Pets and Fabrics: Can they Mix?

Soft furnishings bear the brunt of pet-related issues. Pets generally loved to be groomed. A regular brush of your cat or dog can really help in the level of shedding onto your soft furnishings. A daily whip around with the vacuum cleaner can also help with the level of animal hair on your fabrics. Bear in mind that if your dog is white, and your sofa is a dark colour, a stray hair here and there might be a daily occurrence.

Nail trimming is another important part of pet grooming. Aside from your dogs wellbeing, paying attention to their claws will help prevent any accidental scratching throughout the home.

Cats in particular love to claw at tactile fabrics – watch out for your sheers, velvet drapery and fabric furniture. Provide your furry friend with a scratching post and hope that this gets use over your beloved sofa.

To keep your beloved off your furnishings, it probably pays to get them their very own bed.  Available for cats and dogs of all shapes and sizes and designs – find one that fits in with your interior scheme and reward your pet when it uses this for sleeping and relaxing.

By investing in furniture that will last the distance and can cope with the demands that pets bring to home furnishings, look no further than FibreGuard fabrics.   This truly amazing fabric is literally a dogs (and homeowners) best friend.  No amount of muddy paw prints can affect this fabric with its stain resistant technology inherent in the fibre, with just water and white soap you can clean away stains and spills from mud, blood and pet urine – you can be guaranteed your upholstered furniture with look great year after year.

FibreGuard is the result of years of research and testing by interior designers and textile engineers. Our focus at FibreGuard is to be what we call ‘life-friendly’: offering fabrics ready to stand up to anything daily life can throw at them.

Our fabrics undergo numerous textile tests in independent laboratories to ensure that they’re all durable, reliable, and of consistent quality – in the real world, accidents do happen.

This is one of the core reasons that we created FibreGuard fabrics in the first place, to ensure your peace of mind with proven protection against accidental stains and spills.

Read more about our mechanical textiles testing procedures and see the remarkable results for yourself.

Our fabrics are proven by extensive testing to be durable, easy to clean, soft to the touch and colourfast. Recently, we have been introducing collections with antimicrobial and anti-bacterial properties. While not all collections from the past or the future will be antimicrobial, we’re excited for the future.

Using these materials in a home with pets makes sense.

Use all-natural cleaning products (like water). It’s so much better for the environment as well as for the surfaces, fabrics and humans in your home.

In fact, cleaning accidental stains from our upholstery and drapery fabrics with water is what we recommend. Just normal tap water.

Most of the time water is all you need, and if you have a tougher stain then it’s time to break out our secret weapon: a small amount of standard, white, household soap. It is good to remember that immediate stain removal will ensure the best result. Full cleaning steps are here.

With a pet in the family this doesn’t mean you have to wrap your couches in plastic or lock your pet in the garage. Remember these key tipis:

- Brushing helps against shedding

- Keep those claws neat and tidy

-  Use all-natural cleaning products (like water)

- Make a considered, purposeful decision when buying upholstery or drapery for your home interiors.

Finally, look for the STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® certification when you’re decorating your pet-friendly home. This is our promise to you that our drapery and upholstery fabrics won’t release any harmful finishes or chemicals into the world.

Want to learn more?  Visit our FibeGuard product page here.