Dear Petunia,

I’m having trouble deciding on which material to get my Boxy Backpack in. What are the differences between the brocade and chenille? And what exactly is the Glazed fabric?

- Cindy, San Francisco, CA

Hi Cindy,

Glad you asked. Choosing a fabric is an important decision as each material creates a distinct style for your PPB bag.

First let me start with why our fabrics our unique. The designs featured in all of the current Petunia Pickle Bottom fabrics are unique and creatively designed by Petunia Pickle Bottom’s fabric development team. This means you won’t find our fabrics anywhere else – we handcraft each exclusive pattern and design to bring you the most innovative and distinct styles on the market. We are constantly researching old world techniques and incorporating a new world twist of pattern and design with our Petunia flair.

Brocade: Our brocades are woven using old world hand looms in China, known for their expertise in this specific weaving technique. Our brocade fabric is made using a silk/rayon blend with a satin weave as the background. Characteristic to all brocades, our fabric features an all-over design which creates a subtly textured surface where the main motif of the design is located. Available on all of our Original Collection bags, the end fabric yields a rich material with a satin luster and saturated colors.

Chenille: This Original Collection fabric is most commonly identified by the use of chenille yarns woven into the design. These yarns are fuzzy resembling a caterpillar which in fact is where the name Chenille came from, meaning “caterpillar” in French. The presence of these yarns results in a soft plush finish in the featured design areas.

Glazed: Our Glazed line of Original Collection bags are constructed out of a matte finish-coated canvas fabric. It is this special PVC-free matte finish that keeps Petunia bags looking chic, not shiny. The durable canvas is also wipe-able and water repellent, combining daring travel-inspired patterns created by our design team with unique hand-embroidered accents.

Finally, though not available in the Boxy Backpack, we also utilize a beautiful cut velvet in our Cake Collection.

Italian Cut Velvet: This fabric is the ultimate in European luxury and often found in fine upholstery and home accents. This fabric, as it sounds, features a plush velvet with areas “cut” out to reveal the linen base cloth.

- Mindy Ehret, Product Design & Development

* Have your own burning question? Email us at blog@petunia.com and be sure to include your name and where you live.*