The Sio range from Blinds By Post is a made-to-measure vertical blind offered in 2 colourways, starting from £11.21. It is a compact, neutral collection rather than a broad one: a pair of light-filtering greys in a single hanging-louvre cloth, aimed at wide windows and doors where a vertical does the work a roller or roman cannot.
Who it suits
A vertical blind hangs in fabric louvres that tilt to control light and draw to one side to clear the window, which makes it a natural fit for wide windows, patio doors and conservatories. The louvres rotate so you can angle daylight and privacy without opening the blind fully, and they stack neatly out of the way when you want the full opening clear. The Sio cloth is light-filtering rather than blackout, so it softens and diffuses daylight rather than blocking it, and the two grey tones keep the look quiet and neutral.
Because the louvres overlap rather than seal, a vertical always leaks a little light at the joins, so it is not the tool for a room that needs full darkness. For a bedroom after blackout, a roller or pleated blind in a blackout fabric would serve better. Where Sio earns its place is on a wide aspect or a door - somewhere the side-draw and tilt of a vertical are genuinely useful.
The colours
2 colours available
Sio is a two-tone grey collection: Stucco, a soft pale grey, and Charcoal, a deep near-black grey. The pair gives a light and a dark within the same cloth rather than a spread across colour families, so the choice is about depth - a quiet pale louvre that recedes against light walls, or a stronger charcoal that frames the window more boldly. That narrow palette makes the decision simple if grey is the brief. Grey in particular reads differently under daylight and lamplight and across a large run of louvres, so a shade that looks right on screen can shift once it fills a wide window, and a sample of both is worth ordering before you commit.
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 down 3% since 17 Aug. (our checks since 12 Jun)
The standard fitting starts from the entry price shown above, which is a modest starting point for a made-to-measure vertical. The price for your window depends mainly on its width and drop, and verticals are often specified for wide openings, so the figure for a full patio door will sit well above the headline from-price. Use the figures above against your own measurements rather than the starting price alone.
How it compares
Against a roller or roman, a vertical handles wide windows and doors far better - it draws to the side and tilts, where a roller only goes up and down. The trade-off is light leak: the louvre overlaps mean a vertical never achieves the clean blackout a roller can, even before opacity is considered, and Sio's cloth is light-filtering in any case. Against a venetian, the vertical hangs its slats vertically rather than horizontally, which suits tall and wide openings and doorways where a horizontal stack would be awkward. Within verticals, Sio is a narrow grey pairing rather than a wide palette, but a clear answer if a neutral grey is what the window needs.
A note on care
Vertical louvres are simple to maintain and, usefully, individually replaceable - if one is damaged you can swap the single louvre rather than the whole blind. Keep them dust-free with a soft brush or a vacuum on a low setting, running down each louvre rather than across. Spot-clean marks with a damp cloth and a mild detergent, testing on a hidden louvre first, and let the fabric dry fully before tilting the blind closed again.
Likely the same fabric, at other retailers
Sio vertical 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:
- Swift Direct Blinds from £7.12
- Blinds By Post this page from £11.21
- Blinds Direct from £14.54
- Vertical Blinds Direct from £20.94
- Wilsons Blinds from £23.95
- So Easy Blinds from £48.44
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.