What should a fabric specification include?

A fabric specification names the maker, range, article, colour and width, then the evidence: the Group Number with the fire test report behind it, and the acoustic result with its measure, mounting, standard and report. It also sets out the installed construction, sample approval, the evidence an equivalent must provide and the care instructions.

How do I specify fire performance for a fabric?

State the Group Number each location needs under NCC Table S7C4, and ask for the report that established the Group Number for the article and colour supplied. In NCC 2025, A5G6(3) treats a material as having a fire hazard property when it is identical with a tested prototype, or differs from it in no more than a minor degree, and a report confirms the result.

What does 'or equivalent' need to say?

It should list the evidence an alternative must provide: a Group Number report to AS 5637.1 on an identical prototype, and an absorption result measured in the same construction, with the same measure and standard, plus a sample for approval. Each result is read with its own mounting.

Where do I find the test results for Acunic?

Each Acunic fabric page carries its Getzner datasheet, its Group Number and the Technical Product Summary download, and the acoustic performance page carries the values from the Canterbury Acoustic Testing Services tests on Cubic Pico.

How to specify an architectural fabric

What should a fabric specification name?

A fabric specification turns a designer's choice, a particular relief in a particular colour, into something a contractor can price and install and a certifier can check.

Name the maker, the brand and the article as the datasheet names them: for Acunic, Getzner Textil AG of Bludenz, Austria, and an article such as Cubic Pico. Name the supplier too: Acunic is distributed in Australia, New Zealand and Asia by AKA Acoustics. Acunic's standard colours are off-white, black and beige, and any Acunic fabric can be custom dyed, so a custom colour is specified by the reference agreed with the supplier. Give the width, because it sets the joints: Cubic Pico is 154 cm wide and Optic Structure 142 cm.

The table lists what a complete specification covers and the document each item comes from.

Item	What to write	Source document
Product	Maker, brand, range and article, as the datasheet names it	Getzner datasheet
Colour	Off-white, black or beige, or the agreed custom reference	Fabric page or custom-order record
Physical data	Width, weight, thickness, Martindale abrasion	Getzner datasheet; Technical Product Summary
Fire	Group Number for each location, report number, colour tested	Technical Product Summary; the fire test report
Acoustics	Measure, value, mounting or construction, standard, report	Getzner datasheet; laboratory report
Construction	Frame, cavity, infill, fixing; for curtains, fullness and gap	Drawings; the tested construction
Samples	Article and colour to approve before order	Approved sample
Care	Care text for the article	Getzner datasheet

What performance evidence should it ask for?

Fire

In the National Construction Code (NCC), a wall or ceiling lining must meet the Group Number that Table S7C4 sets for the building class and location, and the Group Number is determined in accordance with AS 5637.1 (Specification 7, S7C4). Whether a framed fabric panel or a ceiling sail is treated as a lining is decided by the building certifier; how Group Numbers work sets out the table by building type.

Ask for the report as well as the number. In NCC 2025, A5G6(3) treats a material as having a fire hazard property, such as a Group Number, when it is identical with a tested prototype and a report confirms the result and describes the test and the form of construction tested, or when it differs from the prototype in no more than a minor degree and a report confirms it achieves the property and states the limitations. NCC 2025 applies in the ACT, Victoria and Western Australia, the ACT and Western Australia with 12-month transition periods. New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania adopt it on 1 May 2027, the Northern Territory has not adopted it, and NCC 2022 words A5G6 differently, so confirm the clause with your certifier.

For Cubic Pico, that is Group 1 in AKA Acoustics' Technical Product Summary (Version A, October 2024), with the fire test report from AKA Acoustics on request. Getzner's datasheets state that technical specifications may differ for dyed fabric, so for a custom colour ask how the Group Number is supported for that colour. For any other fabric, such as Optic Braid (Group 1, Technical Product Summary), ask AKA Acoustics what evidence can be supplied for your certifier; the Group Number of every fabric is in the Technical Product Summary and on its page in the collection.

Acoustics

An absorption figure belongs to the construction it was measured in, so specify four things together: the measure (α_w with its class, NRC, or Sabins per object with the frequency band), the mounting or construction, the standard, and the report or datasheet.

