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There’s no denying it: Metal has become popular for shading products and is taking market share from fabric. However, that doesn’t mean that fabric awnings can’t compete. Fabric brings qualities to the table that metal does not have.
Representatives from two companies that offer both options to their clients say that most of their projects now incorporate metal.
“There is metal on two-thirds of product that goes out and fabric on one-third,” says Seth Duplantis, president of USA Canvas Shoppe in Dallas, Texas.
Those numbers are similar to what Chris Noyes sees. He and his wife, Laura, own Roberts Awnings in Petersburg, Va. “I would say we’re probably 40% fabric, 60% metal,” says Chris Noyes. “It used to be the other way around, if not a little bit more. It used to be 30 [metal]/70 [fabric].”
What fabric is up against
Each material has its strengths. “Metal has durability,” says Duplantis. “The lower cost of ownership is going to be an advantage. There is less unexpected maintenance if a hailstorm comes through.”
Metal’s lack of maintenance is attractive to some clients. “It’s maintenance-free, with 30-year coverage on it,” says Chris Noyes. “And it is basically one and done. The shopping centers seem to really enjoy the one and done. So they’re taking a lot of their fabric awnings and just changing them over to metal.”
Duplantis has noticed the same trend. “The general tendency is metal skews on the commercial side and fabric on the residential side,” he says.
Don’t disregard fabric
But hold on. Fabric is more versatile and can be more aesthetically pleasing. “If you want artwork that distinguishes your shop from the next one, that is a really good option,” Duplantis says of fabric.
The same goes for residential housing. “When you go with metal, you’re limited to about nine colors,” says Chris Noyes. “So if [customers] want that ‘pop’ on their house, if they want someone to notice their house, we’re going to go with fabric.”
And fabric is cheaper up front. “A lot of the times with my residential homes, they are still choosing from fabric options because of the cost, because your metal cost is almost three times the amount of your fabric cost, but you’re also getting product that lasts four or five times longer,” he says.
Fabric structures also allow more room for creativity in a project. “If you want to do a wavy sign, then we can do it,” says Duplantis. One client requested a bend design for a project, but the metal panels were going to be difficult to work with the design. “I tried to talk them into the fabric side,” Duplantis says.
Laura Noyes sums it up this way: “The metal option is very modern. It’s clean and functional, whereas fabric has more style. You can do a lot more with it. There’s a lot more possibilities with fabric than there is with metal.”
Duplantis notes that metal shading can be a challenge to attach to older buildings and might require more work. “The wall needs to have blocking in it,” Duplantis says. “That canopy is a lot harder to put up if the wall is closed. We need to reinforce that wall.”
Another reality is that the permanence of metal is not always desirable for shade and awnings in the commercial world, where ownership of buildings, tenants and a company’s brand look can change frequently.
“Your fabric awning is probably lasting your average commercial user about five years,” says Chris Noyes. “But then again, the average commercial user is changing their logos and changing their colors every five years anyway, so it really wasn’t showing that much of a hindrance to their businesses.”
Roberts Awnings encountered that situation when the company worked with the city of Clarksville, Va., on a project to revamp the city’s downtown. “These businesses are renting space,” says Laura Noyes. “What if we put their logos on and they’re gone in five months?” Chris Noyes and the company’s sewing manager recommended designing
and using removable valances so when businesses leave, new awnings are not needed. Instead, businesses can purchase new valances.
Better business decisions and better technology
What can fabric awning manufacturers do to compete with metal? Duplantis notes that there are steps companies can take to reduce the cost of fabric awnings. “Make sure you are sourcing fabric from the most direct way possible,” he says. He also recommends embracing automated technology such as a production management system and automated cutting equipment to reduce labor hours, then passing on those savings to customers.
USA Canvas Shoppe has taken steps to make fabric more attractive to customers. The company is working to follow up with customers who have had fabric installed to see if their fabric shading structures need maintenance.
And the technology that goes into producing more durable fabric has improved, notes Chris Noyes. The Noyeses specifically cited Tenara® and SolarFix® threads as materials that have prolonged the longevity of fabric. “They have come a long way with the thread being lifetime, because the first thing that would fail on a fabric awning was the thread because it wasn’t UV-protected,” he says.
Please note that in the print edition this photo was inadvertently swapped with a different photo. Specialty Fabrics Review regrets the error.
While it appears that the use of metal in shading products is ascendent, Laura Noyes cautions that metal’s popularity—like most trends—is unlikely to endure.
“Honestly, I feel like a lot of things come in fads. In five years, we might see another shift. A lot of the products we do, we see them come and go in phases where one style is really popular, so we’ll get bombarded with one style, one product, and then we won’t see it again for two or three months. Yes, right now, metals seem to be the more popular option. But give it some time and it’ll probably reverse itself at some point.”
Alan Pierce is a freelance writer based in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.