Mermet Blackout Fabrics
37 colourways in 5 designs: nothing through the fabric, in five constructions and up to 126 inches wide.
Nothing through the fabric, and then the edges
A blackout roller fabric passes no light through the material: Mermet publishes Tv 0 and about 100% UV blockage for every colourway on this page, 37 of them in 5 designs. What differs is the construction and the paperwork. Sparta Twilight is 33% polyester and 67% acrylic, 126 inches wide, and the one Twilight that carries NFPA 701 TM#1, California Title 19 and CAN/ULC-S109. Zora Twilight is polyester with an acrylic coating, also 126 inches, offered with a white backing across nine colours and colour-matched in Pewter, Graphite and Black.
Elba Twilight and Sofia Twilight are the blackout halves of two Daylight and Twilight pairs, 118 inches wide, in the same colour names as their light-filtering twins, so one room can carry the same colour by day and by night. Flocké is the outlier: 42% fiberglass and 51% acrylic with a flocked back, 94.5 inches, and the widest set of fire listings in the library, NFPA 701 TM#1, California Title 19, CAN/ULC-S109, DIN 4102-1 (B1) and NF P 92 507 (M1). Every one of these has a photograph of its reverse face on the design page.
5 Mermet blackout designs, 37 colourways
Sofia
A light-filtering and blackout pair in six colours
Elba
A textured light-filtering and blackout pair in stone tones
Zora Twilight
A 126-inch blackout with a white or colour-matched back
Sparta Twilight
The 126-inch blackout that keeps the NFPA 701 listing
Flocké
A flock-backed fiberglass blackout with a European fire listing
How dark is dark: the three things that decide it
The fabric
Every colourway here publishes Tv 0, so nothing at all comes through the material. That is the easy part, and it is the only part the specification sheet answers. Back colour still matters for what the building sees: Zora and Sparta offer a white back on most colours and a colour-matched back on the darkest.
The edges
A roller inside a window frame leaves a gap of roughly half an inch at each side, and that gap is what wakes people up. Side channels close it; an outside mount that overlaps the opening reduces it. The Turnberry bedrooms run Sparta Twilight in side channels for exactly that reason.
The layer in front
On a dual roller the blackout sits behind a solar screen or a Daylight weave in the same window, so the room has a daytime setting and a night setting on one bracket. Elba and Sofia are built as matched pairs; a Twilight behind an E Screen is the more common combination on the water.
Which blackout for which room
For a primary bedroom on the water we usually specify Sparta Twilight: 126 inches wide, nine colourways from White/White to Black/Black, a solar reflectance of 71% to 73% in the white-backed colours, which keeps the heat off the glass, and the NFPA 701 listing that a condo association or a hotel brand may ask for. Zora Twilight covers the same ground with twelve colourways and a wider neutral card. Where the room already has a Daylight weave in Elba or Sofia, the matching Twilight is the obvious partner, and the colour names are identical on both cards.
Flocké is for a media room or a bedroom that also has an acoustic or a European fire brief: it is the heaviest fabric here at 15.93 oz per square yard and it pairs with Vizela in the same five colour names. Whatever the fabric, a blackout roller in a South Florida bedroom is a two-part decision, cloth and edges, and the second part is the one that decides whether the room is dark at seven in the morning in June.
Compare the blackout designs
| Design | Colourways | Openness | Max width | Composition | PVC-free | NFPA 701 | KOOLBLACK | Outdoor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sofia | 6 | Opaque | 118 in | 100% polyester with acrylic coating | No | Not listed | No | Indoor |
| Elba | 5 | Opaque | 118 in | 100% polyester with acrylic coating | No | Not listed | No | Indoor |
| Zora Twilight | 12 | Opaque | 126 in | 100% polyester with acrylic coating White Backing | No | Not listed | No | Indoor |
| Sparta Twilight | 9 | Opaque | 126 in | 33% polyester / 67% acrylic | No | Yes | No | Indoor |
| Flocké | 5 | Opaque | 94 in | 42% fiberglass / 51% acrylic | No | Yes | No | Indoor |
Blackout on our installations
Blackout is how our bedrooms get finished: Sparta Twilight in side channels in the Turnberry Ocean Club bedrooms in Sunny Isles Beach, Sparta Twilight White/White at Salato in Pompano Beach where one master shade is 144 by 120 inches with a single seam, and Elba Twilight in Limestone at The Hemispheres in Hallandale Beach, caulked at every edge in about two and a half inches of depth. All three sit behind or beside a daytime layer, and all three were cut and finished in our Fort Lauderdale workroom.
Blackout: frequently asked
Will a Mermet blackout make the room completely dark?
The fabric will; the edges are the question. Every colourway here publishes Tv 0, so nothing passes through the cloth. A blackout in side channels, or an outside mount that overlaps the frame, gets a bedroom to sleep-dark; a standard inside mount leaves a thin line of light at each side. We show both and let you decide, and we caulk and channel where the room has to be dark.
Which Mermet blackout is fire rated for a commercial job?
Sparta Twilight and Flocké. Sparta carries NFPA 701 TM#1, California Title 19 and CAN/ULC-S109; Flocké adds DIN 4102-1 (B1) and NF P 92 507 (M1). Zora Twilight, Elba Twilight and Sofia Twilight are listed to ASTM E84 (Class B) and California Technical Bulletin 117 instead, which suits residential work but not every specification.
Can a blackout match my solar screen?
In colour, usually yes: the Twilight cards run from White and Chalk through Pewter and Graphite to Black, which covers the neutral ranges of E Screen, T Screen and M Screen. In texture, no, and it does not need to: the blackout is behind the screen on a dual roller and only shows at night. Where the daytime layer should match exactly, use an Elba or Sofia pair.
How wide can a blackout shade be without a seam?
Sparta Twilight and Zora Twilight come 126 inches wide, Elba Twilight and Sofia Twilight 118, Flocké 94.5. Beyond that a shade is made with a seam, which on a blackout shows as a faint line, or split into two shades on one headrail. The 144 by 120 inch master shade at Salato was made with one seam, placed deliberately.
Do blackout shades help with heat?
The white-backed colourways do. Sparta and Zora reflect 69% to 74% of the solar energy that reaches them in their white-backed colours, against 5% to 18% in the colour-matched darks, so a white back on the glass side keeps a closed bedroom noticeably cooler. See blackout shades for how we build them.
Mermet blackout in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Boca Raton & Palm Beach
Every fabric on this page is sourced directly from Mermet, cut and finished in our Fort Lauderdale workroom on Lutron, Somfy, Crestron or manual hardware, and installed by our own team from Miami to Palm Beach. Our showrooms in Fort Lauderdale (4539 Powerline Rd, by appointment) and Miami Beach (500 South Pointe Dr #150) have motorized shades running so you can judge the fabrics in motion.
Choose the fabric in your own light
Book a complimentary in-home consultation. Shortlist the designs you like and we bring the Mermet sample books, demo motors, and honest answers about openness, colour and exposure.