What Is The Best Fabric Protection Treatment ?

Everyone likes new furniture and we all like it to stay looking like new.  To accomplish this, there are a few things we can do.  Of course, we all know the importance of a regular vacuum and periodically have it professionally cleaned. There is something else we can do.  When you first buy upholstery, you should have it treated to prevent overall soiling and spills from absorbing into the fabric.  This is important because if a spill absorbs into the fiber, it can alter the dye structure or re-dye the existing fibers causing a permanent stain. A fabric protection treatment can also transform a very sensitive fabric that is not that cleanable into a cleanable fabric.  The better quality fabric protection treatments will not change the looks, color, or feel of any fabric once dried. Now comes the questions. What is the best fabric protection treatment to apply?  Where to have your upholstery treated? 

Here are some options:

a. You can have it treated by the retailer where you buy the furniture. This usually is not a good idea for a few reasons. The retailer is usually sold a bill of goods from a fast-talking salesperson. They sell them an inferior quality of a fabric protection treatment, tell them just put some fancy brochures around and have your sales associates up-sell the product. Just who is going to back it up?  Usually, they draw from a list of people that just got into the cleaning industry and are willing to service calls at a minimum price. A price so low, no one with any experience would ever consider accepting.  This is not what you want.  Even the treating is usually applied by someone that works in the warehouse. Someone with no knowledge of different fabrics.  

b. Another option is if you use an interior designer, they can often order the fabric, have the fabric sent out to be treated, then the fabric is forwarded to the upholsterer.  The issues here are, who do you call if you have a problem?  How should you deal with a stain on a fabric that has been treated?  What if you do what you were told and stains still don’t come out.  Who is going to fix your problem?  We run into this problem, where a client tells us the fabric was treated by the designer, so can’t understand why they have a problem.  We have no idea what was used to treat the fabric and we do not want to tell them the fabric was treated with an inferior product.  This usually results in a client calling the interior designer and being quite upset.  Trust me, the company located in Georgia or where ever that treated this is not going to send anyone to Boston to resolve this.

c. Now comes the best option.  Call someone locally, someone that has the experience, knowledge, and professionalism to not only apply the best fabric protection treatment but someone you can call to come and deal with any issues also.  Someone with the experience and capability of cleaning any fabric whether it is cotton, wool, silk, linen, or any blend or synthetic fiber combination.  Someone, that at the time of applying the fabric protection treatment, they can explain what you can and can’t expect and what to do in an emergency.  Someone that will back up what they promise.

There are many brands and names of fabric protection treatments.  Some are called, Fiber Shield, Fiber Seal, Scotchgard, Teflon, Micro Seal, Guardsman, Fabric Guard, and many others.  Most of these are similar but do have some differences. The majority of these are co-polymer blends of fluorochemicals.  It takes a person with a background or understanding of chemistry to understand these differences and what effect they will have.  I have also seen companies give unrealistic expectations to their clients just to create a sale or to charge them an outlandish price.  Promising them the world.  That is until they get a stain. Also, be aware of a company that offers a great warranty but then requires you to have them and only them service any of your cleaning needs or they will void your warranty. 

Alec’s Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning LLC with over 50 years of experience has more knowledge and more experience than any other company in the greater Boston area.  As an independent company, we are not tied down to using one product.  A product that we are stuck with.  Instead, we realize technology changes and there are always advancements in our field as well as any business and product line.   We not only do our research on new products, but we also run our tests.  These tests are done in our plant under strict conditions that allow us to compare different products and see firsthand what is the best fabric protection treatment.  Our clients get the best products applied, the most experienced technicians applying it, and the best support throughout the life of the upholstery.

Looking for more information? Read more about fabric protection at http://alecscarpetcleaning.com/upholstery/fabric-protection-for-your-finest-upholstered-furniture. 

For more information please feel free to call our office anytime at 781-871-4428.