At GCI we aren’t just selling Landscape Fabric…

• We’re selling Beautiful Landscapes with Healthy Plants!

• The proper fabric style can help Landscapes hold up over time to customer expectations.

Picking the proper fabric…

• For Landscape Beds, the heavier the better. Lightweight fabrics (2-3oz) work fine to slow evaporation and insure plant health, but do little over time to suppress weeds. Heavier fabrics (4-6oz) also slow evaporation, but control weeds more effectively. They will not rip or tear like their lighter weight counterparts and easily last 2-3 times longer!

The Best Choices for Landscaping Beds are GCI 500 or 600 Series.

• 500 Series 5oz Woven Needle Punched Landscape Fabric– Hi UV – Can withstand 6 to 8 years full sun exposure (uncovered).– Unique “fuzzy” surface holds decorative cover in place.

• 600 Series 6 oz Nonwoven Landscape/Pond/Filter Fabric – Cuts easy, dimensionally stable, does not ravel.– 10 x the water flow of equal weight woven fabrics.

Cost Conscious Alternatives:• Lighter weight landscape

fabrics cost less.• Any weight fabric is better

than none at all.• GCI has lower cost

alternatives that include GCI 320 & 450 Series for woven and GCI 211, 295 (pictured) & 495 Series for nonwoven options.

Picking the improper fabric…

• In addition to landscaping, our fabrics can be used for stabilization, separation and filtration applications (pictured at right). It is important to match fabric characteristics to job needs. Recommending one style of fabric for any type job can lead to failure on the job site…from collapsing SBW’s (segmental block walls) to improper drainage and more. Following are some general rules of thumb.

Applications by GCI Series #

Good Better BestLandscaping 211/295 320/450/495 500/600

Stabilization 550/800

Filtration 295 400 600

Separation 211 295 400/495/600

Reinforcement 150

Erosion Control

Short Term Jute S1, S2, Burlap CS2, C2

Erosion Control

Permanent All TRM’s

How to Avoid Fabric Related Failures on site…

• Remember the basic characteristic differences between woven and nonwoven fabrics and match them to job type.

• Wovens are low perm, high strength fabrics designed for landscape, stabilization and ground cover applications.

• Nonwovens are high loft and perm fabrics for landscape, filtration, drainage and soil separation applications.

Defining Fabric Applications:

• LANDSCAPING– Where: In the planting

bed, directly under decorative cover.

– Why: Slows evaporation, cutting irrigation by 1/3 to 1/2. Blanket effect grows deep rooted, healthy plants. Saves valuable rock or use 1/2 the amount of mulch as normal. Help control weed growth.

– What: The best is #500 Series or #600 Series.

Defining Fabric Applications:

• STABILIZATION– Where: Under mortar or

butted patio pavers or crushed rock/mulch paths.

– Why: Minimize rutting and low spots, separate pavers from sub soils and base, marginalize the effects of ground heave.

– What: The best is #550 Series.

Defining Fabric Applications:

• FILTRATION– Where: Around perforated

pipe, in trench drains, behind retaining walls.

– Why: Prevents soil fines from back filing drainage media or leaching down walls.

– What: The best is #400 Series or #600 Series.

Defining Fabric Applications:

• SEPARATION– Where: Between sub soils

and aggregate bases, under dry mortar pavers or flagstone, inside planters at bottom.

– Why: Separate coarse to fine media for a stable base, prevent pavers or stone from sinking into soil profile, allow proper drainage.

– What: The best is #400 Series and #600 Series.

Defining Fabric Applications:

• PROTECTION– Where: Under rubber pond liners.– Why: Aeration media for exchange of air and gas from soil

(prevents “bubbles” in liner), protect soft, expensive liners from contact damage with ground.

– What: The best is #600 Series or #800 Series

Defining Fabric Applications:

• SOIL REINFORCEMENT– Where: In all SBW

(Segmental Block Wall) installations, especially walls over 3’ tall.

– Why: To reinforce sub soils and prevent the wall from collapse.

– What: The best is #150 Series.

Defining Fabric Applications:

• EROSION CONTROL Short Term– Where: Slopes or flat runs.– Why: Minimize clumping,

increase germination rate, reduce runoff and control erosion.

