Product Spotlight - Italvipla Interior & Exterior Fabrics

Being obsessed with all things tailoring including all manner of textures, colours and designs of fabrics, different threads and stitches, all of which can make or break a piece of clothing, has for a long while led me to appreciate the very best in in the word of fabrics! We all love fabric. We chose our clothes based not just on our budget but on our feelings and originality of the piece and it’s how we express our individuality.

We also seek out the finest fabrics in our homes be it our curtains, sofas, bedding, carpet – it’s literally everywhere and we choose what we choose for a reason. Individual style and panache – and hey, why not!

I have been given a fabulous opportunity to acquire as much knowledge in relation to a different field of fabrics which I have never really been involved in. Fabrics for the great outside, yachts, gardens, hotels, cafes, pubs, clubs, country clubs and garden areas. I would probably have thought, likewise you too maybe. That these fabrics are mostly plain, plastic looking and get stuck to the back of your legs, well you literally couldn’t be further from the truth.

Whether you are looking for textiles to reupholster your sun lounger or for your fancy new garden cushions, or maybe you’re thinking of refitting that old yacht you’ve got hanging around at the marina!

There is a world of sophisticated, innovative and technical new fabrics out there that we are going to explore together.

Italvipla exterior plain and welded fabric used on a sunpad

Would you think that a fabric made of a mix of vinyl and knitted fabric could actually feel like a genuine Italian soft leather? Well, there is, and it’s called Nappa Air, soft enough to wear and durable enough to withstand the sun’s rays, can drain away water and can be cut, sewn, glued and cleaned without affecting the visual appeal of the fabric. Nappa Air is animal friendly, eco sustainable and to top it all off, has a Martindale abrasion test of 50,000.

Nappa Air comes in a some absolutely stunning colours from the muted tones that sit well with a burst of colour to the rich elegant wine or Atlantic blue. If you’re thinking of going for a sporty look why not try the black or red with a silver/grey piping, contrast stitching in graphite and maybe some quilted backrests for that Bentley Continental look.
Looking for something a little more elegant? Then why not give the beautiful soft Sileather in a Morning Fog piped with Spruce or Peacock.

For marine use in particular, as that’s what we deal with here, at Timage - Sileather can withstand extreme environments, so if your off sailing around the globe - your choice of fabric is going to be important on your vessel. Sileather can withstand, with ease, high UV rays for long periods of time, is resistant to cold cracking, has a low temperature flexing of up to -30 degrees - not quite sure where in the world you might be to experience that kind of temperature, but I hope you haven’t forgotten your thermals!

Sileather is nothing like other faux leathers in that it has absolutely no irritants in the make-up of the fabric so will not cause any irritation to your skin, nor is it harmful even if you were to put it in your mouth, not that I would suggest that, however, you cannot be entirely sure what young children, babies or animals will do! So at least you can rest assured that everyone will be safe onboard your boat.

Sileather has an outstanding abrasion test of over 200,00 on the Wyzenbeek double rub test, over 130,000 on the Martindale test and over 3,000 on the Taber test, making this fabric a fantastic choice for high traffic areas, such as hospitality, medical, automotive and marine, Sileather does not promote the growth of mould or mildew even if its left wet, just give it a good wipe down and it’s as good as new.

You can also customise your Sileather fabric in a whole host of different ways including:

• Flame resistant standards
• Durability
• Textures - you can have smooth, or a visible tactile grain
• You can have your logo or any other pattern screen printed
• You have an array of colours and you can even choose, if you like, a particular direction stretches in the fabric or none at all!

If you are going to be working this fabric yourself, I personally do a lot of sewing, so maybe you do to - who knows - however we would recommend Sileather be stitched together it can also be glued on the backing, for example if you were to be covering walls. This fabric can also be laser cut but cannot be welded or high frequency heat pressed.

Heat dissipation is another ‘cool’ aspect of this fabric, it is cool and dry to the touch compared with traditional faux leather, so when it comes to seating no more legs getting stuck to the seats!!

So, if you have a boat, speed boat, yacht, super yacht, narrowboat, cruise liner or even a fleet of cruise ships and your thinking of re-vamping the interior or exterior this is a fantastic innovative fabric to start the process, including:

• Yacht seating
• Wall and ceiling cladding
• Head boards/bulkhead panels
• Berth mattresses
• Deck cushions
• Bar seating
• Door panels

The fabric we sell here at Timage can either be electro-welded or stitched to change the visual appeal of the fabric.  For that quality quilted look for exterior upholstery you can have the fabrics heat-welded which means that the fabric you choose will go through a process involving applying a soft layer of needle punched polyester and a third layer of thin PVC leaf that protects the padding from moister and dirt, and during this process various stitching effect patterns and applied using a high-frequency electro-welding machine , from simple clean lines to squares, diamonds and double rhombus designs.   As the fabric is heat welded to produce the stitched patterns the waterproofing qualities are not affected at all.  Stitching designs are great for wall and ceiling cladding, quilted with a quality wadding fabric underneath to give it that truly sumptuous look and also gives great sound proofing qualities. 

Wherever and whatever you decide to do with this fabric you can be absolutely sure that not only will it look fantastic, for a long time, it will be flame retardant, UV resistant, can withstand extreme environments, is inherently stain resistant and above all else, it will simply look great.

We have released a Youtube video presenting these fabrics, view it below.