Advanced zippers

Testing goes to the extreme!

Anyone looking for the perfect zipper screen cannot ignore the outdoor awning fabrics from the Mermet Group. Whether you opt for the Sergé version from Copaco or Helioscreen, or the Satiné 5500 from Mermet in France, all are extremely suitable for zipper applications. And that's no coincidence. The Mermet group has a real test department for apparel in-house. This gives them the experience and insight to make the fabrics perfect for today's most popular awning application: the zipscreen.

At Mermet, fabrics are tested to the extreme. Before a fabric is launched on the market, it has been looked at in detail and assessed for all important aspects. One of the first questions asked in that process is whether the fabric is confectionable and compatible with the most commonly used ready-to-wear finishes. If so, the company makes cloths in various sizes and they are evaluated on a test wall. For outdoor awnings, of course, that is done outside and under various weather conditions. 

Weather conditions

They also know at Memet that in the Netherlands people complain quite a bit about the changeable weather with autumn temperatures one week and warm summer weather the next. But it therefore allows the company to see how the fabric behaves under those different conditions compared to other fabric types. However, it doesn't stop with the good results on the test wall. The laboratory simultaneously tests strengths and weaknesses: one pulls and tugs at the fabric to make it break and tear. It is exposed for hours by bright Xenon lights and finally even set on fire. This brings to the surface essential information that ultimately helps screen builders choose the right top tube and the ideal bottom bar. Furthermore, a close examination is made of how the fabric protects against heat and glare and how the view to the outside is safeguarded. For this purpose, measurements are taken both in-house and at independent laboratories.

The results are additionally peer-reviewed, as it is called, by the European Solarization Organization ES-SO. Once approved, they enter the ES-SO database ES-SDA (www.es-so-database.com). So you can actually say that designing fabrics can perhaps be seen as doing science! Time and again, Mermet notices from the tests that the Sergé and Satiné fabrics are very strong and hang tightly and stably on the zipscreen thanks to their fiberglass core. Moreover, they offer a perfect compromise between transparency, daylight filtering and privacy. 

Extensive collection

There is also plenty of choice for the user, as all told, there are more than 140 colors to choose from in the Mermet France, Copaco and Helioscreen collections. Many of these are available in different widths to minimize cutting losses. 

The Mermet group is further in the process of launching a joint range of Sergé fabrics by early 2025. At this very moment, those new fabrics and colors are undergoing all the aforementioned tests to ensure that every customer gets the top quality they are used to. The bottom line? Mermet is doing everything to keep both the manufacturer, the screen manufacturer and the end customer happy!