Manufactured, not imported
Awnings are built in Milldale, Connecticut. That is the difference between a manufacturer and a distributor with a warehouse, and it is why a dealer can call and reach the person who made the thing.
About
A Connecticut manufacturer that supplies dealers
SolarShield builds retractable awnings, retractable screens and sidewalls, and fixed architectural canopies in Milldale, Connecticut — and sells every one of them through an authorized dealer.
Shade is a strange product to buy. It is engineered, it is custom, it hangs off somebody’s building, and the person who sells it is usually not the person who made it. That gap is where most of the problems live.
Our answer is to keep manufacturing and distribution in the same conversation. We build the product in Connecticut and hand it to dealers who measure, quote, install, and service it. We train them on it first. When something needs sorting mid-job, they reach the people who built it, not a queue.
What we deliberately do not do is sell direct. There is no homeowner price list and no salesperson of ours competing on a job a dealer brought in. It is the first thing dealers ask about, and the answer has to be simple for the relationship to work at all.
How we work
How we work with dealers
Components chosen to last outdoors
Extruded aluminum frames, stainless steel hardware, powder-coated finishes, and Somfy or Intro motorization. An awning lives in weather for a decade or more; the bill of materials is where that is decided.
Fabric from five named mills
Sunbrella, Dickson, Sattler, Tempotest, Recasens — including 100% solution-dyed acrylic on the Salute line. Named, because a customer comparing quotes recognizes them.
Supplied through dealers
SolarShield takes orders from its dealers, not from homeowners — there is no consumer price list to order from and no factory-direct ordering. Homeowner and business inquiries that reach us are referred out to a dealer. Territory arrangements are agreed dealer by dealer, in writing, as part of the dealer agreement.
Residential and commercial
One supplier across the whole board
The seven lines exist so a dealer can quote a backyard patio in the morning and a restaurant frontage in the afternoon without opening a second supplier account. Legend and Salute cover retractable work, Liberty handles commercial frontages, Freedom adds screens and sidewalls, and Frontier covers fixed canopies where retractable is the wrong answer.
Talk to us
Weekdays, 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM.
Phone
(800) 723-7048Address
323 Clark Street
P.O. Box 579
Milldale, CT 06467