How to choose church pew fabric.

Durability: double rubs

The Wyzenbeek test rubs a fabric back and forth until it wears through; the count is its double-rub rating. The Association for Contract Textiles sets 15,000 as general contract and 30,000 as heavy-duty. Pews are heavy-duty: sixty years of the same spot being sat on every week. The pew-grade olefins and polyesters made for this trade are typically rated 100,000 double rubs and up, and many test past 250,000. That is what we buy.

Past the floor, a higher number does not mean a longer-lasting seat. ACT itself says so. Fiber, backing and stain treatment matter more than whether the label says 100,000 or 500,000. Insist on pew-grade goods, then judge the rest.

Fiber

• Solution-dyed olefin or polyester — the color is in the fiber, not on it, so it does not fade at the window end of a pew and cleans with almost anything. This is most of what we install.
• Wool blends — beautiful hand, natural fire resistance, expensive, and they pill under heavy use. Right for a chancel chair, marginal for a pew.
• Vinyl — wipes clean, but it is cold in winter, sticky in summer, and cracks at the seams within a decade. We install it when asked and say this first.
• Cotton and cotton blends — not for pews. They stain, fade and wear at the seams.

Fire code

Two standards come up: CAL 117-2013 and NFPA 260. Both are cigarette-ignition tests for upholstered furniture. Which applies depends on your jurisdiction and your fire marshal, not on us. We carry the certificate for both on every fabric we install and file it with your paperwork.

Stain treatment

Mill-applied, not sprayed on afterward. A treatment applied at the mill is bonded through the fiber and survives cleaning; a spray-on treatment is gone after the second shampoo. Ask which one the quote includes. Ours is mill-applied, always.

Color

Sanctuary light is nothing like showroom light. A swatch that looked right on a folding table under fluorescents will look wrong under stained glass on Sunday morning, and it will look different again at the back of the room than at the front. We bring samples to your building and leave them for a week so the committee sees them at every service before anyone votes.

Two practical notes. Heathered or textured weaves hide wear and soil that a flat solid shows within a year. And the darkest color is not the most forgiving — lint, dust and dandruff all show on navy and black. Mid-tones in a texture age best.

Mills

We buy from contract mills — Absecon Mills, Tahoe, and comparable — because they publish the test data, hold stock colors year to year for repairs, and treat at the mill. Most have a church line. You are welcome to specify a mill and pattern; we will tell you if it fails any of the rules above.

Sources

• Association for Contract Textiles — abrasion guidelines and disclaimer (why a higher double-rub count past the threshold does not predict service life).
• NFPA 260 — Standard Methods of Tests and Classification System for Cigarette Ignition Resistance of Components of Upholstered Furniture.
• California Technical Bulletin 117-2013 — Bureau of Household Goods and Services.
• Mill data sheets for the specific fabric on your job are filed with your contract.