We're all familiar with those cheap, plastic fold-down seats or shell seats in sports stadiums – the ones that rather quickly cut off the blood flow to your legs until and even make your buttocks go numb. Yet, slowly but surely those days are coming to an end. If you go to a sports arena today, you can increasingly expect to find padded seats that not only look good, but also defy all weather conditions, are highly dirt repellent, and both comfortable and stylish. Whether it's a soccer match, athletics event, or a rock concert: Spectators are delighted, and often spending hours at the stadium or even the whole day at a major events. What's more, ticket prices are often high, so people justifiably expect a certain level of comfort in return.

Seat upholstery from Continental installed worldwide

Continental equips some of the world’s largest and most important sports venues with modern upholstery materials – currently 50 stadiums and arenas worldwide. These include the Allianz Arena in Munich, the National Stadium in Warsaw, and the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. In early February, the home stadium of Miami's American football team plays host to one of the world's single most important sports events which, with 100 million television viewers  just in the United States alone, is the biggest sporting event in the country. With seat covers from Continental, football fans are guaranteed a comfortable stay at the stadium on their most important day of the year. Now, sitting through a three-to-four-hour game plus pre-game warmups and a half-time show is no problem at all.

But good padding alone is not enough. The seats must also withstand weather conditions, soiling and use by thousands of spectators. In Florida, for example, the sun shines down mercilessly on the stadium for some 230 days a year. As a result, seat surfaces can become extraordinarily hot. This is not just extremely unpleasant for visitors, but also adversely impacts the material in the long run. The special "cool colors" technology from Continental resolves the problem by significantly reducing this heat-up effect. This is achieved by a nanocoating and special color pigments that reflect up to 80 percent of UV radiation in the near infrared range. In this way, the upholstery heats up about 20 percent less and remains up to 15°C cooler than other textiles. The material is also impervious to harm from high humidity and rain. Its surface is so robust that it still looks fresh and presentable years later.

Lotus effect repels dirt

Whether from drinks, food scraps, or shoe marks: Dirt and mess leave hardly a trace on the seats. This is also due to the nanocoating, with its so-called lotus effect. You'll know this effect from your car windshield and windows, against which rain simply beads up and drips off. The nanocoating purposefully imitates nature: Plants like the lotus flower have a surface that is water, dirt and even virus-repellent. However, the surface isn't particularly smooth, as you might expect, but rather finely studded and jagged. This produces an significantly extensive surface area with tiny recesses into which larger dirt particles cannot penetrate. Instead, the dirt stays on top where is can easily be wiped away or rinsed off.

Besides their functionality, modern seat covers also set whole new standards when it comes to looks. After all, fans should enjoy entering the stadium as they're treated to a feast for the eyes as well. Consisting of about 85 percent PVC compound and about 13 percent PES and vinyl, the upholstery material has an attractive textile look, lending the seats a sporty and elegant style. The woven texture ensures a pleasant feel. In addition, Continental offers its customers a choice of twelve modern shades of color. Soccer clubs such as in Munich, Wolfsburg and Mönchengladbach, Germany have therefore equipped their stadium seats with their club colors. In the Miami stadium, seats made of skai cool colors Venezia material radiantly shine their “iceblue” color up into the sunny sky. All this makes touching the seats, folding them down, settling in and enjoying the spectacle in the arena a pleasurable experience. And that's not all: They're also popular in restaurants, the retail sector, public places, in health care, and outdoor areas.