Imagine a hammock made of nice soft cotton, but without the drawbacks of the natural fiber, such as fading or mildew. Well, that’s what the designers at The HammockSource created when they developed DuraCord. It’s not cotton, but a synthetic fabric that has been engineered to feel like cotton. It’s solution-dyed, meaning the color is actually part of the yarn so it resists fading, and it is non-absorbent, so it repels not only water but wine, coffee, or anything else that might stain. The high-strength, abrasion-resistant yarns of a DuraCord hammock will give you years of relaxing afternoons in the shade of the old oak tree. However, only hammocks from The HammockSource’s three brands—Pawleys Island, Hatteras, and Joia—feature this fiber.

            This hammock’s unique design was developed more than 100 years ago and it’s now available in DuraCord as well as cotton and polyester. The bed is constructed out of one continuous three-ply twisted rope for optimum comfort and at 4.5 feet wide it’s big enough to hold two people. While the original cotton hammock comes only in white, the DuraCord hammock has a rainbow of colorful options: green, oatmeal, taupe, antique brown, garnet, and king’s blue.

            Hatteras’ line of quilted DuraCord hammocks feature a variety of colorful patterns and stripes, and all of these flip over to a coordinating solid color; in between there’s a layer of poly-fiber fill. Each hammock is 55 inches wide and has an overall length of 13 feet, so there’s plenty of room for two. Hardwood spreader bars, brass grommets and zinc-plated hardware are standard on every Hatteras hammock, and some include a line of coordinating bolsters, pillows, and fabric cubes.

            It might be surprising to see a DuraCord hammock from Brazil, but that’s just an indication of how versatile this fabric is. This hammock features the traditional Brazilian hammock style with no spreader bars and it comes in bright stripes of red, pink, blue, and orange. It will support up to 300 pounds but is most comfortable for one person.