Basic Cloth
There are many different brands of billiard cloth and the choices can be confusing for even the most experienced buyer. At Big Sky Billiard Supply, we have chosen Championship as our main pool table fabric vendor. The cloth market contracted in 2009 and we lost several good vendors, but Championship stayed in business and continued to provide an excellent, consistent product. Consistency is key. If you are re-covering a pool table and you spread out your cloth only to find a blemish in the middle of the cut of fabric, it can be most frustrating. Especially if you've driven 200 miles to your job.
So, we choose the fabric that is the most consistent. It is not always the cheapest, but in this business, you are better off buying cloth that is not cheap. Cheap cloth breaks down more quickly than well-made cloth and then you end up paying for a recovery all over again only 2 years down the road. Recoveries start at $435.
The two styles of Championship Invitational fabric that we carry are:
- the Championship Invitational 3066 and 4066. The 3066 Invitational product is 75% wool and 25% nylon. It runs approximately $65/yard and we stock kits that are pre-cut to 7', 8', and 9' sizes, including rail cloth cuts. As of this writing (09/01/2022), an 8' cut of 3066 is $159 and is available in limited colors.
- The Championship Invitational 4066 is the same 20oz products as the 3066 but it is Teflon coated and reads a little heavier.
With Championship, we must order 12+ quantities of fabric in order to offer the prices that we do, so if you need to order a fabric other than what we have in stock, there will be an increase in price of approximately $10.
If you are purchasing a pool table from us, you are probably concerned primarily with quality in relation to price. All billiard fabric is somewhat water-resistant, but if you are concerned about spills around your billiard table, you should consider the 4066 product which adds Teflon to the mix. The 3066 cloth is fine for most applications, including coin-op bar tables. The 3066 fabric does come in limited colors, however, so if you want anything other than those found below, you will have to move to the 4066 product which at this writing is $169 for an 8' cut, and a $20 upgrade for 9' table customers (9' table customers, please read below for worsted wool options):
Basic Green
Championship Green
Dark Green
Red
Bottle Green
Camel
Navy
Burgundy
Wine
Black
4066 Invitational fabric is also 20oz 75% wool 25% nylon blend and comes in the colors above as well as:
Olive
Taupe
English Green
Electric Blue
Golden
Khaki
Academy Blue
Purple
Euro Blue
Brown
Steel Gray
Titanium
Charcoal
Worsted Wool Options:
Worsted wool is wool that has had the "fuzzy" pieces removed from the strands. It is smoother, more durable, lasting twice as long as regular cloth, and it plays faster than the non-worsted wool options. It is a favorite of pool players world-wide. It is also double the cost.
Centennial Cloth by Brunswick Billiards and Simonis 860 and 760R are three of the best, most consistent worsted wool fabrics made in the billiard industry. If you enjoy your billiard game and want to play on the best surface, we believe it is a toss-up between these three products. Championship also makes a worsted product, but it makes the Brunswick Billiards Centennial Cloth, and we get better pricing with Brunswick, so we order through Brunswick instead.
In September of 2021, Simonis had a flood in its factory located in the Netherlands. The flood destroyed its looms and carding machines and generally wreaked havoc on the company. After replacing its looms and other machinery, Simonis started producing cloth again in May of 2022. We are waiting for the first container of Simonis cloth to reach U.S. shores as of this writing. Estimates have it arriving in mid-October, but it may be quite a while before the market is flush with Simonis cloth again.
The 860 Simonis is an excellent cloth and comes in a wide variety of colors, so this is often a customer favorite. If you are looking for stain-resistance in this product, the only vendor who carries it is Olhausen Billiards and it is called the Simonis 760R which we are happy to order.
When you purchase a table with us, we offer the upgrade to Simonis or Centennial cloth at $300-$350 depending on table size. Normally $449 for just the fabric ($275 for an installation), we like to give our customers this option at the time of installation because this product will last longer and save you money and save us a trip back to recover your table!
These are the color choices for each of these products:
Centennial Cloth by Brunswick: Color Choices
Simonis Cloth by Simonis: Color Choices
The 760R available through Olhausen Billiards comes in:
Spruce
Simonis Green
Tournament Blue
Burgundy
Wine
Red
Camel
Grey
Black
Royal Blue
Gold
Dark Green
Recovery Prices
These are just a few of the many options (types of cloth) and sizes (and types) of table, but it will give you an idea of what the price difference is for the Recovery Service:
8' Recovery with Championship 4066 is $450.00
8' Recovery with Simonis 860 is $695.00
You can find a full list of our Services at this Link.
