Mermet USA: solar shade fabrics and their EPDs
Mermet USA makes solar shade fabrics that show up in offices, schools, and healthcare projects where glare control and daylighting must coexist. The portfolio is focused and deep. The EPD coverage is real, though not yet universal, which creates quick wins for teams that want to get specified on more LEED‑v5‑aiming projects without wrestling with endless paperwork.
Who Mermet USA is
Mermet USA focuses on technical fabrics for roller shades. Think woven screens for visual comfort, energy management, and privacy, primarily for commercial interiors. They are a pure play in shading textiles, not a hardware company.
What they sell, at a glance
Core families include E Screen, M Screen, T Screen, and S Screen, plus PVC‑free options under the GreenScreen lines and blackout textiles for complete light control. Across colors and openness factors, the catalog easily stretches into the hundreds of SKUs, with dozens per flagship family.
Public sustainability signals
Mermet maintains a consolidated page for declarations and policies spanning HPDs, EPDs, Declare, and chemical policies, which is helpful for submittals. See their Regulations & Sustainability hub for the latest document set (Mermet USA, 2025).
EPDs on the record today
Two EPD registrations are live in the International EPD System covering multiple fabric families, including E Screen, M Screen, T Screen, and S Screen, with validity through July 27, 2028 (EPD International, 2023) (EPD International, 2023). Most program operators set a five‑year validity window for EPDs, confirmed in 2025 operator guidance, so these dates are in the healthy middle of the cycle rather than near expiry (EPD International, 2025).
What looks covered vs where gaps remain
The live EPDs span the fiberglass, vinyl‑coated screen families, which means the products that specifiers reach for most often in offices and education are covered. Mermet’s site lists HPDs and Declare labels for PVC‑free GreenScreen Evolve and GreenScreen Revive, yet it does not show EPDs for those PVC‑free lines. That is a visible gap for teams aiming to standardize on PVC‑free fabrics in healthcare and higher ed (Mermet USA, 2025).
Why the missing EPDs matter commercially
Many project owners now default to product‑specific, third‑party verified data when they model whole‑building carbon. Without an EPD, modelers fall back to conservative defaults that penalize selection, which nudges a swap to an alternative with a published declaration. Under evolving LEED v5 language, project teams are steering toward product‑specific disclosures to avoid those penalties and keep procurement simple.
Competitors you’ll meet in the spec
Phifer’s SheerWeave portfolio is broad, with the company advertising 44 styles across its app, which signals buyer choice across openness, colorways, and textures (Phifer, 2025). Mecho has moved fast on transparency for shade systems, with EPDs for its ElectroShade mounting systems valid to December 3, 2029, a strong credential for assembly‑level submittals (EPD International, 2024). In Europe, Serge Ferrari points specifiers to EPDs and FDES entries for Soltis on the INIES and IBU databases, another option that can satisfy disclosure‑driven tenders in multinational portfolios (Serge Ferrari, 2025).
Product‑range breadth vs EPD breadth
Mermet plays in a tight set of categories, but each category has many variants. That makes portfolio coverage a game of smart grouping. Program rules allow multiple similar products in one declaration if the rulebook criteria are met, which is often the fastest way to lift coverage for color and openness variants that share manufacturing and bill‑of‑materials logic (EPD International, 2024).
A fast path to fuller coverage
Start with the most specified PVC‑free fabric and the top two blackout SKUs, then batch the remaining variants as additional products if the PCR allows. Use the same reference year of plant data across the set, and lock verification while PCR 2019:14 v2.0 stays current to avoid rework mid‑stream (EPD International, 2025). This is where partner selection matters, because the heaviest lift is wrangling utility, recipe, and waste data efficiently rather than modeling itself.
Where this leaves Mermet in the spec office
The core screen families have published EPDs with years of runway left. The PVC‑free and blackout ranges have HPDs and Declare, yet EPDs would close the loop for carbon‑aware projects. Filling that gap would make the catalog feel complete to specifiers, reduce substitution risk, and, frankly, win back decisions where an EPD flips the tie. It’s definately within reach if data collection is organized around families instead of single SKUs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many EPDs does Mermet USA have and when do they expire?
Two EPDs are published in the International EPD System that together cover multiple fabric families, each valid until July 27, 2028 (EPD International, 2023) (EPD International, 2023).
Do GreenScreen Evolve and Revive have EPDs?
Mermet’s sustainability page lists HPDs and Declare labels for these PVC‑free lines, but does not show EPDs. That suggests a gap spec teams will notice in disclosure‑driven bids (Mermet USA, 2025).
Are EPDs typically valid for five years?
Yes. Program operators confirm a five‑year validity is the norm, with ongoing internal follow‑up required to keep declarations up to date through that window (EPD International, 2025).
About the Author
John brings a clear, research-driven perspective on the EPD, LCA and HPD space and keeps a close pulse on environmental trends and standards in North America, helping clients understand where the industry is heading and how to get there.
