Are zebra (dual) shades any good, or just trendy?

They’re genuinely useful for one thing — dialing between a view and privacy in a single product — and they photograph beautifully, which explains the popularity. Alternating sheer and solid bands on a doubled roller line up for privacy or offset for a view with a small nudge. The honest limits keep them from being an everything-shade: even fully closed a zebra shade is room-darkening at best, never true blackout, so it’s the wrong solo pick for a dark bedroom; and band alignment is the quality tell — a well-built shade holds register across the whole width and over years, while a cheap one skews so one side stays private while the other shows a view, a risk that grows on wide windows. Buy on build quality, and add a liner where you need real dark.