– What: Traditional choices include Jute (pictured on top) and Burlap.

Defining Fabric Applications:

• EROSION CONTROL Short Term – ECB’s– Where: Slopes or flat runs.– Why: Even germination,

no clumping, faster stand and control erosion.

– What: The best is S1, S2, CS2 & C2 Erosion Control Blankets.

Defining Fabric Applications:

• EROSION CONTROL Long Term – TRM’s– Where: Slopes, Flow

Channels, embankments.– Why: Replace hard armor

(concrete, riprap) with vegetated solutions for more cost effective and maintenance free erosion control.

– What: The best is #435, #450, #1060 & #1051 depending on gradient.

Other Applications:

• Under gravel driveways • Vegetable Gardening • Under Wood Decks • Tree Plantings • Playground Areas • Visual Barrier • Greenhouse Floors,

Benches and Pathways • Container Fields • Livestock Holding Pens

Everybody wants the best…• General Contractors try to UP

SELL their customers…Landscape Contractors should too.– When buying fabric, you get

what you pay for. Performance is usually proportionate to weight.

– Consumers want to know their options, and when presented with a choice, more often than not, they choose better quality over price in Landscape Fabric.

– GCI’s Catalog and web site can help contractors up sell by illustrating the Homeowners options.

The “Best Column” (slide #6)…is the Best Column & you can sell it!

LANDSCAPE, SEPARATION & FILTER FABRIC

SOIL & FILLER AMENDMENTS

IRRIGATION

PLANT MATERIAL

ROCK

LABOR

Cost illustration of the job pictured at right:

Fabric is like paint, at a glance it may all look the same, but…

• Resins are a global market and PP/PET* production is mostly automated, the only way for competitors outside the US to compete with domestic textiles is to reduce quality…– Don’t “two coat it” (buy/sell the

least expensive fabric you can find)…twice the labor equals half the profit. Avoid job site call backs by using the best fabric the first time!

– GCI is American Made. If we buy foreign textiles, we’ll tell you. We won’t blend it with our domestic goods for a slight increase in profits by giving some customers inferior product.

*Polypropylene/Polyester

If it smells like a fish it must be a fish…

• GCI sells only 1st quality fabrics…no seconds.• Sometimes seconds are hard to spot, here are some

visual clues:– Varying roll diameters.– Gray yarn mixed with black (wovens).– Absence of coverage (thin spots).

SEE NO EVIL…Hidden Defects in Second Quality Fabrics.

• Improper blend of chemical UV inhibitors in marker (colored) yarns.

• Carbon content not consistent with fabric application (low UV).

• Spec Manipulation: English/Metric values interchanged.

Other Products:

Bulk/Retail Steel Pins to secure Fabric, Drip Irrigation, Edging, Grids and Mats.

Custom Shade Cloth, Silt Fence and Truck/Pipe Tarps for moving plant material, debris hauling, or PVC pipe protection.

Retail Products:

• Landscaper’s Choice is our premium #500 Series, backed by a Lifetime Warranty (retail rolls only)!

• Architect’s Choice is our gray spun #295 Series, backed by a 20 Year Warranty (retail rolls only)!

Bad directions are worse than no directions at all!!!

• GCI is the only Landscape Fabric company to publish complete, step by step directions for installation on the back of every retail roll label. We are the only company to recommend the use of pre and post emergents in the directions! If fabric is installed according to our directions, customers can expect superior results…with our competitors directions, contractor-like results are difficult to achieve without the use of herbicides.

Fabric prices and the pumps…

• There are 2 components that impact the cost of PP/PET resin: supply and demand balance & the cost of oil.– Demand has been equal to

or greater than supply due to resin manufactures not adding infrastructure during the nineties.

– Over 50% of the cost of PP/PET resin is based on the cost of oil. Each of their major components has oil as a percentage of their manufacturing cost.See for yourself @ plasticstechnology.com

Together we can change the industry…

• The right fabric is the foundation of any landscape job, and product knowledge is the key in making the right fabric choice. At GCI we believe it is our obligation to empower our customers not only with product knowledge, but also by providing the best products, the best pricing and the best service. Together we are unbeatable!