Explainer
Shadenet vs shade cloth: is there a difference?
Short answer: no. They are two names for the same material, and in South Africa both are in everyday use. Here is where the terms come from and which one to use when you are ordering.
The short version
Same fabric, different habit
Shadenet, shade cloth, shadecloth and shade netting all describe a knitted high-density polyethylene (HDPE) mesh. It is manufactured the same way, sold off the same rolls and printed the same way, whichever of those four words is on the purchase order.
Which term someone uses tends to come down to trade and region rather than anything technical. Agriculture and nurseries lean towards shade cloth or shade netting. Construction and signage in South Africa lean towards shadenet. Both are correct, and nobody in the supply chain will misunderstand you either way.
Where it does matter
The number in front of it
The specification that actually changes the product is the percentage — 40%, 80%, 90% and so on. That figure is how much light the mesh blocks, which also determines how dense the weave is and how much wind passes through.
We print on 80% HDPE. It is dense enough that a logo reads cleanly from across a road and that the mesh genuinely screens a site, while still being open enough that wind passes through instead of tearing the panel off the fence.
Printed vs plain
That is the real distinction
The difference worth asking about is not shadenet versus shade cloth — it is plain versus printed. Plain shade cloth screens a site and shades it, and that is all it does. Printed shade cloth is the same roll with your logo screen-printed into it, so the fencing that is going up around your project regardless also does the advertising.
Printing it is the only thing we do. We developed our own UV-stabilised, water-based ink for exactly this material, because standard inks sit on the surface of HDPE and burn off within months in South African sun. Ours bonds with the fibre, which is why our prints stay sharp for 5+ years. The specifications are here, and how it is made covers the process end to end.
Ordering
Use whichever word you like
If you enquire about printed shadenet, branded shade cloth, printed shadecloth or logo shade netting, you will get the same quote for the same product: 80% HDPE, screen-printed in solid spot colour, standard 50m × 1.8m rolls or custom sizes, with sewn-in eyelets every metre top and bottom.
Send your logo and your dimensions and we will come back the same business day with a price and a firm date. More questions are answered on the FAQ.
Need it printed?
Whatever you call the material, send us your logo and dimensions — quote back the same business day.
Same-day quote, firm turnaround date