Aki is a compact plain roller at Blinds By Post: 4 colourways from £16.14, named with a light cosmic touch - Ion, Meteor, Orbit and Star - and made up in standard, cassette and motorised versions. Small ranges like this are easy to scroll past, but Aki has one distinction worth stopping for: the same fabric name is sold at five of the retailers we track, which makes it one of the most widely travelled cloths on our books and one of the easiest to price-compare properly.
Who it suits
A four-shade plain roller is the definition of a working blind: something tidy and unfussy for a kitchen window, a landing, a study or a rental refresh, where the brief is screening and neatness rather than decoration. The opacity across the range is standard, so it filters daylight and gives daytime privacy while keeping the room bright - a bedroom that needs true darkness should look at a blackout range instead.
What lifts Aki beyond the bare minimum is the make-up options. The cassette version encloses the roll in a headrail for a more finished, dust-shielded top line - worth having where the blind sits at eye level on stairs or faces you across a kitchen, and the tidier look if the window has no recess to hide the roll in - and the motorised version takes the chain out of the equation entirely, which suits tall windows, awkward reaches and households that simply prefer a button.
The colours
4 colours available
Four shades, sensibly spaced: Ion and Star hold the pale end, Orbit sits in the mid-neutrals, and Meteor anchors the dark end of the little palette. The spacing is the point - rather than a dozen near-identical creams, you get one usable step at each depth, which makes the decision quick and repeatable across several windows. As with any plain fabric, the screen flattens the weave's texture, so a sample order is still worth the wait if the blind will sit somewhere prominent.
Price by your dimensions
Enter your window size. We round up to the next standard size, which matches how the retailer actually quotes you.
Price around its usual level (checked since 6 Jun).
Plain rollers price transparently - the fabric is constant, so your width and drop do the work. The from-price belongs to the smallest windows and the standard fitting; the cassette and motorised versions carry their own premiums, and the table above shows the honest figure at your measurements.
How it compares
This is where Aki earns its page. The same fabric name appears at four other UK retailers we track - Blinds Direct, Roller Blinds Direct, So Easy Blinds and Wilsons Blinds - and the price of the same window differs meaningfully between them, in some cases by multiples rather than margins, since each shop prices its own make-up of the cloth independently. Our Aki roller comparison puts the versions side by side; it is the two-minute check that this fabric, more than most, rewards. Within Blinds By Post's own catalogue, Aki is the compact choice - buyers wanting a broader palette in the same practical register should look at the retailer's bigger plain ranges, and anyone needing darkness should step across to a blackout roller.
A note on care
Nothing exotic: a soft brush or the vacuum's upholstery head keeps the fabric clear of dust, and a barely damp cloth lifts the occasional mark - blot rather than rub, and let it dry fully before rolling. Run the blind fully down now and then so the lower section does not set a curl, and if you have the cassette version, a wipe along the headrail slot keeps the roll running clean. Motorised versions want nothing beyond an occasional check that the control still pairs - the mechanism is sealed.
Likely the same fabric, at other retailers
Aki roller blinds are sold under the same name by more than one UK retailer, and the price scales identically across window sizes - a strong sign it is the same fabric from the same supplier:
- Blinds By Post this page from £16.14
- Roller Blinds Direct from £41.68
- Blinds Direct from £45.65
- Wilsons Blinds from £49.03
- So Easy Blinds from £78.64
We match these on the shared name and an identical price curve, not an independent inspection, so treat it as likely the same fabric rather than confirmed - and check the specification and colour at each retailer before buying.