To support its burgeoning motorized window shade business Screen Innovations is launching an online shade fabric selection and specification tool. SI’s new Fabric Wizard provides a more convenient place for integrators, designers, and homeowners to learn about and quickly determine the best shading fabric for any indoor or outdoor application.
Categorizing Shade Fabrics
More than 850 indoor and outdoor fabrics and insect screens from leading designer shade suppliers, such as Phifer, Mermet, Serge Ferrari, Wilson, and more, have been categorized according to the installation location, function, color, and other parameters, significantly streamlining what could otherwise be an overwhelming and complex exercise.
Screen Innovation Fabric Wizard Process
Screen Innovations’s Fabric Wizard starts by asking website visitors to identify the purpose of the shade, be it for UV protection, privacy, heat reduction, glare control, or insect prevention. Based on those answers, as well as color preferences, Fabric Wizard cultivates a manageable list of the most appropriate fabric choices. Integrators can present these options to their customers, confident that whichever material is selected will look and perform optimally for the intended application.
“We recognize that fabric selection is unfamiliar territory for many when designing shading solutions,” says Screen Innovations CEO Ryan Gustafson. “Fabric Wizard helps integrators get up to speed quickly on the important aspects of fabric selection and leads them through the specification process while providing them with an interactive tool that helps their clients visualize how fabric composition and color influences its ability to block UV rays, control the indoor climate, enable a view of the outdoors, or keep bugs out.”
Physical Fabric Samples Still Available from Screen Innovations
For customers who also want physical samples of products recommended by Fabric Wizard, Screen Innovations will send up to three swatches free through SI dealers “We always suggest people place the fabric swatches on their intended windows and live with them for a while before making a final decision,” added Jason Russell, SI VP of residential sales. Integrators can also pull fabric swatches from the SI’s Nano demo kit, which contains 300-or-so of the company’s most popular fabric offerings.
The Fabric Wizard complements Screen Innovations’ popular Flow online shade configuration and ordering software. After using Fabric Wizard, integrators can plug the fabric choice into the Flow configuration tool, adding dimensions, motorization type, and other specs to build a complete turnkey shading solution, along with estimated pricing.
“As always, SI’s Design Service team is available to assist integrators and designers at any time and to handle custom shading requests,” Russell noted.
The Fabric Wizard was designed by Screen Innovations to be much more than a specification tool, however. It includes a wealth of useful information that explains through text and visuals common performance differences, advantages and disadvantages of certain fabric colors, and composition features essential for light filtering, UV protection, heat control, and more.
Related: How Motorized Window Treatments Help Fight Sun Glare
“Our goal is to help integrators, designers, and end-users understand how shades differ in their composition and functionality and why those facets are important to consider when choosing shading products for the home,” Russell said. “By understanding these principles, they can confidently design the best shading solution for any indoor or outdoor home environment.”
To learn more about Screen Innovations and its portfolio of shading fabrics, go to https://www.screeninnovations.com/fabrics/. The company’s entire line of shading and projection screen solutions can be found at https://www.screeninnovations.com/.
