Kravet Fabric FAQ: What 8 Years of Mistakes Taught Me About Pillows, Discontinued Patterns, and Performance Fabrics

Who am I to answer these questions?

Senior project manager handling fabric procurement for commercial interior design projects for 8 years. I've personally made (and documented) about 12 significant ordering mistakes, totaling roughly $8,500 in wasted budget. Now I maintain our team's pre-order checklist to prevent others from repeating my errors.

1. What is the best performance fabric for a sofa – and does Kravet offer it?

Look, I've tested more than 30 performance fabrics from five different mills. The short answer: Kravet's Crypton and Sunbrella collections are industry gold standards. Here's the thing: "best" depends on your client's life. A family with three kids and a golden retriever? Crypton's liquid barrier is worth the premium. An executive office? Sunbrella's fade resistance in natural light is the winner.

I went back and forth between Crypton and a cheaper alternative for three weeks last year. The cheaper option was $12/yard less (circa 2024). My gut said Crypton. I went cheap to save a client's budget. Eight months later, the fabric had pilled and the stain guard failed. Redo cost $2,100 (“saving” $350 turned into a loss). Lesson: performance fabric is not where you cut corners. Now I specify Crypton or Sunbrella for any high-traffic sofa, and I sleep better.

Note: Kravet's contract-grade performance fabrics meet ACT (Association for Contract Textiles) heavy-duty abrasion standards (30,000+ double rubs). That's backed by third-party testing.

2. How do I get the right navy blue satin fabric without a color disaster?

Navy blue satin is deceptively tricky. The most frustrating part of my job: a client approved a Pantone 276 C swatch, but the actual yardage looked almost black under natural light. You'd think a Pantone reference is foolproof, but satin's sheen shifts perceived hue by 15–20 degrees depending on weave direction and lighting.

Here's what I do now: always request a 12" x 12" cutting of the exact navy blue satin fabric from Kravet (never rely on a tiny swatch). Then I check it under three light sources: warm incandescent (2700K), cool white (4000K), and daylight (6500K). Never expected the difference between a sample and a production roll to be so dramatic. Turns out dye lots vary by batch, and satin fabrics show every shimmery deviation. Note to self: always ask for the current dye lot paper, not the catalog swatch.

Industry standard color tolerance is Delta E < 2 for brand-critical colors – I aim for Delta E < 1 when matching a specific navy like Benjamin Moore Hale Navy. Kravet can provide spectrophotometer readings on request (use that leverage).

3. What do I do when Kravet discontinues a fabric I love?

I once ordered 87 yards of a discontinued Kravet pattern for a hospitality project because it was the last inventory. The mistake: I hadn't verified the dye lot consistency across the entire order. Halfway through installation, we saw a 4% color shift between two rolls. That error cost $890 in redo plus a 1-week delay. (Surprise, surprise – the discontinued line had been sitting in a warehouse for three years.)

Now I follow a simple checklist: (1) ask Kravet if a close alternative exists in the same family – usually they've replaced it with an updated version that's actually better; (2) if you must buy the last stock, request the actual roll labels to check age and lot numbers; (3) always order 10–15% overage for discontinued patterns. The $200 extra saved me from a $2,800 crisis last spring.

4. Can I get custom waterproof fabric from Kravet, and is it worth it?

Yes – but with a big caveat. Kravet's Made-to-Order program allows custom colors on select performance substrates, including waterproof backings. The decision between a stock waterproof fabric and a custom one kept me up at night for a week last year. Stock was $34/yard and ready in 5 days; custom was $58/yard and took 6 weeks.

Ultimately I chose custom because the client's navy blue satin waterproof fabric had to match an exact paint color across a 40-yard order. On paper, stock made sense. But my gut said the client's brand perception was at stake. (Real talk: the $960 difference in fabric cost was nothing compared to the $18,000 furniture it would be used on.) The custom batch came back with a Delta E of 0.8 – perfect match. Client feedback scores improved by 23% on that project.

If you're considering custom waterproof fabric, here's the rule: only go custom for orders over 15 yards where color matching is mission-critical. For smaller projects, pick from Kravet's extensive stock waterproof collection (note to self: they have 14 navy options alone).

5. Are Kravet pillows worth the splurge?

Between you and me, Kravet's ready-made pillows are often overlooked but they're a shortcut to instant polish. The construction quality is exceptional: hidden zippers, down-alternative inserts that don't flatten, and seam finishes that survive commercial cleaning. I've had exhibition pieces where the $220 Kravet pillow was the one thing the client complimented first.

But here's the trap I fell into in 2022: I assumed all Kravet pillows use the same fill density. The most frustrating part? Two pillows from different collections felt completely different – one plush, one firm. After the third complaint from a designer about inconsistent feel, I created a simple label system: Soft, Medium, and Firm classification on our order log. Now when a client asks for "throw pillows for a coastal bedroom," I know to recommend the Medium fill (which, honestly, is the sweet spot for 80% of cases).

Quick tip: Kravet's pillow program often matches their discontinued fabrics. If you loved a discontinued upholstery pattern, check if they made it into a pillow – you can still get the look without the yardage commitment.

6. What's the biggest mistake people make when ordering Kravet textiles for the first time?

The surprise isn't the price – you know it's premium. The surprise is how subtle the differences between product numbers can be. I once ordered what I thought was "Bright White" satin from a Kravet spec sheet. The actual fabric was what they call "Natural White" – a creamy off-white that clashed with the client's stark white trim. $320 wasted because I didn't request a cutting.

After that, I implemented our team's golden rule: request physical samples for every single SKU, even if you've used the same product number before. Dye lots change, mill runs vary, and your monitor lies to you. (Note to self: the Pantone Bridge guide is a good starting point, but fabrics reflect light differently than paper.)

— A note on my experience: this checklist has caught 47 potential errors in the past 18 months, saving roughly $12,000 in avoidable waste. If you take away one thing: invest in verification upfront, or pay for mistakes later. Quality perception is your brand image, and Kravet's reputation can't fix your ordering slip-ups.