what makes them eco friendly?
Warwick Eco Velvet
Eco Velvet is Warwick Fabric’s first 100% recycled pile velvet. Eco Velvet is knitted from yarns extruded from post-consumer PET bottles, repurposing thousands of plastic bottles bound for our oceans or a life in landfill. Each metre reuses circa 30 x 550ml bottles. Through this – by using recycled rather than virgin polyester – not only are carbon emissions reduced by approximately 75%, energy consumption and water usage are reduced by up to 70% and 80% respectively.
Eco-Velvet’s high-performance attributes include a Martindale of 60,000+ revs, lightfastness of 5 and further physical testing to Severe Contract specifications. It also achieves FR compliance through a clever inherently FR modacrylic-blend backing, without the requirement for additional FR chemical treatment.
Eco-Velvet benefits from an easy-clean finish – giving it liquid repellent properties. Making Eco Velvet a stylish, durable, practical and eco friendly fabric to use in our upholstery workshops.
Warwick Amatheon Wool
Warwick Amatheon Wool is one of my favourite collections with forty two stunning colours. It’s a soft, versatile, and luxuriously tactile fabric. It’s perfect for both traditional and contemporary interiors.
Naturally breathable, wrinkle resistant and stain resistant, the yarn attracts less dust and lint than other fibres. 100% Biodegradable & 100% renewable. Naturally fire resistant.
Amatheon wool is made with a minimum of 65% recycled clothing, knits and off-cuts from the textile industry. The environmental impact of their entire production has been measured and reduced, including water, energy and CO2 consumption levels.
The fabrics start their new life in a small town in Italy, called Prato. The yarn that makes up these collections is actually made from unwanted clothes that couldn’t be re-sold. Warwick’s recycled Wool collections save not only unwanted clothes from landfill but water, carbon dioxide and energy for a greener approach to fabric.
Warwick Oxford Eco Fabric
The newest addition to Warwick’s Eco range, Oxford is a 100% recycled cotton, woven from pre-consumer waste saved from landfill. This washable, brushed natural fibre cloth is available in 38 colours – it achieves FR compliance with a halogen-free back coating. We use this fabric range for our noticeboard upholstery workshop.
Oxford also benefits from a green EasyClean finish, achieved through a unique breathable ‘EcoElite’ TM coating – the first plant-based repellent developed for the textile industry. Its high-performance attributes include non-fluorinated water and water-based stain repellency, along with prolonged washability for 30 or more washes.
We run a host of upholstery and sewing workshops and we are on a mission to empower individuals with skills so they can re-upholster their own furniture or second-hand pieces giving them a new lease of life. This reduces waste and the demand for new furniture production.
We are working towards a greener and more sustainable way for individuals to learn upholstery. We are always looking to find ways in which we can improve our sustainability and will continue to update you with news and progress.
