Blinds & Shutters - Issue 2-2023

ROMAN
The Romans never left!
Louvolite says the
Romans aren’t
coming ….they
never left!
Take a moment or two to view the internet
and key in the words “Roman Blinds.” You
will find that every major retailer - both
online and offline - offers Roman Blinds as a key
ingredient of their shading armoury.
By far and away the vast majority of drapery
stores offer their version of a Roman blind and a
few large trade suppliers offer Roman blinds too.
That said, most traditional blind manufacturing
companies currently choose not to offer or
manufacture Roman Blinds. Obviously this isn’t
because the products aren’t popular - because
they are – so it must be because of the challenges
that can be found with the manufacture of Roman
Blinds.
Typically, a traditional Roman Blind features a soft
cloth hemmed with cords being operated via a
pulley system or attached to a rotating tubular
operating system that gathers/releases the multiple
lifting cords, thereby raising or lowering the shade.
In the majority of such products, the cords used
to raise/lower the blind pass through guide systems
which need to be sewn or fixed into the blockout
lining at the rear of the blind.
Our industry has worked hard over decades to
negate the need for skilled machinists in order to
de-skill the manufacture of products and maximise
our working teams to multitask when it comes to
blind assembly. In addition - and more importantly -
the Child Safety requirements seen in EN13120
outline clear statements of operation to be
followed in order to deal with the strangulation
concerns relating to cords for raising and lowering
of blinds.
Louvolite has considered all of the issues relating
to Roman shades - both from a manufacturing
perspective and a child safety perspective - and the
result is a programme that will allow assembly of a
roman shade product by existing assembly staff
using known assembly methods, without the need
of new equipment.
Louvolite’s new Romashade programme uses a
number of common manufacturing items such as a
tubular operating system (or roller blind as we
would know it). Fabrics appropriate to the
product, that don’t require either hemming or a
blockout lining to be attached and which fall into a
soft fold when raised, are used within a Romashade
product providing total elimination of operating
cords to the rear of the product.
Louvolite’s Romashade programme uses fabrics
to which it has applied a soft foam blockout
treatment for opacity, performance and consistency
of appearance. Where rear cords were historically
used as the operating method to raise and lower
the shade, these have been replaced by a
transparent strip. The strip is UV stable and has
been tested in the most vigorous of climates and
38 Blinds & Shutters • ISSUE TWO 2023
continues on page 40