AIS, a manufacturer of commercial office furniture and seating, has partnered with Applied Textiles for Alta —a new textile performance technology that is bonded directly to AIS seating fabrics; the fabric protection technology preserves fabric aesthetics and improves the life of upholstered seating products, ensuring seats stay looking their best years after installation. It enables virtually any textile to withstand the rigors of real life—including oil- and water-based spills and stains—without leaving a mark.
“Alta is built on the premise that all environments are not created equal. It’s a game-changing technology that renders old-school methods of textile protection obsolete—and we’re very excited to be the first office furniture manufacturer to offer this technology as a standard on a number of our woven fabrics,” said Brianne Devine, director of seating and tables, AIS. “This technology will keep all kinds of seating products looking great.”
“Real life is rough on fabrics—there’s just a lot of wear-and-tear that can happen with upholstered seating, especially seating in high-traffic areas. That’s where our Alta technology comes in: We design specific formulations to resist the conditions that fabrics live in,” said Applied Textiles President and Founder John Schroeter.
Alta is permanent fabric protection technology that lasts as long as the fabric itself. The treatment obsoletes temporary spray-on treatments. Alta will not change the way the fabric feels, or the fabric’s color, and eases maintenance demands while eliminating the need for harsh cleaning agents.
Alta is a comprehensive treatment solution providing a combination of repellency of liquids and cleanability of liquids and oil-based fabric stains. It uses less chemistry to create more performance. Applied Textile’s custom solutions utilize covalent bonding to create a permanent change at the molecular level of the fabric’s fibers. Due to the chemical bond, the treatment will not wear off or wash off. The change in chemistry creates repellency between the fibers and oil- or water-based spills and stains.
Alta can specify an exact “recipe” for protection in a given environment, whether that’s stain repellency, fire code compliance, Durablock® waterproof barrier, puncture protection, or a combination.
“For designers and specifiers, this ability to customize protection means not having to choose between beauty and performance. For facilities owners, it means not having to pay for costly protections that may not be needed in a certain environment—and being prepared for those environments that do call for heavy-duty fabric protection,” Devine said.
Alta is a sustainable, environmentally responsible, water-based treatment that meets the requirements and standards of the US EPA, CAL Prop 65, and the European Union’s REACH standards for safe chemistry. Formulations can be designed to meet specific fire-code compliance standards.
Alta is already available with standard lead times on AIS’s new line of Grade B seating upholstery, which includes the Frock, Sway, Mirage, and Prospect fabrics. Through special request, Alta can also be specified on other AIS fabrics and COMs (Customers’ Own Materials) as long as the fabrics are fiber-based. In fact, all fiber-based upholstery—including fabrics with an existing finish or chemistry—can be treated with and benefit from Alta. AIS’s Alta-treated fabrics feature a five-year warranty for stain resistance.
