TOP Garda Translucent Fabric
5 colourways, light-filtering, 300 cm roll. TOP Window Covering fabric, made into roller shades in our Fort Lauderdale workroom and installed from Miami to Palm Beach.
Five bright neutrals on a 300 cm roll, for daylight rooms and wide windows
Garda Translucent is a light-filtering roller fabric from TOP Window Covering: 100% polyester with an acrylic foam coating, 0.37 mm thick and 150 g/m2, made 300 cm wide (118 inches). There are five colours, all neutral: Ice White, Off White, Sand, Brindle and Pebble Stone. No colour on the card dims a room, since every one passes at least 21.7% of the visible light, so the window stays a source of daylight with the shade down. It is for rooms that want softened sun rather than shade, and for wide windows.
Off White and Ice White pass 45.5% and 44% of the light and reflect just over half the sun's energy, which keeps the cloth itself cool. Sand, at 37.2%, is a warmer tone a step below them. Brindle and Pebble Stone, at 26.4% and 21.7%, soften the light more but hold more heat: Pebble Stone absorbs 50.9% of the energy. TOP lists Garda Translucent for humid rooms and rates its light-fastness 6-7. The trade-off is UV: the cloth passes 16.2% to 33.2% of it, more than a denser fabric would.
What Garda Translucent does on your glass, and what it does not
Best use
Kitchens, baths, family rooms and stairwells on north or east glass, and any wide window where a single 300 cm shade is better than a pair. Off White or Ice White where light matters most, Sand for a warmer room, Brindle or Pebble Stone to calm a brighter window. For a west wall in full sun, choose a denser cloth.
Privacy
By day the room is hidden, though from inside the outside shows as soft shapes through the pale colours. After dark every Garda colour glows from a lit room and shadows read clearly on the cloth. A bathroom on a street, or any bedroom, needs a blackout layer as well, which we would build as a dual roller.
Glare control
Garda softens glare rather than controlling it. With visible transmission of 21.7% to 45.5%, a television facing the window loses contrast through the afternoon in every colour, and a desk in the sun needs Pebble Stone at least. A low sun in line with the window turns the shade into a bright panel. Where glare is the complaint, read up on solar screen openness.
Limitations
It will not dim a room or give night privacy, and it passes up to a third of the UV, so floors and art near the glass still take a share of it. There is no fire listing and no view. Pebble Stone absorbs about half the sun's energy and warms at the glass. If the room needs to go dark, take Garda Blackout; if it needs glare control, a solar screen.
Garda Translucent
5 colours. Light-filtering (TOP: translucent); 300 cm (118 in) roll.
Colourways
82002
82003
82004
82001
82000
Swatch pictures and room photos: TOP Window Covering. Screens and monitors shift colour: judge on the sample.
Garda Translucent in TOP's room photos
TOP's own photography of the fabric on a window, to show the colour and the weave. These are not Exotic Shades installations.
Every Garda Translucent colourway, with TOP's published figures
| Swatch | Colour | Item | Tv | Ts | Rs | As | Tuv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sand | 82002 | 37.2 | 38.1 | 44.2 | 17.6 | 22.2 | |
| Brindle | 82003 | 26.4 | 28.2 | 33.9 | 37.8 | 17.7 | |
| Pebble Stone | 82004 | 21.7 | 21.6 | 27.5 | 50.9 | 16.2 | |
| Off White | 82001 | 45.5 | 44.5 | 51.4 | 4.1 | 26.8 | |
| Ice White | 82000 | 44 | 43.5 | 52.8 | 3.7 | 33.2 |
Tv = visible light transmitted, Ts = solar energy transmitted, Rs = solar energy reflected, As = solar energy absorbed, Tuv = UV transmitted, in percent for the fabric alone, as published on TOP's datasheet; a dash means TOP publishes no figure for that colour. We bring TOP samples of the colours you shortlist to the consultation.
Where Garda Translucent works here
Garda suits a South Florida kitchen, family room or bath on the shaded side of the house, and wide windows where one shade up to 118 inches beats two. On a sunny Intracoastal or ocean wall it would pass too much glare and UV on its own; there we would use a solar screen instead and keep Garda for the north and east rooms.
Garda Blackout is the same five colours as a blackout on the same 300 cm roll; TOP lists this light-filtering version for humid rooms but not the blackout.
Garda Translucent: frequently asked
Can Garda Translucent go in a bathroom?
As far as the cloth goes, yes: TOP lists it for humid environments and its care is a damp cloth. Privacy is the limit. Every colour passes at least a fifth of the visible light, so a lit bathroom glows at night and shows a silhouette. On a street side, add a blackout layer, and note that TOP does not list Garda Blackout for humid rooms, so that layer should be a different cloth.
How wide can a roller shade in TOP Garda Translucent be?
TOP makes Garda Translucent in a 300 cm (118 in) roll. The roll width is the widest single piece we can cut, so one roller shade can be made a little under 118 inches wide. Wider openings get two roller shades side by side, set to move together, or a split placed where a mullion hides it. We confirm the exact limit for the operating system when we measure.
Which shades can be made in Garda Translucent?
Garda Translucent is a roller shade fabric. We buy it from TOP Window Covering by the roll and make the shades ourselves in our Fort Lauderdale workroom: cut square, finished with a weighted hem bar and fitted to a Lutron, Somfy or Crestron motor or a manual chain, then installed by our own team from Miami to Palm Beach.
Can I see Garda Translucent samples before ordering?
Yes. Shortlist the colours here and we bring TOP samples of them to the in-home consultation, so you can hold them against your own glass in your own light. Our Fort Lauderdale workroom (4539 Powerline Rd, by appointment) and Miami Beach showroom (500 South Pointe Dr #150) have motorized shades running if you want to see one move.
Compare Garda Translucent with
Flamenco
A textured light-filtering cloth in five neutrals, from White to Anthracite
Varese
A heavy jacquard roller cloth in five quiet colours, for a shade people look at
Pompei
A thick jacquard roller cloth in four light colours, for the formal rooms of a house
Orient (XXL)
A light-filtering roller in 36 colours, for rooms where the colour has to be exact
Blues
A heavy textured light-filtering cloth that runs from near-dark to soft daylight
Trento Translucent
Twelve quiet colours for daylight rooms, with a blackout made in the same colours
TOP Garda Translucent roller shades in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Boca Raton & Palm Beach
We buy Garda Translucent from TOP Window Covering, make the roller shades in our Fort Lauderdale workroom and install them with our own team from Miami to Palm Beach. Both showrooms, 4539 Powerline Rd in Fort Lauderdale (by appointment) and 500 South Pointe Dr #150 in Miami Beach, have motorized shades running so you can see how a shade moves.
See Garda Translucent in your own light
Book a complimentary in-home consultation. Shortlist the colours you like and we bring the TOP samples, demo motors, and honest answers about light, privacy and what your windows need.