Phifer Blackout Shade Fabrics
83 colourways in 8 designs: total light blockage through the fabric, in eight different constructions.
Nothing through the fabric, and then the edges
A blackout roller fabric passes no light through the material: Phifer publishes Tv 0 for every colourway on this page. What differs across the 8 designs is everything else. Most of the 7000 series is polyester with an acrylic coating or an acrylic foamed backing and no vinyl in the composition: 7500 and 7500R, 7200R, 7300, 7400, 7700R and 7800. SheerWeave 7001 is the one Phifer labels PVC-Free in its own composition, 100% polyester with an acrylic flocked backing. SheerWeave 7100 is the outlier: vinyl-coated fiberglass laminated with a two-ply PVC blackout film, and the only blackout here whose data lists a Microban additive.
Width and fire listing are the two specifications that decide most projects. Every 7000 series blackout except 7001 and 7100 is woven 118 inches wide, 7001 comes 94 and 118 inches and 7100 only 63 and 96. Phifer does not recommend railroading any of them, so the roll width is the single-shade limit. On fire, SheerWeave 7001, 7100, 7400 and 7500 carry NFPA 701 listings and Class A ratings, while 7200R, 7500R and 7700R list California Technical Bulletin 117 with a Class B rating or none, which rules them out of most commercial work.
8 Phifer blackout designs, 83 colourways
SheerWeave 7500/7500R Blackout
The wide polyester blackout, in a commercial and a residential version
SheerWeave 7001 Blackout
The one style Phifer labels PVC-Free, with a flocked backing
SheerWeave 7100 Blackout
The fiberglass blackout that matches the 2500 screen colours
SheerWeave 7200R/7250R
A blackout and its light-filtering twin, eight colours, 118 inches
SheerWeave 7300/7350
Nine colours across a blackout and an uncoated light-filtering twin
SheerWeave 7400/7450R
The warmest of the pairs, and the best fire listing among them
SheerWeave 7700R/7750R
A coloured back on the blackout, and the quietest light-filtering twin
SheerWeave 7800/7850
A warm eight-colour pair, and the only one Phifer lists for Roman shades
How dark is dark: the three things that decide it
The fabric
Every colourway on this page publishes Tv 0, so nothing at all comes through the material itself. That is the easy part, and it is the only part the specification sheet actually answers. The other two decide whether the room is dark.
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. Phifer recommends channels for SheerWeave 7100 in any case, because that construction can cup.
The layer in front
On a dual roller the blackout sits behind a solar screen in the same window, so the room has a daytime setting and a night setting on one bracket. Bay Drive runs 4000 Eco 5% on the beach glass and a 7200R blackout in the primary suite.
Which blackout for which room
For a primary bedroom on the water we usually specify 7200R or 7500R: 118 inches wide, a neutral eight or twelve colour card, and a light-filtering twin in the same colours if the room wants a daytime layer. For a media room, the dark end of any of these cards, and ideally side channels. For a project that has to answer a commercial fire specification, SheerWeave 7500, 7400 or 7001, which carry NFPA 701 listings; 7500 is the version of that card with the fuller listing and 7500R the residential one, in the same twelve colours.
Where the shade coordinates with a solar screen already chosen, SheerWeave 7100 is the shortcut: its six colours carry the same Phifer codes as the 2500 family (Oyster P12, Oyster/Beige P13, Oyster/Pearl Gray P14, Beige Q20, Beige/Pearl Gray Q21, Charcoal V21), so screen and blackout match without a compromise. It is also the only blackout in this library with a Microban additive, which is worth something in a bathroom or a bedroom on the beach.
