Glossary of Textile Terms
Absorbency
The ability of a fabric to take in moisture. Absorbency is a very important property, which effects many other characteristics such as skin comfort, static build-up, shrinkage, stain removal, water repellency, and wrinkle recovery.
Acrylic
A manufactured fiber derived from polyacrylonitrile. Its major properties include a soft, wool-like hand, machine washable and dryable, excellent color retention. Solution-dyed versions have excellent resistance to sunlight and chlorine degradation.
Appliqué
A pattern constructed by applying one fabric on top of another.
Basket Weave
A variation of the plain weave construction, formed by treating two or more warp yarns and/or two or more filling yarns as one unit in the weaving process.
Barrier (geotextiles)
a material which prevents fluid movement across the plane of a geotextile. A nonwoven geotextile saturated with an impermeable substance (eg bentonite clay) can act as a barrier material.
Blend
A term applied to a yarn or a fabric that is made up of more than one fiber. In blended yarns, two or more different types of staple fibers are twisted or spun together to form the yarn. Examples of a typical blended yarn or fabric is polyester/cotton.
Breaking Extension
The percentage extension at maximum load.
Breaking Strength (geotextiles)
The ultimate tensile strength of a geotextile per unit width.
Breathability
The ability of a fabric, coating or laminate to transfer water vapour from one of its surfaces through the material to the other surface. See also moisture vapour transmission rate (MVTR).
Calendered
The term is used to describe a fabric which has been passed through rollers to smooth and flatten it or confer surface glaze.
Carded
Description of a continuous web or sliver produced by carding.
Carding
The disentanglement, cleaning and intermixing of fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passing the fibres between moving pins, wires or teeth.
Chemical Bonding
Part of a production route for making nonwovens; binders are applied to a web which, when dried, bond the individual fibres to form a coherent sheet.
Chenille
A yarn consisting of a cut pile which may be one or more of a variety of fibres helically positioned around axial threads that secure it. Gives a thick, soft tufty silk or worsted velvet cord or yarn typically used in embroidery and for trimmings.
Color Fastness
A term used to describe a dyed fabric’s ability to resist fading due to washing, exposure to sunlight, and other environmental conditions.
Comforter
An over-covering on a bed that is made with a fabric shell filled with an insulating material.
Combing
The combing process is an additional step beyond carding. In this process the fibers are arranged in a highly parallel form, and additional short fibers are removed, producing high quality yarns with excellent strength, fineness, and uniformity.
Damask
A figured woven fabric in which the design is created by the use of satin and sateen weaves.
Dobby Weave
A fabric, often of a complex construction, woven on a dobby machine by selectively raising some warp threads and selectively depressing others.
Elasticity
The ability of a fiber or fabric to return to its original length, shape, or size immediately after the removal of stress.
Embroidery
A decorative pattern superimposed on an existing fabric by machine stitching or hand needlework.
Finished Fabric
A fabric that has gone through all the necessary finishing processes, and is ready to be used in the manufacturing of garments.
Greige
A term used to describe textile products prior to bleaching, dying or finishing. Some greige textiles may, however, contain dyed or finished yarns.
Hand
The way the fabric feels when it is touched. Terms like softness, crispness, dryness, silkiness are all terms that describe the hand of the fabric.
Jacquard
A description of techniques used for knitting and weaving to obtain large-scale and/or figured designs (named after the inventor, Joseph Marie Jacquard, 1752-1834).
Linen
A fabric made from linen fibers obtained from inside the woody stem of the flax plant. Linen fibers are much stronger and more lustrous than cotton. Linen fabrics are very cool and absorbent, but wrinkle very easily, unless blended with manufactured fibers. Linen is one of the oldest textile fibers.
Mercerisation
A treatment of yarns or fabrics with caustic alkali, in which fibres are swollen and stretched to increase lustre in the finished product.
Percale
A medium weight, plain weave, low to medium count (180 to 250 threads per square inch) cotton-like fabric. End-uses include sheets, blouses, and dresses.
Pill
A tangled ball of fibers that appears on the surface of a fabric, as a result of wear or continued friction or rubbing on the surface of the fabric.
Plied Yarn
A twisting together of two or more single yarns in one operation.
Quilting
A fabric construction in which a layer of down or fiberfill is placed between two layers of fabric, and then held in place by stitching or sealing in a regular, consistent, all-over pattern on the goods.
Repellency
The ability of a fabric to resist such things as wetting and staining by water, stains, soil, etc.
Resiliency
The ability of a fabric to spring back to its original shape after being twisted, crushed, wrinkled, or distorted in any way.
Sanforizing
A controlled compressive shrinkage process. The word Sanforized is a registered trade mark and can be used to describe fabrics which meet defined and approved standards of washing shrinkage.
Sateen Weave
A variation of the satin weave, produced by floating fill yarns over warp yarns.
Taffeta
A closely woven, plain-weave fabric with a crisp handle and a smooth surface. Its a lustrous, medium weight, plain weave fabric with a slight ribbed appearance in the filling (crosswise) direction.
Tensile Strength
The longitudinal stress which a substance can bear without tearing apart.
Terry Velour
A pile weave cotton fabric with an uncut pile on one side and a cut pile on the reverse side. Terry velour is valued for its soft, luxurious hand. Typical uses include towels, robes, and apparel.
Water Repellency
The ability of a fabric to shed water to a limited degree.
Water Resistance
A measurement which determines the ability of a fabric to withstand sustained contact with water.
Waterproof
A term applied to fabrics whose pores have been closed, and therefore, will not allow water or air to pass through them.
Wickability
The ability of a fiber or a fabric to disperse moisture and allow it to pass through to the surface of the fabric, so that evaporation can take place.