Anatomy of fabrics for custom dress shirt

Considering some custom dress shirts for special occasion? Have you decided the fabric for it? If not then you must read this before you make your final decision.

Fabric is the basic and most important ingredient of any garment and its construction needs more attention than anything else while making your choice. For this we must understand the basic anatomy of fabric which comprises of 2 things WEFT & WARP where Weft means fibres running horizontally and warp means fibres running vertically. In textile dictionary fibre is referred as THREAD, which has some basic types which are:

1- COUNT

2- PLY

3- MATERIAL

4- Construction

Count referred as 50S, 60S, 80S etc is the thickness of thread measurement standards like grams and milligrams used for other products. For a lay man Higher the count finer and thinner the thread would be instead of common misconception which states this count refers to number of threads per inch. So the 50S thread would be thicker and rough when compared to 80S or 120S. Higher thread count when we talk about 120S or 150S, will not be possible to be weaved on ordinary or substandard weaving machines. Higher the thread count finer the resultant fabric will be. Higher thread count also allows better processing and colour fastness.

Each thread is spun of multiple yarns varying from 1 to 3 per thread as industry standard which is commonly known as Ply of thread. So when we refer to 2 ply thread then we are taking about a thread we are talking about how many yarns are twisted to construct this thread. Here one thing must be remembered that higher number of ply does not mean superior quality than single ply as multiple yarns twisted does not mean they are adding any strength to thread. So when someone refers to ply, now you know which one is superior.

Material used for spinning of yarn to finally make the fabric is commonly mistaken for only 2 choices Cotton and Polyester which was a reality some hundred years ago but not anymore. Polyester, viscose, TC and many more manmade yarns are commonly used in fabric construction depending upon the need. Even Polyester has at least 4-6 widely used branches. Cotton and silk being the natural materials are regarded as superior than all other choices and cost more than any man-made material. 100% silk fabrics are not only superior but also very hard to find these days. Cotton fabrics are also considered more appropriate for hot/ humid environment because the cotton yarn has natural pore/ holes which allows air to more easily cross through. Whereas polyester or many manmade fibres do not contain any pore/ holes to allow natural cross ventilation.

When we look at some fabric detailed stickers pasted, we find some mathematical formulas like 100/2 X 100/2 which means this fabric as 100S 2ply thread running in WEFT and WARP of this fabric. This is called construction of fabric and speaks the behaviour of fabric. For further details on weaves and patterns you can visit our website NattyShirts.com.