A lot of fabrics that have good heat control qualities have some form of backing.
This means that fabric has a covering on the back that doesn’t necessarily match the front side of the fabric.
The two main types of fabric backing are:
White Backing
A lot of blackout fabrics and some screen options have white backing.
This can greatly improve heat retention and blocking.
One of the issues with regular fabric is that colour can play a large part in how thermally efficient a fabric is, this being as lighter colours reflect heat and darker colours absorb heat.
Aluminium Backing
This is an even more energy efficient version of white backed fabric.
Metalized backing is especially effective at stopping too much heat escaping your windows.
Also known as: Metalized backing, Alu backing
Example TRA Values
Antana is a metalized version of Vantage, here are how their TRA values compare…
Transmission Reflection Absorption
Vantage | Antana | Vantage | Antana | Vantage | Antana | Colour |
13% | 4% | 74% | 72% | 13% | 24% | 007 (1%) |
13% | 3% | 66% | 72% | 21% | 25% | 112 (1%) |
8% | 3% | 58% | 71% | 34% | 26% | 217 (1%) |
1% | 3% | 12% | 73% | 87% | 24% | 427 (1%) |
1% | 3% | 5% | 72% | 94% | 25% | 506 (1%) |
Antana is a lot more consistent from colour to colour, meaning you don’t have to compromise between style and function.
The metal backed alternative is also a lot better at reflecting light instead of absorbing or transmitting heat, making it a better fabric overall at pushing down the heat coming in and out of a building.