Ways A Fabric Can Be Made Fire Retardant

There are three different ways a fabric can be made fire retardant, so we'll start off with the best and most efficient way: it's when the FR properties are inherent in the yarn itself.

There are ways though to make your textiles fire retardant using chemical treatments and finishes.

There are two types of treatment commonly used in fire retardant upholstery:

Coating: With the coating technique, a fire retardant back-coating is applied to the fabric in question. This stiffens the fabric, making it better for upholstery use. The coating technique is considered less suitable as curtain fabric though, as the drape of the material end up less natural than with other fabric treatments.

Dipping: Another common fire-treatment method is known as chemical dipping, which is more often used for fabrics made from natural fibers (or that have a high percentage of natural fibers). As the technique suggests, the fabric is dipped into a chemical solution, which absorbs into the fibers, creating a barrier between the fiber and the flame.

Should the fabric catch fire, the chemicals applied during the fabric treatment process are activated by the heat, triggering a chemical reaction which extinguishes the flame - similar to the way chemical fire-extinguishers work.