Alnet shade fabrics not distributed in the U.S.
Specialty Fabrics Review | August 2009
Compiled by Juli Case
We’ve had an architect quote a fabric called Alnet for a shade structure. Where can we purchase this material?
Alnet is the fabric manufacturer; they have a family of shade fabrics, including Cooltone and Sunblock. The materials are knit high-density polyethylene. We contacted the company, which is located in South Africa, and were told that at this time that they have no distributor in the United States.
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Comments are the opinion of individual posters and do not reflect the views of Specialty Fabrics Review or Industrial Fabrics Association International.
10:30 pm CDT
Shade Cloth - Buyer Beware!!!
The USA could use a new player like Alnet to enter the market. We need more QUALITY shade fabric manufacturer options. We are a commercial tension structure fabricator & installer in Arizona and recently had a HUGE problem with defective fabric produced by "the shade industry largest shade cloth manufacturer" - an AU based company that moved production to China. Our project involved shade sails over a 20,000 SF area. The defective fabric they sent us had stripes through out the fabric in some rolls and other rolls were a completely different color but labeled the exact same as the striped rolls. First we were told that we were the ONLY ones EVER to have lodged this type of complaint about their product. REALLY? Then told looms used wrong thread when weaving and still later told guys in warehouse mis-labeled rolls. It's been 7 months now and this company has yet to provide us with a workable resolution for what is clearly a Quality Control issue. If anyone has had similar issues we would love to hear from you and discuss how issue was resolved. Better still if anyone has a recommendation for a new fabric producer that stands behind their product and supports their fabrication network drop us a line with your recommendations. We are willing to import by container if necessary. Thanks!
12:58 am CST
HDPE fabrics
Mike is right in the fact that there are other fabrics out there. Sunports which is a brand of USA Shade & Fabric Structures, Inc. is not the distributor of Alnet fabric. They/We utilize a number of different fabrics but their primary HDPE shade fabric used is a Colorshade FR and Shadesure. These fabrics meet the NFPA 701 and California State Fire Marshall Certification. The thread is extruded in the color and then knitted (not dyed). . . but its not just the fabric used that is important, but the engineering, design, paterning, sewing, hardware and assembly that can make or break a project.
3:43 pm CDT
The architect may have specified Alnet fabric because the manufacturer of shade structures he has information on uses this fabric. The manufacturer, who may be SunPorts apparently import it to the US under some agreement with Alnet.
There are other shade fabrics that will perform equal to or better than the Alnet fabric. Assuming the architect has a performance specification and he wants the project to meet or exceed that performance spec. i.e. wind speed, % shade / UV, snow load, warranty regarding years of service, then there are choices of shade fabric other than Alnet that will perform very, very well. We have been designing and fabricating shade structures with knitted HDPE shade fabrics for 15 years the HDPE fabrics we use perform well and are not Alnet fabric. If we can be of further assistance please contact us at: info@solarshadeusa.com
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