I'm not a designer or a textile engineer. Or, more accurately, I wasn't one before I started. I'm the office administrator for a 60-person company, and part of my job is managing all the interior ordering—roughly $120k a year across 8 vendors. I report to both operations and finance, so I end up justifying a lot of fabric choices. When I took over purchasing in 2020, I didn't expect to spend so much time on fabric samples, dye lots, and lead times. After 60-80 orders a year, I've learned what's worth obsessing over and what isn't.
These are the Romo-related questions I get asked most, especially by people searching for terms like “romo linara fabric” or “nylon viscose fabric.”
Is Romo a fabric brand or a furniture brand?
Romo makes decorative fabrics and wallcoverings. They don't manufacture mattresses or ready-made furniture. So if you landed here because you searched “Romo mattress and furniture,” that's the confusion to clear up first.
What Romo does make is material for upholstery, curtains, cushions, and wall panels. You buy the fabric by the roll or by the metre/yard. Then an upholsterer or workroom builds or recovers the piece. We've used Romo velvets and Linara on chairs and headboards, but the furniture itself was made locally. Romo is the fabric supplier, not the furniture manufacturer.
What is Romo Linara fabric?
Linara is one of Romo's decorative fabric lines. It has a relaxed, textured surface that sits somewhere between linen and a smoother weave. If you want that soft, natural look without the heavy creasing that some true linens have, Linara is worth sampling.
My experience is based on about 150 mid-range interior orders. If you're working in luxury or ultra-budget segments, your experience might differ. But in the projects I've been part of, Linara works well for drapery and for furniture that won't take a beating—think scatter cushions or a lounge chair, not a busy contract sofa.
Order a physical swatch before you commit. Colours on screen are approximations. The industry standard color tolerance for brand-critical matching is Delta E < 2 (Reference: Pantone Color Matching System guidelines). Your eye on a sample is still the best test.
Is nylon viscose fabric good for upholstery?
For indoor furniture, yes. Nylon viscose is a workhorse blend. Nylon brings strength and abrasion resistance. Viscose brings softness and a more natural hand. On their own, nylon can feel too synthetic and viscose can wear down faster. Together, they cover each other's weaknesses.
The old idea that “nylon is just cheap plastic” comes from an era when early nylon fabrics were stiff and shiny. That's changed. Modern nylon blends can feel genuinely soft. In our reception chairs, a nylon viscose blend has outlasted a high-viscose fabric I chose by feel alone in my first year. Like most beginners, I didn't check the abrasion data. That chair looked tired in about 10 months. Now I ask for Martindale test results before I order anything for high-traffic areas.
What are the main nylon fabric uses in interiors?
Nylon is most useful where fabric has to take some punishment. In interiors, I mainly see it used for:
- Upholstery on dining chairs, office chairs, and meeting room seats
- Blended fabrics for headboards and paneling where you want a soft finish
- Cushions and bench seats that get used daily
- Mattress ticking and edge binding in some contract and hospitality work, usually in a blend
The key is to check the blend. Nylon alone can degrade faster in strong sunlight, so for outdoor pieces I'd choose a purpose-made outdoor fabric instead. For indoor high-traffic pieces, a nylon blend is often a smart choice.
What fabric is satin made of?
Satin is a weave, not a fiber. The satin weave creates long floats on the surface, which is why it catches the light and feels smooth. It can be made from silk, polyester, nylon, viscose, cotton, or a blend.
So when someone asks “what fabric is satin made of,” the honest answer is: it depends on the satin. A polyester satin is easy care and budget-friendly. A viscose satin has a softer drape but can be weaker when wet. A silk satin is the classic premium version. Nylon satin is strong but less breathable. For curtains and decorative cushions, I'd choose the fiber based on how much sun, washing, and wear the piece will see.
What should I know before ordering Romo fabric?
Order samples first, then order yardage. It sounds obvious, but I still get emails from people who want to skip samples and go straight to a roll because they're on a deadline. That's how you end up with the wrong colour or a fabric that's too heavy for the project.
In our 2024 vendor consolidation project, I moved all our sample requests and order tracking into one spreadsheet. It cut our turnaround from about 5 days to 2 days and stopped the “did we order that?” conversations. Efficient process matters as much as a good fabric. In my experience, Romo sells through trade showrooms and selected suppliers. If you're not in the trade, ask your upholsterer or designer to order it for you. They'll know the right widths, linings, and dye lot questions.
And when you're ready to order, ask for the dye lot number. Fabric dye lots can vary slightly. I learned that after one small order of velvet had to be re-done because the second roll didn't match. That was a $500 mistake when I thought “how different can two rolls be?” Well, different enough. (As of January 2025, at least, dye lot matching is still a normal part of fabric ordering.)