Poplin is a tightly woven fabric with a very simple over-under weave and very little sheen, which ensures a nice professional finish. Poplins are great for guys who are looking for minimal texture in their fabrics. They are generally a thinner, lighter fabric. In particular, white poplin fabrics can be slightly transparent. Poplins generally wear the smoothest out of all weaves owing to their lack of texture.
Oxford fabric is a very popular fabric used for shirts, particularly for the more casual or sporty styles. It is a slightly thicker fabric than what we’d consider “fine” dress shirt fabric, and has a hearty feel which is both durable and naturally resistant to wrinkles. Overall, a nice casual Oxford shirt is a wardrobe essential due to its durability and versatile. Pair it with a button down collar and single cuff.
Royal Oxford fabric has an elaborate weave which gives it a distinctive, significant texture. It’s shiny and well known for its softness. Something about the weave makes the yarns puff out a bit and it just feels comfortable and nice. Don’t confuse Royal Oxford cloth with regular Oxford cloth, or pinpoint Oxford cloth as these are totally different. Regular Oxford is a much heavier, rougher, and more durable fabric. As Royal Oxford fabric is such a fancy looking fabric, we especially recommend it for French cuff dress shirts and wide spread collar dress shirts.
Pinpoint or Pinpoint Oxford fabric is a variation of the Oxford cloth. The yarns are finer making it a subtle mix of poplin and oxford. Pinpoint is both dressy and durable. It has a slight shine, but not as much as Royal oxford or twill. It works well in both formal and casual occasions. A pinpoint dress shirt feels substantial. Pinpoint generally has a higher thread count and a lighter, finer weave then Oxford. Therefore, pinpoint dress shirts are preferable to Oxford dress shirts in formal situations. Pinpoint makes for an elegant wedding dress shirt or business interview dress shirt, while Oxford cloth would be better suited for a casual or outdoor event.
Fil-à-fil (also end on end) fabric is woven with threads in two different colours giving it an irregular effect. It is a thin and comfortable material suitable for solid colour shirts. Fil-à-fil fabrics are a very popular type of dress shirt fabric with distinct contrast colouring. Woven with coloured thread in the warp and white thread in the weft, it appears truly solid from a distance, but has more texture when seen from up close. Typically a lighter weight fabric, it’s a great choice to achieve a professional look.
Twill fabric is a weaving method which creates a diagonal pattern in the fabric. These fabrics are generally softer and thus more wrinkle resistant - however not wrinkle free - than plain weaves. Twill is a beautiful fabric. It is detailed, elaborate and is available in a variety of patterns and styles. Twill fabrics are substantial (thick) and not transparent. Twill fabrics will also usually be a bit shinier and really soft.
Is a variation of the Twill weave, the only difference being that the pattern produced resembles the bones of a fish.
Linen fabrics are incredibly breathable and, like seersucker, typically made to be worn in hot climates. Linen is made from fiber of the flax plant, and can be very labor intensive to produce. Typically linen will be more loosely woven and sheer than most cotton shirts, and it has a very unique dry hand to it that is unlike cotton. Linen also tends to wrinkle more easily than cotton and generally feels much more relaxed because of this.
A flannel shirt fabric is a particularly soft woven fabric which has undergone a special brushing treatment to achieve a brushed texture. Some flannels are brushed on only one side, while others are brushed on both sides. The majority of shirting flannels tend to be made with cotton. Flannel fabrics are popular for casual wear in the colder months. Flannels will come in a variety of patterns, but most commonly either solids or checks.
Seersucker is a thin cotton fabric, commonly striped or checked where the yarns are woven in a special way to give the fabric the typical uneven or bumpy texture traditionally used to make clothing for warm or hot weather.
Thread count is the number of threads woven into one square inch of fabric. This number is based on the threads woven horizontally ("weft") and vertically ("warp"). If you’ve got 60 threads woven vertically with 60 threads horizontally, you’ve got a thread count of 120; a fairly high number for shirt fabric. Higher counts suggest that the threads of these high thread count fabrics are finer, sometimes resulting in a softer, smoother, more expensive, and more luxurious fabric. An average T-shirt for men has a thread count of roughly 40-50 (single-ply). In contrast, a high quality men's dress shirt will start at 100-120 thread count (two-ply).
Cloth is created by the weaving of horizontal and vertical threads called the warp and weft. Weft yarns run vertically.
Cloth is created by the weaving of horizontal and vertical threads called the warp and weft. Weft yarns run horizontal.
The weight of the fabric is measured as grams per square meter. This is a method of measuring both the thickness of the fabric and how densely it is woven.
Ply refers to the number of yarns which are twisted together to make a single thread. When two yarns are combined the result is known as two-ply yarn. Two-ply yarns resist the fibers' normal tendency to shed, or 'pill'. Fabrics woven from two-ply yarn will have greater durability and longevity and will be heavier while fabrics woven of single yarn will be smoother.
