Fabrics-Knitted or Woven

Businesses listed under this heading provide knitted and woven fabrics for use in the clothing and fashion industry, as well as woven fabrics for the home.

The manufacture of textiles is one of the oldest of human technologies. To make textiles, thread is created by spinning either natural or artificial fibres together. The thread is processed by knitting or weaving, which turns the thread into fabric. Woven fabric is produced on a loom, a device that holds vertical “warp” threads in place while horizontal “weft” or filling threads are woven through them. The manner in which the warp and weft threads interlace with each other is called the weave. The majority of woven fabrics are created with one of three basic weaves: plain weave, satin weave, or twill. Woven fabric can be plain woven all in one colour, or can be woven using different threads.

Knitted fabrics are divided into two basic types: warp-knit fabrics such as tricot and weft-knit fabrics such as jersey. Weft-knit fabrics have the drawback that they “run” when cut, as is seen in t-shirts and pantyhose. Warp-knit fabrics are often used in lingerie. The most common fibres used for knitted fabrics are cotton and viscose with or without the addition of elastane. These tend to be single jersey construction and are used for most t-shirt style tops. Knitted fabrics can be stretched up to 5 time their initial size, depending on the the tightness of the knit, the addition of elastane to knitted fabric enables it to hold its original shape due to increased elasticity.

Suppliers of knitted and woven fabrics will stock a wide range of dress fabrics including denims, suiting, shirting and cottons, jerseys, cotton lycras, printed poly/spandex jerseys and knits, silks, satins, laces, glitters, dance and evening wear. Wholesale suppliers will often only sell in bulk, whilst retail suppliers will usually sell in any amount.