About Us

Why we only make outdoor pillows

Most shops that sell outdoor pillows sell forty other things as well. The pillows sit somewhere between the garden furniture and the string lights, chosen because they filled a gap in a catalogue rather than because anyone thought hard about them.

We only make outdoor pillows. That narrowness is the point. It means every decision here — the fabric, the print method, the closure, the scale a pattern is drawn at — is made for one product used in one place, and nothing gets compromised to also work indoors or on something else.

What we learned making them

The first thing that becomes obvious when you only do this is that outdoor pillows fail in predictable ways, and almost never because of the design.

They fail because someone used a fabric that absorbs. A cushion that drinks water comes back heavy, takes days to dry, and grows mildew in the meantime. Spun polyester does not absorb, which is why we use it for the cover and the fill.

They fail because the design was printed onto the surface instead of into it. A printed layer sitting on top of fabric cracks and peels after a season of sun and rain. Direct-to-fabric printing puts the colour into the fibre, so there is no layer that can lift.

And they fail because of the zip. A zip is convenient right up until it rusts, catches, or lets water into the fill. We use a sewn seam closure instead. The honest trade is that the cover does not come off, so these are spot clean or dry clean rather than machine washable — and we would rather tell you that plainly than have you put one through a wash and find it comes out misshapen.

How we think about the designs

An outdoor pillow is not looked at the way a cushion indoors is. You see it from across a terrace, from two or three metres away, usually while doing something else. A pattern that looks refined at arm's length turns into flat grey texture at that distance.

So our patterns are drawn larger than you might expect, with four to six motifs across the width rather than a dozen. Stripes are broad and generously spaced, because fine stripes shimmer on fabric when you step back. And every design is given real contrast rather than tone on tone, because a pillow that disappears against your furniture is not doing its job.

Everything is printed on both sides, so there is no wrong way round on a chair that gets moved.

What we do not do

We do not chase the cheapest end of the market. A pillow that costs almost nothing is made from fabric that behaves like it, and it will be faded and flat by the end of one summer. That is not cheaper, it is just cheaper first.

And we do not claim these are waterproof. They are water-resistant, which is genuinely the better design for something that lives outside — a sealed pillow traps the water that gets in through the seams, while ours sheds it and dries. Rain, dew and sprinklers are fine. A swimming pool is not. That distinction matters, and blurring it would only lead to a disappointed customer.

Questions

If you are choosing a size, the size guide covers which size suits which furniture. For everything else, the FAQ answers what most people ask, and you can always get in touch.