Compare the blackout designs
| Design | Colourways | Openness | Max width | Composition | PVC-free | NFPA 701 | Microban | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SheerWeave 7500/7500R Blackout | 26 | Opaque | 118 in | 100% Polyester with Acrylic Coating | Yes | Some | No | Roller shades and panel tracks |
| SheerWeave 7001 Blackout | 11 | Opaque | 118 in | 100% Polyester with Acrylic Flocked Backing (PVC-Free) | Yes | Yes | No | Roller shades and panel tracks |
| SheerWeave 7100 Blackout | 6 | Opaque | 96 in | 37% Fiberglass, 63% Vinyl on Fiberglass; Laminated with a two-ply 100% PVC blackout film | No | Yes | Yes | Roller shades and panel tracks |
| SheerWeave 7200R/7250R | 8 | Opaque | 118 in | 100% Polyester with Acrylic Foamed Backing | Yes | Not listed | No | Roller shades and panel tracks |
| SheerWeave 7300/7350 | 9 | Opaque | 118 in | 44.5% Polyester / 55.5% Acrylic | Yes | Yes | No | Roller shades and panel tracks |
| SheerWeave 7400/7450R | 8 | Opaque | 118 in | 45% Polyester / 55% Acrylic Foamed Backing | Yes | Yes | No | Roller shades and panel tracks |
| SheerWeave 7700R/7750R | 7 | Opaque | 118 in | 100% Polyester with Acrylic Foamed Backing | Yes | Not listed | No | Roller shades and panel tracks |
| SheerWeave 7800/7850 | 8 | Opaque | 118 in | 52% Polyester / 48% Acrylic Foamed Backing | Yes | Yes | No | Roller shades, Roman shades, and panel tracks |
Blackout on our installations
Blackouts are the second half of nearly every bedroom we do from Miami Beach to Palm Beach. The pattern is a solar screen on the view glass and a blackout behind it, or a blackout alone in a room with no view worth keeping. At Bay Drive in Pompano Beach the primary suite runs a SheerWeave 7200R blackout in Swan while the great room carries 4000 Eco at 5%. Where the room must be fully dark we run side channels and set the fabric to overlap the opening.
Blackout: frequently asked
Will a blackout roller make the room completely dark?
The fabric will; the edges are the question. A blackout in side channels, or an outside mount that overlaps the frame, gets a bedroom to sleep-dark. A plain inside mount leaves a thin line of light at each side. We show you both at the consultation rather than let it be a surprise after installation.
Which Phifer blackouts are fire rated?
SheerWeave 7001, 7100, 7400 and 7500 carry NFPA 701 listings along with Class A ratings under NFPA 101 and IBC Section 803.1.1; 7300 and 7800 list NFPA 701 TM#1. SheerWeave 7200R, 7500R and 7700R list California Technical Bulletin 117 and, where rated at all, Class B. For a hotel, an office or a condo common area we steer to 7500, 7400 or 7001.
Can a blackout match the solar screen in the same window?
Yes, two ways. SheerWeave 7100 uses the same colour codes as the 2500 family, so the screen and the blackout are the same colour. Or take one of the R pairs, where a blackout and a light-filtering fabric share a colour card: 7200R with 7250R, 7400 with 7450R, 7700R with 7750R, 7300 with 7350, 7800 with 7850.
How wide can a Phifer blackout shade be?
118 inches for 7200R, 7300, 7400, 7500, 7500R, 7700R and 7800; 94 and 118 inches for 7001; 63 and 96 inches for 7100. Phifer does not recommend railroading any of them, so a wider opening takes two shades on one headrail. On a motorized system they travel together and the joint sits at the mullion.
Are these blackouts PVC-free?
Every 7000 series blackout except 7100 publishes a composition with no vinyl in it: polyester with acrylic coatings or acrylic foamed backings. SheerWeave 7001 is the one Phifer labels PVC-Free outright. SheerWeave 7100 is the exception, laminated with a two-ply PVC blackout film. They are all listed on our PVC-free and recycled page except 7100.
Phifer blackout in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Boca Raton & Palm Beach
Every fabric on this page is sourced directly from Phifer, 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 Phifer sample books, demo motors, and honest answers about openness, colour and exposure.