Palladium: the upholstery fabric that survives your morning coffee

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Upholstery fabric is the one part of a bed you touch every single day. It decides how the bed looks after five years – not how it looks in the photo on delivery day. Here is everything worth knowing about Palladium before you pick a shade.

What Palladium actually is

Palladium is a velour fabric made from 100% polyester. The pile is short and dense, so the surface reads as smooth and the weave stays invisible to the eye – it feels like suede. Its signature trait is the shadow effect: run your hand across it and the pile lies down, catching the light differently in that spot. That is not a flaw or wear, but a property every velour has.

Unlike genuine suede, however, Palladium does not stiffen, does not fade where the sun hits it, and can be cleaned without the risk of simply spreading a stain around.

The water-repellent finish – and what to expect from it

The fibres carry a surface treatment that reduces how easily they absorb liquid. Spilled water, juice or wine does not sink in straight away but beads up on the surface. That buys you several minutes to react instead of a few seconds. Wipe the liquid away with a dry cloth in the direction of the pile and no mark is left behind.

On a bed you carry your morning coffee to, or one the dog climbs onto, this is the single most practical property the fabric has.

Abrasion resistance: what Martindale means

Martindale is a laboratory test in which a fabric sample is rubbed against a standardised abrasive until it fails. The resulting figure is the number of cycles the fabric withstood. On its own the number means nothing – it only makes sense in comparison.

Intended use	Typical requirement
Ordinary living-room sofa	15,000 – 25,000 cycles
Office furniture	30,000 – 40,000 cycles
Hotel and restaurant use	40,000 – 50,000 cycles
Palladium	110,000 cycles

Palladium clears the hotel threshold with a wide margin. A bed also wears differently from a sofa, where people drop into the same spot every day – you rarely press against a bed's upholstered surfaces with any force. In practice it means everything else will wear out before the fabric does.

Technical specification

Composition	100% polyester
Weight	340 g/m²
Abrasion resistance	110,000 Martindale cycles
Pilling resistance	grade 4–5 (out of 5)
Surface treatment	water-repellent
Colour shades	19

The 19 shades of Palladium

Shades on a screen always differ slightly from the real fabric – it depends on your display calibration and on the light in the room. Treat the overview below as indicative; you will see the fabric itself in the showroom.

Light tones (1–4)

Champagne, Beige, Sand and Antelope make a smaller bedroom feel larger and bounce light around. They also show more dust, so expect to vacuum a little more often.

Earth tones (5–11)

Brown, Chocolate, Coral, Whiskey, Amber, Olive and Winter moss suit interiors with wood and hide everyday wear best. If you are unsure whether you will still want this bed in five years, this is the safest group.

Blue tones (12–14)

Marine, Azur and Ice blue feel cooler and calmer. Marine is the darkest and holds its colour best in a bedroom with a large south-facing window.

Grey tones (15–19)

Moon mist, Grey, Anthracite, Elephant and Graphite are the most versatile. Graphite is the most common choice for hotels – it looks new the longest and works with anything.

How to care for Palladium

Do

• Vacuum once a month with a soft attachment. Settled dust is the main reason velour loses its sheen over the years.
• Blot spills immediately with a dry cloth, working in the direction of the pile.
• Use cleaners made for upholstered furniture, and always test a new product on a hidden area first.

Avoid

• Large amounts of water – moisture penetrates below the surface and leaves a ring once it dries.
• Bleach and aggressive cleaning agents.
• Brushing against the pile and scrubbing in circles. Always work in one direction.

Palladium, or a different fabric?

Palladium is not your only option. We also offer Tiffany fabric and Luna fabric, each with a different surface character and its own palette. The full overview lives in fabrics for upholstering continental beds.

Choose Palladium if easy maintenance matters to you and you want a wide palette. It is the most versatile fabric in our range and the one we use most often – including on the MAGNUM ONLINE EDITION continental bed.