Fabrics Made Simple for Clothing Brands
Fabric decides how a garment feels, how long it lasts and what it costs you per unit. It also sets the ceiling on what customers think your brand is worth. Most new brands pick a fibre first and get surprised by the sample.
A better order exists. Start with weight, then choose the fibre, then decide whether a blend solves a problem the pure fibre creates. This guide walks through each step and links to the detail where you need it.
Start With Weight, Not Fibre
Customers judge a garment by heft before they ever check the label. That first impression comes down to GSM, which stands for grams per square metre. Higher numbers mean a denser, heavier fabric.
Weight also drives your price. A heavier fabric costs more per garment, ships at a higher rate and prints differently. Getting it wrong is expensive, since two shirts in identical cotton can feel like completely different products.
As a rough guide, lightweight tees sit around 140 to 160 GSM and heavyweight ones climb past 200. Hoodies work in a different range entirely. The specific numbers for each are covered in the guides to GSM for t-shirts and GSM for hoodies.
Natural Fibres
Cotton remains the default for casual wear, and for good reason. It breathes, takes dye easily and feels familiar against the skin. It also shrinks and wrinkles if it is not treated properly.
Not all cotton is equal, though, and the difference usually comes from processing rather than the plant. Ring-spun cotton gives you the soft, slightly irregular texture people associate with a well-made basic. Combed cotton and Pima cotton each add softness at a higher price.
Linen is the other natural option worth knowing. It breathes better than almost anything else and reads as premium, which makes it a summer staple. In exchange it wrinkles constantly, so plenty of brands reach for a blend instead.
Synthetic Fibres
Synthetics dominate the industry. According to Textile Exchange, polyester alone accounts for 59 percent of global fibre production, well ahead of cotton at 19 percent. Understanding it is not optional.
Polyester holds its shape, dries fast and resists wear. It is also less breathable and can feel plasticky in cheap versions. Modern treatments change that considerably, which is why performance polyester behaves nothing like the fabric most people picture.
Nylon is lighter and stronger, which suits outerwear, bags and activewear. Its abrasion resistance is the main draw. For anything that needs to survive being snagged, ripstop nylon stops a small tear from running across the whole panel.
Semi-Synthetics
Viscose sits between the two groups. It comes from wood pulp but needs heavy chemical processing to become fibre. The result drapes beautifully and takes colour vividly, which makes it popular for blouses and flowing silhouettes.
The naming causes constant confusion, since viscose and rayon are not competing materials. Viscose is a type of rayon, and the answer to viscose versus rayon matters mostly for how you label the garment.
Denim Is Its Own Category
Denim is technically a cotton twill, but it behaves like its own material with its own vocabulary. Weight, weave and finish all change the product completely.
Three decisions define a denim product. Raw denim reaches the customer untreated and fades to their body over time. Selvedge denim signals quality through a self-finished edge. Adding elastane creates stretch denim, where the percentage decides how well the jeans recover their shape.
Blends Solve Specific Problems
A blend exists to fix something a pure fibre gets wrong. Cotton wrinkles, so polyester adds structure. Linen creases, so a blend keeps the texture without the maintenance.
That logic is worth applying deliberately rather than defaulting to whatever your supplier stocks. Tri-blends deliver the broken-in feel customers describe before a shirt has ever been washed. Linen blends each fix a different weakness depending on the pairing.
One trade-off deserves mention. Blended fabrics are considerably harder to recycle than single-fibre ones, because the fibres cannot be separated cleanly at end of life.
What Your Label Has to Say
Fabric choice ends on a label, and that part is regulated. Selling in the EU means every textile product must carry its fibre composition under Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, on a label that is durable, legible and securely attached.
Two details catch small brands out. Only the official fibre names from the regulation are allowed, so shorthand like “polycotton” does not qualify. Trade names such as Lycra may appear alongside the required name, never instead of it.
Get the composition from your supplier in writing before production, not after. Guessing at percentages on a spec sheet is how brands end up relabelling an entire run.
Frequently Asked Questions About Fabrics for Clothing Brands
Ring-spun cotton is the standard for premium basics, since the spinning method gives a softer hand than regular carded cotton. Weight matters just as much: lightweight tees sit around 140 to 160 GSM, while heavyweight versions climb past 200. Choose the weight first, then the cotton type.
Most standard hoodies land between 280 and 350 GSM, which feels substantial without being stiff. Heavyweight streetwear pieces go higher, often past 400. Lighter than 280 tends to read as cheap regardless of how good the design is.
No, though cheap polyester is. The fibre holds shape, dries quickly and resists wear, and modern performance versions feel nothing like the stiff fabric people associate with the name. The trade-offs are breathability and the fact that it is fossil-based.
They are not two competing fabrics. Rayon is the broader category of semi-synthetic fibres made from wood pulp, and viscose is the most common type within it. Which term you use on a label depends on the market you sell in.
Yes, for textile products sold in the EU. Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 requires a durable, legible label showing the fibre composition, using only the official fibre names listed in the regulation. Abbreviations such as polycotton are not permitted.
