Does Your Outdoor Umbrella Protect You From The Sun?

I sure hope so.

An outdoor shade umbrella can elevate your space and provide a super stylish and impressive addition to your patio, garden or outdoor entertainment area, but, how protective are they against the sun's harmful rays?

Shade quality comes down to two important factors:

1. Canopy Fabric & Build Quality
2. Mobility and Control

In this article, we're going to take a deep dive into what to look for in an outdoor umbrella that will protect you from the harmful UV rays of the sun and provide all day protection for your and your loved ones.

Umbrella Fabric

There’s only one choice when it comes to fabrics for a Shadowspec umbrella, well two choices in fact. We use the very best outdoor umbrella fabrics available on the global market: Sunbrella and Recasens.

You have to be careful of corner-cutting on some umbrella products. Lowering the grade of fabric is a quick, easy way to lower the cost and quality of umbrella manufacturing.

At Shadowspec we know the return-on-investment in peoples health, especially in New Zealand and Australia is worth the extra cost of the premium fabrics we use.

Recasens and Sunbrella fabrics are manufactured with SPF 50+ and UV Protection that filters close to 100% of UV radiation.  This means that your friends and family can seek shade with confidence, knowing that a Shadowspec Umbrella is providing maximum protection from the sun's harmful UV rays.

The range of fabrics from our suppliers is great, there’s a great range of colour choices which we carry in stock that's complemented with a brilliant range of non-stock fabrics for both brands. It’s essential that our umbrellas not only protect you, but they always look good while doing so. It’s also great for you to know that you don’t have to compromise on style choices to get the protection you need.

Mobility and Control

Your protection from the sun does not end with the canopy fabric. As the sun moves through the sky, the area shaded by your umbrella will change over the course of the day. Choosing a quality outdoor umbrella option that can either tilt or rotate ensures that you are protected from the sun, no matter the angle of the sun. It’s also important to factor in the location of the sun during the year, it only follows the same path every 6 months as the earth moves around it so it’s important to account for that in your umbrella placement and purchase.