Casal presents GENTLEMAN upholstery collection in 4 designs and 60 colours
French fabric editor Casal has presented GENTLEMAN, a collection of yarn-dyed wool felts. The four designs are listed for upholstery and curtains with a 140 cm width, 550 g per linear metre, 50,000 Martindale and EN 1021 and BS 5852 fire-retardant information.
Casal, the fabric editor based in Thann in the Alsace region of France, presented its GENTLEMAN collection on its Instagram account on 22 October. In the caption of a video published on 24 October, the company described the collection through the seat of a library and the cushions of a winter drawing room. Casal describes the collection as yarn-dyed wool felts derived from classic menswear cloths and states that these fabrics are designed for upholstery.
Four designs, 60 colours
According to the collection page on the company website, GENTLEMAN consists of four products. CAMBRIDGE carries the Glen Check pattern, HARROW a herringbone weave, ETON a multicoloured houndstooth and RUGBY a two-tone structure. According to the colour lists on the product pages, HARROW comes in 25 colours, CAMBRIDGE in 14, RUGBY in 14 and ETON in 7, making 60 colours across the four products. Colour names include Céladon, Truffe, Loden, Tabac and Naturel. The collection page says the designs are rooted in British textile history and evoke the understated sophistication of country estates.
Technical data
The website gives the same technical data for all four products: a width of 140 cm, a weight of 550 g per linear metre and a composition of 75 per cent wool, 22 per cent polyamide and 3 per cent other fibres. Abrasion resistance is stated as 50,000 Martindale. The products are listed as fire retardant, with the site showing EN 1021 parts 1 and 2 and BS 5852 sources 0 and 1. Both upholstery and curtain are marked as uses.
Pattern repeats differ by product. CAMBRIDGE has an 11 cm horizontal and vertical repeat. ETON has a 4.2 cm horizontal and a 4.6 cm vertical repeat. HARROW has a 0.5 cm horizontal and a 0.3 cm vertical repeat; RUGBY has 0.5 cm in both directions. The repeat is the value curtain makers and upholsterers use in their cutting plan to match the pattern.
The company and the collection book
Casal is a fabric house whose roots go back to a family that has produced textiles in Alsace for six generations. The company history page lists tapestry and Genoa velvets in the 1970s, 100 per cent cotton canvas in 1995, silk fabrics in 2008, stripes and sheers in 2010, the distribution of foreign brands and textile wallcoverings in 2012, and velvet jacquard with the Les Classiques 322 range in 2019. Alongside Casal, the website lists the Chanée and Vano brands. Besides its head office showroom in Thann, the company has showrooms in Paris and in Wavre, Belgium. Its technical fabric groups include Aquaclean, fire-retardant and outdoor ranges.
The collection page offers a printed collection book for GENTLEMAN and a link to the book online. The website gives trade customers A5 sample ordering and stock checks. A note on the product pages says colour can vary between batches; where an exact colour match is needed, the company asks customers to request a stock cutting.
For curtain makers and upholsterers
With four designs sharing the same technical data, GENTLEMAN lets workrooms use fabrics from one wool family on armchairs, cushions and curtains. A 140 cm width and 550 g per linear metre position it as a heavyweight upholstery fabric. The 50,000 Martindale rating and the EN 1021 and BS 5852 test information are among the data buyers preparing technical specifications can use to compare products.
