design concierge
Understanding Outdoor Fabrics
Your Guide
The finest outdoor furniture today is defined not just by its form, but by the intelligence of its materials.
Contemporary outdoor fabrics have evolved far beyond their utilitarian origins. Engineered to resist UV exposure, moisture, staining, mildew, and abrasion, while offering a softness and natural appearance that sits comfortably within the most considered homes.
Solution-dyed Acrylic & Solution-dyed Olefin
These fabrics are woven from fibres where colour is locked into the yarn itself, rather than applied to the surface. The result is a fabric that holds its depth and tone under direct sunlight, season after season.
Outdoor vinyls of note carry a high PVC content, offering exceptional durability and effortless maintenance. Many across both categories are also machine washable, a quiet but meaningful advantage for those who live and entertain outdoors.
Within our FrancoCrea outdoor collections, we have curated four standout options: outdoor velvet, outdoor boucle, outdoor leather-look vinyl, and an outdoor Italian weave.
Each selected for its ability to bring interior-grade richness to exterior spaces. Details on these are outlined below.
Features & Benefits
Withstands even the strongest sunlight and UV exposure.
Its lifespan will outlast all natural fibres and will not fade or degrade.
Easily cleaned and air-dries quickly, plus bleach-cleanable for stubborn stains. Many across the range are machine washable.
Water repels allowing it to easily drain away and avoid moisture build up.
Soil, mould, and antimicrobial resistance.
Colour is permeated throughout the fibre, not only on the surface, resulting in excellent colour fastness to light.
Fabric alone does not complete the story.
At FrancoCrea, outdoor cushions and seat pads are paired with reticulated open-cell foam. A material engineered specifically for outdoor use, allowing water to drain freely and cushions to dry quickly without compromising shape, comfort, or longevity. Available in soft, medium and firm densities, it is the unseen detail that ensures a piece perfoms as well as it looks, year after year.
Come touch and sit on our outdoor fabrics
Our studio showrooms in Melbourne and Adelaide provide a no obligation opportunity to see materials in person, ask what you've been wondering, and understand what considered design actually feels like to live with.