Fabric
Worsted and woollen are two different ways of turning wool into yarn
The same fleece can produce a smooth, dense cloth that holds a crease or a soft, hairy one that traps air…
· 3 min read
Fabric
Fibres, weaves and weights, and what each one does after a year of wear.
Fabric
Recycling a fibre usually means making it shorter or breaking it down
Recycled content on a label covers two completely different processes with different consequences for the…
· 3 min read
Fabric
Pile fabrics have a direction and it is not a detail
Velvet, corduroy, moleskin and fleece all carry fibres standing away from the base cloth, which changes how…
· 3 min read
Fabric
Tanning is what turns a skin into leather, and it decides everything after
Leather is a preserved animal hide, and the chemistry used to preserve it determines how the material…
· 4 min read
Fabric
Down insulates by holding still air in a structure that collapses when wet
The warmest insulation by weight is a natural three-dimensional cluster, and both its advantages and its…
· 4 min read
Fabric
Silk is a continuous protein filament and it is weaker than it feels
The only natural fibre that arrives as an unbroken thread owes its lustre, its strength and its long list…
· 3 min read
Fabric
A waterproof jacket has to let moisture out, and that is the harder half
Keeping rain on the outside of a garment is a solved problem; moving perspiration through the same barrier…
· 4 min read
Fabric
Finishing is the last thing done to cloth and it changes what you can feel
Between the loom and the cutting table a fabric passes through treatments that alter its hand, its…
· 4 min read