Hunter Douglas Architectural: products and EPD reality check

Who they are and where they play

Hunter Douglas Architectural, the commercial arm of Hunter Douglas, centers its U.S. offer on window coverings for workplaces, hospitality, education and healthcare. The site highlights five channels, roller shades, aluminum blinds, sheers and shadings, wood and alternative wood blinds, and vertical blinds, plus links to sister façade brands NBK Terracotta and QC Façades for building envelopes.

Their sustainability page frames benefits like daylighting, acoustics and demand response for motorized control, which resonates with design teams focused on comfort and energy use.

Product portfolio at a glance

Across those five channels, the lineup spans dozens of SKUs and configurations. Think RB 500+ automated and manual shades, exterior and skylight tension systems, aluminum Riviera blinds, FR honeycomb shades, and more. For project delivery this breadth is a plus, it covers most interior solar control needs and budgets in offices, schools, patient areas, and public spaces.

EPD coverage today, by what is visible

As of December 18, 2025, we could not locate product‑specific EPDs for flagship U.S. window covering systems like RB 500+ on publicly available Hunter Douglas Architectural pages. The Resource Center lists Certifications among filters, yet no EPD documents were surfaced in our checks. That does not rule out in‑progress work or non‑public documentation, it simply reflects what specifiers can quickly download today.

Where the group does show EPDs

Two adjacent parts of the Hunter Douglas family do carry declared products. NBK Terracotta, part of the group, has an EPD for TERRART CLAD registered in Portugal’s DAPHabitat program, valid until 2029 (DAPHabitat, 2025). Hunter Douglas Architectural in Europe also appears with an IBU EPD covering metal ceiling systems made of steel, first issued October 7, 2025 and valid until October 6, 2030, useful for global programs and for EU projects that follow EN 15804 (NBS Source, 2025).

Why this gap matters on specs

EPDs have become routine evidence, not a novelty. The International EPD System reports more than 18,000 EPDs in its library as of 2025, which signals mainstream adoption across building products (EPD International, 2025). When a project team must document embodied carbon or prefers product‑specific EPDs for credits in evolving frameworks like LEED v5, a missing EPD often adds friction, and sometimes a penalty in modeled values for products without declarations.

A head‑to‑head example, roller shades

Roller shades are a likely best‑seller for Hunter Douglas Architectural, yet we did not find a published EPD for the RB 500+ system. Mecho, a frequent competitor in commercial shading, has a declared EPD for its ElectroShade iQ2‑AC motorized shade mounting system with validity through December 2029, listed by the International EPD System (EPD International, 2024). On projects where owners prefer or require product‑specific EPDs, that difference can be the deciding nudge toward inclusion or exclusion at bid time. That is real spec‑risk, not theory.

Competitors Hunter Douglas Architectural often meets

• Mecho for motorized and manual commercial shades, with system‑level EPDs cited above.
• Lutron for motorized shades in premium office, hospitality, and AV‑heavy spaces.
• Draper for a wide shading range in education, healthcare, athletic and civic venues.
• For ceilings and walls where the brand competes globally, Armstrong, Rockfon and USG are common alternatives, and several now carry refreshed sets of product‑specific ceiling EPDs, for example Rockfon’s second‑generation EPDs for 160 acoustic variants announced in 2024 (Rockfon, 2024).

What to prioritize next for maximum specability

If window coverings remain the U.S. focus, publish system‑level, product‑specific EPDs for the RB 500+ family first, cradle‑to‑gate with declared modules that align to EN 15804 and North American practice. Where fabrics are sourced from third parties, pair shade‑cloth EPDs with mounting‑system EPDs so teams can assemble compliant declarations for whole assemblies. Keep an eye on expiration horizons so documents do not time out mid‑pursuit, that is a surprisingly common reason a product gets set aside.

Useful signals for sustainability teams

The Hunter Douglas Architectural sustainability page points to acoustics, daylight and automation that owners care about. Marry those benefits with published EPDs and the story becomes complete enough for fast submittals, less back‑and‑forth, and fewer substitutions. That is how a good product stays spec’d, even when the budget squeeze arrives late in design. It is also how sales avoids the hidden pipeline loss from projects they never even hear about.

Small note on timing, audit the broader group’s European and NBK declarations and decide what can be adapted or referenced for North American use. Faster to ship what is close than to reinvent from zero. Then go after the long tail of accessories. That is the blocking and tackling that wins the spec on repeat.

Sources for numbers cited

• EPD for metal ceiling systems made of steel, valid to 2030, Hunter Douglas Architectural listing via IBU summary, October 7, 2025 to October 6, 2030 (NBS Source, 2025).
• TERRART CLAD façade EPD, valid to 2029, NBK Ibéria within the Hunter Douglas group (DAPHabitat, 2025).
• ElectroShade iQ2‑AC motorized shade mounting system EPD, valid to 2029, competitor example to illustrate spec preference when EPDs are required (EPD International, 2024).
• Size of the EPD International library to indicate market normalization, more than 18,000 EPDs as of 2025 (EPD International, 2025).

We see momentum, just not yet across the U.S. window‑coverings core, which is where spec teams look first and, honestly, where they expect to find a crisp EPD download. That is defeintely a solvable gap.