Optic Structure has α_w 0.90, class A, as a gathered curtain with 100 per cent extra fabric at a median 150 mm from the wall (Type G-150, DIN EN ISO 354 and DIN EN ISO 11654, Getzner datasheet of 14 March 2024), so that figure describes a curtain in that arrangement. Cubic Pico has α_w 0.75, class C, stretched tightly across a wooden frame at 150 mm clearance (Type E-150, DIN EN ISO 354 and DIN EN ISO 11654, Getzner datasheet of 14 March 2024). The two come from different mountings, and each describes its own.

With the fabric unchanged, Canterbury Acoustic Testing Services in Christchurch measured Cubic Pico on a 50 mm frame fixed directly to a solid surface (A-mount) at NRC 0.55 with the cavity empty and NRC 0.85 with 20 mm fibreglass infill in the cavity, to AS ISO 354:2006 (report 2026-316.1). How to read NRC, α_w and absorption class explains the measures.

What should it say about the installed construction?

Describe the construction you will build, and match it to the one that was tested: for a panel, the frame depth, the cavity infill, the fixing and the edge detail; for a curtain, the fullness and the distance from the wall or window. A tested result describes the construction that was tested, so a different construction needs its own result. Fabric wall panels and what the frame and infill do cover panels, and acoustic curtains cover fullness and air gap.

How should samples be approved?

Require a sample of the specified article in the specified colour to be approved before the fabric is ordered, and keep the approved sample on site as the reference for deliveries. For a custom colour, approve a sample of the article in that colour where one can be made. How to judge a fabric sample covers what to look at.

What should "or equivalent" require?

Clear criteria hold an alternative to the evidence and the construction you specified. Write down what an alternative must provide:

a Group Number permitted for each location in Table S7C4, with a report to AS 5637.1 on a prototype identical with the fabric offered;
an absorption result in the same measure, the same mounting or construction and the same standard as the specified result;
width, weight, thickness and Martindale abrasion on a current datasheet;
a sample for approval.

What care and handover information belongs in it?

Copy each article's care text from its datasheet into the specification and the maintenance manual; for Acunic, the Cubic fabrics are non-washable and the others allow a 40 °C delicates cycle, as cleaning and care by article explains. Getzner states that its technical specifications are valid for four months from receipt, so confirm at order that the datasheet is current.

What does a clause look like?

The clause below specifies Cubic Pico on a 50 mm frame with 20 mm fibreglass infill, the construction Canterbury Acoustic Testing Services tested. Fit it to the headings of your project's specification system, and check every value against the current datasheet and reports before issue.

Product: Acunic Cubic Pico, made by Getzner Textil AG of Bludenz, Austria, and distributed in Australia, New Zealand and Asia by AKA Acoustics.
Material and physical data: 100 per cent Polyester FR, Trevira CS; 518 g/m² and 154 cm wide (each plus or minus 5 per cent); 3.8 mm thick; Martindale abrasion 60,000 cycles (Getzner datasheet of 14 March 2024).
Colour: off-white.
Fire: Cubic Pico, Group 1 (Technical Product Summary, Version A, October 2024). Provide the fire test report with the submittals. The building certifier confirms the Group Number meets NCC Table S7C4 for each location.
Acoustic performance: construct as tested by Canterbury Acoustic Testing Services in report 2026-316.1, fabric on a 50 mm frame with 20 mm fibreglass infill, fixed directly to a solid surface (A-mount), tested as six panels of 1.2 x 1.5 m (10.8 m²): NRC 0.85 and α_w 0.65 (class C), to AS ISO 354:2006. Do not substitute a result measured in another mounting.
Installation: wear white cotton gloves when fitting; seal cut edges with heated fabric edging scissors; supply each area from one production batch and record roll and batch numbers.
Samples: submit Cubic Pico in the specified colour for approval before ordering; keep the approved sample on site.
Equivalents: provide a Group Number report to AS 5637.1 on an identical prototype, an absorption result in the same construction, measure and standard, and a sample for approval.
Care: non-washable; remove surface dirt by carefully patting or vacuuming; carefully pat the fabric with a damp cloth to remove dirt, and do not rub. Include this text in the maintenance manual.
Currency: confirm at order that the Getzner datasheet of 14 March 2024 is current.