The best voile d ombrage
http://bit.ly/Ham6Da Ever since ancient times, man has been known to use large pieces of cloth or fabric to provide shade and get protection from the sun. History reveals the use of large canvas "sails" by Roman sailors, which were tough, heavy and inflexible. But nevertheless, these sails were durable and served the purpose of providing shade - these were the first shade sails.
These primitive types of shade sails have also been known to be used in different countries throughout the ages, especially in the sunnier and hotter countries like India, Africa and the desert regions of the Middle East, and even in the wet Amazonian forests.
The modern design of shade sails used today have a more extensive use. The use of a far more resilient and reasonably priced fabric known as shade cloth first appeared in Australia and South Africa towards the end of the last century. These shade sail products offered protection from the sun's harmful UV rays and in recent times have become increasingly popular as an alternative to parasols and pergolas.
In the beginning, there was some confusion over the terminology that should be used to describe these sun sails. People often referred to them as sail shades or sun shades. It is, of course acceptable to refer to them any way one likes, but as the product gain acceptance in a market a specific term normally emerges as being the most popular way to describe the shade sail products. Perhaps surprisingly, the innovative technology behind shade sails has only seen a sluggish growth in the European market, but a recent survey indicates that soon France, Germany and the United Kingdom will open up to shade sails and be more receptive to this new technology. Soon they will be more popular and easily available in the market. Other countries all over the world are expected to follow suit, Portugal, Italy, Benelux countries and Spain of course. The new technology of shade sails is adaptable to all climates and situations and is on the way to becoming the "must have" shade accessory.
Shade Sails Technology
If we look at the earlier fabric used for making a shade sail, it was not strong and durable enough to defy the strong UV of sun as well as its heat. Needless to say, these earlier shade sails suffered from UV degradation and did not offer complete protection from the sun.
The specialist fabric used for making sun sails today is far better and improved, thanks to the new technology - High Density Polyethylene (HDP) with a mono filament. While manufacturing the shade sail cloth, UV inhibitors are added to make it stronger and resistant to the sun’s heat. Today, sail shades are manufactured from superior fabric and are offered with UV degradation warranties which run for several years.
This new shade cloth is actually a knitted fabric and it is this inbuilt stretch of the knitted fabric, which is used to form three dimensional shapes with ease. This is a very important factor as not only is the fabric more resistant to UV, but is also easy to handle and use it for making different designs. Another important plus is the low cost of this new shade sail fabric which make it the first selection for making sun sails. The other alternatives like PVC or some variations in canvas tend to be more expensive and do not allow hot air to pass through the sail material.