Last week, millions of people around the planet participated in Earth Day activities, such as neighborhood cleanups and tree plantings. But taking care of the world around us isn’t something that should be restricted to just one day a year.
Draper window shades contribute daily to sustainable structures by reducing glare and solar heat gain. But some of our shade fabrics go beyond contributing to sustainability and are, themselves, sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Here are five of our most nature-friendly shade fabrics:
GreenScreen® Evolve™
Mermet’s GreenScreen® Evolve™ is more than just a PVC-free window shade fabric. It’s also an eco-warrior and conservation champion.
Evolve has passed the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute’s verified rating system for assessing and constantly improving products. Evolve is Cradle-to-Cradle Certified™ Bronze, meaning it meets minimum standards for material health, material reutilization, renewable energy/carbon management, water stewardship, and social fairness.
Evolve is made primarily of REPREVE polyester, a US-manufactured recycled and recyclable fiber made from used water bottles. This fabric helps keep a lot of plastic out of the landfill. Repreve is fiber made with 100% recycled content and is made responsibly to make a difference. The Repreve process not only diverts post-consumer waste; it also includes collecting and using pre-consumer waste from manufacturing.
GreenScreen® Revive™
GreenScreen Revive was Draper’s first Cradle-to-Cradle Certified™ shade fabric. Like Evolve, it has a bronze level certification.
GreenScreen Revive provides excellent solar control, reducing heat and glare, while offering a remarkably clean view through to the outdoors owing to its finely knitted weave. This fire retardant, PVC-free fabric is constructed of 100% polyester yarn with a minimum of 89% REPREVE® polyester. REPREVE is recycled and recyclable, contains low VOC’s, and is made in the USA.
GreenScreen Revive fabric is also made with Repreve polyester. GreenScreen Revive is RoHS compliant (free of heavy metals) and GREENGUARD Gold Certified. The lightweight nature of the fabric also means lighter shade units, which require fewer raw materials to produce.
GreenScreen® Nature™
This latest addition to Mermet’s GreenScreen product line of recyclable fabric offerings is unique, with its lightweight construction of 100% natural fiberglass material providing industry-leading achievement in flame resistance, smoke emissions, and dimensional stability.
Product transparency and sustainable design are extremely important, and Draper has been getting more requests for products with a limited number of ingredients. GreenScreen Nature helps us provide architects and designers with a product that has a limited number of material ingredients and satisfies sustainable building design.
Another key sustainability advantage of GreenScreen Nature is its inherent fire resistance. As a 100% fiberglass shade material, GreenScreen Nature does not require additional FR additives to make it resilient towards burn and flame.
GreenScreen Nature is GREENGUARD Gold Certified, RoHS Compliant (free of heavy metals), Fire Retardant (NFPA 701-10 TM#1), (California U.S. Title 19, and CAN/ULC-S109 Small & Large Scale), Fungal Resistant (ASTM G21), and Bacterial Resistant (ASTM E2180). The fabric is also Red List compliant with a health product declaration available. The fabric is 100% recyclable, PVC-free, and halogen-free.
Phifer SheerWeave® Infinity2
These sustainable sun control fabrics are eco-friendly full basketweaves designed to meet the most stringent environmental design standards. With 100% recycled content, 100% recyclable, and a PVC-free composition, Infinity2 fabrics offer the same solar heat and glare control properties as traditional SheerWeave fabrics for conserving energy, harnessing natural light, and maintaining interior comfort levels.
Phifer SheerWeave® with Dow Ecolibrium
Phifer SheerWeave fabrics made with Ecolibrium are an answer to concerns over the presence in shade fabrics of chemicals known as phthalates. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “EPA is concerned about phthalates because of their toxicity and the evidence of pervasive human and environmental exposure to these chemicals.”
DOW ECOLIBRIUM™—a bio-based plasticizer—is a renewable, phthalate-free alternative, offering a more sustainable option, while having the same great performance and feel of current materials. Using this bio-based plasticizer in shade material cuts greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 40% versus existing PVC compounds. Since it’s mostly from non-fossil fuel-based feed stock, there’s a much lower carbon footprint, as well.
Draper also provides other fabric choices that are PVC-free, lead-free, and Greenguard Gold certified for low VOC emissions. To explore all of our fabric options, click here.
