A fun conversation topic at a party is fabric. Other fun ones include sewage systems, investment banking in South America, and the merits of probiotics.
Okay, nobody cares about fabric, unless of course it's meaningful to your promotional advertising, and then you're all ears. Or at least half ears during work hours when it may help to know what you're buying.
Take for example, Canadian Canopy pop-up tents. We note on the website that they are made with 600 denier PU backed polyester oxford fabric that is UV and mildew resistant.
But what does that all mean really?
Denier is a unit of measurement for fiber thickness
Okay. In simple terms, denier is a unit of measurement for fiber thickness. A single strand of silk is approximately one denier, so it stands to reason that the higher the denier, the stronger it is. So, 600 denier fabric is better than 500 or 400 etc.
We'll stop there with the denier to keep you from getting over-excited, but the key thing to remember is that 600 is as high as it gets for custom printed canopy tents without overdoing it and making a canopy that's too heavy for your frame.
As for the rest of the description, PU stands for polyurethane coating aka laminate, which when applied to one side of the fabric, serves as a waterproofing agent. The coating is both lightweight and flexible but also makes our fabric resistant to dirt, mildew, oil, salt, chemicals and UV rays.
Resistance to abrasion and chemical agents
Oxford fabric is one of four modern fabrics named after universities: Oxford, Cambridge, Yale and Harvard...just kidding...already too much information, so let's get to the point. Oxford fabric characteristics include good resistance to abrasion and chemical agents, and durability. During the manufacturing process the fibres of our Oxford fabric are coated with a special fire resistant coating. This allows the canopy to pass a special fire rating test called CAN/ULC S109. This will keep your local Canadian fire marshal happy. Fine, exactly what we want.
It won't make you a hit at the next party you attend, but hopefully we've made fabric language a little easier to understand. At least a little closer to English than Greek.
