Cradle to Cradle

Optimizing building performance through solar control, Mecho’s manual, and now motorized shading systems are designed for circularity.

When thinking about sustainability, designers often look to major objects like furniture, flooring, and textiles to make sure that their projects are as sustainable as possible. But there are hidden systems like window shades that must be taken into account.

For years, Mecho, a company that produces widow shade systems to optimize buildings’ solar performance, has been designing their products with Cradle to Cradle principles of material health, material reutilization, renewable energy, water stewardship, and social fairness in mind. “Applying the Cradle to Cradle Certified^TM framework has helped us drive positive change in a variety of ways, including providing us with a pathway for continuously improving the material health of our products,” says Rachel Berman, Mecho’s sustainability program manager. Beginning in the 1990s, they began redesigning their shade cloths to be more sustainable, engineering out harmful chemicals such as ortho-phthalates, PVC, and chemical flame retardants. The EcoVeil and EcoVeil Sheer product lines offer a more sustainable version than traditional PVC based shadecloths.