Tradition and high-end textile technology

Every layer of material has a purpose. The Lamadrid Group has almost 50 years of experience in the textile market and, among its services, offers its Contract division, which advises interior design and decoration professionals on the use of technical fabrics (curtains, sheers, upholstery, among others) in different project types, from hospitality buildings to homes.

Lamadrid Contract also edits its own fabrics and distributes other brands in order to offer comprehensive solutions tailored to each project, with high durability and easy maintenance. In this article we look at what each of its technical fabric brands —Lamadrid Contract, FR-One and FibreGuard— offers, which fire standards are worth bearing in mind and what to resolve when specifying textiles in a contract project.

The Lamadrid Group and its Contract division

The group's origins lie in Güell Lamadrid, the company that the textile engineer Javier López de Lamadrid founded in 1973 with his brother-in-law Claudio Güell. Its fabric-editing brands, Güell Lamadrid and Les Créations de la Maison, are a benchmark in the Spanish high-end decoration market. In recent years the group has expanded into contract with brands focused on technical performance: resistance to fire spread, good wash performance, abrasion resistance and stain protection.

Within its catalogue we highlight three technical fabric brands: its own brand Lamadrid Contract and the Belgian brands FR-One and FibreGuard, which the group distributes exclusively. Between them, the three cover flame-retardant fabrics and fabrics with stain-resistant technology, in a range of finishes and designs. The table summarises what each one offers:

Lamadrid Contract: natural-looking flame-retardant fabrics

The group's own brand favours a fresh style, with fabrics of a predominantly natural appearance.

According to the brand, its fabrics are fully resistant to fire spread: they are made with inherently FR polyester fibres and pass the most demanding tests and certifications internationally. In addition to the collection, it offers the option of creating custom designs for special projects.

Its fabrics are made up into curtains, sheers, blinds, covers, bedspreads, upholstery, headboards, wall lights and accessories such as throws or cushions. The brand also includes high-performance fabrics suitable for indoor and outdoor use and, as part of its approach to sustainability, states that it incorporates recycled fibres in most of its new collections, with recycled polyester from plastic bottles.

FR-One: fire protection in the fibre

As a further flame-retardant fabric option, Lamadrid Contract exclusively distributes textiles from FR-One, a Belgian firm specialising in inherently flame-retardant (IFR) fabrics for contract, hospitality and residential use.

According to FR-One, its fabrics are made from 100% polyester yarn with inherent flame-retardant characteristics, a quality built into the molecular structure of the fibre that is not diminished by use or washing. Every production batch is tested and, to preserve this property, the brand warns that the fabric must not receive additional treatments or finishes.

The range of curtains, upholstery and fabrics is very wide, from velvet and chenille fabrics for sofas to damasks and sheer fabrics, allowing for a broad range of applications. On the environmental side, FR-One states that its fabrics are certified to OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 and that, because of their low water absorption, they need less water and energy for washing and drying.

FibreGuard: easy-to-clean upholstery

For upholstery requiring maximum resistance, Lamadrid Contract exclusively distributes FibreGuard, a Belgian brand of fabrics with high-efficiency stain-resistant technology.

The protection is not a surface treatment: according to FibreGuard, it is built into the fabric's manufacturing process, so stains can be removed with water or a little soap and the protection is retained through washing. All its fabrics are certified to OEKO-TEX® Standard 100, which, according to the brand, guarantees that they do not release harmful finishes or chemicals.

FibreGuard Pro and FibreGuard Outdoor

The brand also has lines that broaden its applications. FibreGuard Pro adds a light, breathable moisture barrier to the fabric, which stops spilt liquids from penetrating the upholstery foam and makes it more resistant to odours, moisture and mould, together with an antimicrobial finish. FibreGuard Outdoor, made with solution-dyed yarn, also offers protection against the weather: it withstands sunlight without fading and repels water, with solutions for both the interior and the exterior of the project.

Fire performance standards worth knowing

Choosing a technical fabric starts with the regulations. In Spain, the Código Técnico de la Edificación (CTE, Spain's building code; DB-SI, section SI 1) sets conditions for textile elements and furniture in public assembly premises, such as restaurants, bars or function rooms. These are the standards that appear most often on technical data sheets:

• UNE-EN 13773: classifies curtains and drapes into five classes. The CTE requires Class 1 for suspended textile elements, such as stage curtains, curtains and drapes.
• UNE-EN 1101, UNE-EN 1102 and UNE-EN 13772: the ignitability and flame spread tests from which that class is obtained.
• UNE-EN 1021-1 and UNE-EN 1021-2: these assess the ignitability of upholstered furniture when exposed to a smouldering cigarette and to a match-equivalent flame; the CTE requires them for fixed upholstered armchairs and seats in cinemas, theatres, auditoriums and function rooms.
• IMO FTP Code: tests for textiles and upholstery on ships and cruise liners, which are among the standards FR-One covers.

Key points for specifying technical textiles

Beyond aesthetics, these are the points worth resolving at design stage:

• Tests on the specific fabric: ask for the classification of the fabric to be installed and check that it matches its use (curtain or upholstery) and the regulations of the country.
• Inherent or treated: in inherently flame-retardant fabrics the protection lies in the fibre; avoid adding finishes that could alter it.
• Maintenance: for heavy-use upholstery, consider stain-resistant fabrics and check the abrasion resistance and washing instructions on the data sheet.
• Outdoors: for terraces and outdoor areas, choose fabrics designed to withstand sunlight, water and mould.
• Visualisation: if the project is presented with renders or virtual reality, ask whether the fabric is available as a digital texture.

Overall, Lamadrid Contract combines personalised advice on technical fabrics, to ensure maximum safety and durability for the project's textiles, with the latest design trends.

As a complement, it also offers digital textures for much of its catalogue, the digital twin of the physical fabrics, for producing top-quality renders and virtual reality prototypes. Comprehensive support at every stage of the design.

Choosing the right textiles for a project means combining regulations, maintenance and design. At Matter we help you consider the project's materials as a whole: come to our material library to compare fabrics, finishes and surfaces with your technical team.