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Textile Glossary
Cutting through the jargon
This glossary is a resource aimed at helping share and simplify both generic and industry specific information, expertise and knowledge. This service is provided as a committment to visitors to our site and the industry as whole. Although we aim to ensure that all the content is correct, please bear in mind that some areas of the industry move fast and terminology and its application can change.
Habit
In the 17th century it meant for men the suit of clothes all in the same cloth or colour. The court habit in the 17th and 18th centuries meant men's clothes, and the grand habit women's, worn only at court and at festivities where the court was present.
Hackling (flax)s
A process in which stricks of scutched flax are combed from end to end, both to remove short fibre, naps (or neps), and non-fibrous material, and to sub-divide and parallelize the fibre strands.
Hainsworth Broadcloth
Wide width fine face cloth used for clothing interiors pool and snooker.
Hainsworth Paradewear
Manufacturers of quality Wool cloth for M.O.D Uniforms.
Hair
Animal fibre other than sheep's wool or silk., note: it is recognized that this definition implies a distinction between sheep's wool and the covering of other animals, notwithstanding the similarity in their fibre characteristics. Thus the crimped form and the scaly surface are not confined to sheep's wool. It seems desirable in the textile industry, however, to avoid ambiguity by confining the term wool to the covering or sheep and to have available a general term for other fibres of animal origin. Normally the less widely used fibres are known by name e.g., alpaca, mohair, etc., but collectively they should be classed as hair. A difficulty arises when it is desired to distinguish between the fibres of the undercoat and the remainder of the fleece; for instance, between the soft short camel hair used for blankets and the coarse long camel hair used for belting. The term wool is sometimes used for the shorter fibre, qualified by the name of the animal, e.g., cashmere wool.
Hairy
Refers to fabrics with a lot of protruding fibers on the surface.
Hammered Satin
A satin fabric with an allover surface texture that looks like hammered metal.
Handle; hand u.s.
The quality of a fabric or yarn assessed by the reaction obtained from the sense of touch., note: it is concerned with the subjective judgement of roughness, smoothness, harshness, pliability, thickness, etc.
Hank
(1) a synonym for skein. Textile linear material in coiled form., (2) a definite length of sliver, slubbing, roving, or yarn, e.g., in the metric system it is 1000 metres., (3) a synonym for count as applied to sliver, slubbing, or roving.
Hank Sizing
The application of size solution to yarn in hanks.
Hankerchief Linen
A fine lightweight plain weave fabric of linen or a linen blend. Used in blouses, dresses.
Hard
Describing fabrics with a firm, coarse hand.
Hardening
Treatment of man-made regenerated-protein filaments so as to render them completely insoluble in cold water and cold dilute saline solutions.
Harlequin
A design motif dominated by diamond shapes or checks in 3 or more contrasting colors as in a harlequin costume.
Harris Tweed
A woolen tweed fabric hand woven on the outer hebrides islands off the coast of scotland. (harris is one of these islands) genuine harris tweeds are certified by the harris tweed association.
Haul-off roller; haul-off roll
The first driven roller around which an extruded yarn passes after leaving the spinneret, and whose surface speed determines the spin-stretch ratio.
Haute Coture
Hi-fashion garments (of which only a single price is produced) it's extravagant, it's irrational, it's unique and it's totally unaffordable.
Head (jute)
One of a number of bunches of raw jute forming a bale. The heads are each given a twist and folded over before being made into the bale.
Head Setting
The process of conferring stability of form upon fibres, yarns, or fabrics, usually by means of successive heating and cooling in moist or dry conditions.
Heat Transver Printed
A method of printing fabric by transferring a design from a paper to fabric by passing them together through heated rollers or a heated press. Also called sublistatic printing or sublimation printing.
Heather
See melange/heather
Heavy Blazer Melton
Good quality durable cloth made for school blazers.
Hemp, True
different plants, e.g., manila 'hemp' (abaca) from musa textilis nee; sisal 'hemp' from agave sisalana perrine; sunn 'hemp' (sunn fibre) from crotalaria juncea l.
Henequen
A fine light-coloured, lustrous, and strong bast fibre, obtained from the hemp plant, cannabis sativa l. , note: the colour and cleanliness vary considerably according to the method of preparation of the fibre, the lower grades being dark cream and containing much non-fibrous matter. The fibre is obtained by retting. Its principal use is in twine and cordage, but some of the finer grades are used in weaving. The fibre ranges in length from 1 to 2.5m (3 to 8 ft). The term 'hemp' is often incorrectly used in a generic sense for fibres from The fibre obtained from the leaf of agava fourcroydes lemaire.
Heritage
Fine wide width face cloth for clothing and interiors.
Herringbone
A broken twill weave in which the twill line reverses regularly forming zig zag v's. Also called fishbone.
Hessen
See barras.
Hessian
See burlap/hessian.
High Charged System
A method of dry cleaning in which an oil-soluble reagent such as petroleum sulphonate is added to the solvent so that a significant amount of water can be added to obtain a substantially clear dispersion of water in the solvent. In a high-charged system the concentration of added reagent, a so-called detergent is 4% while, in a low-charged system the concentration ranges up to 2%.
High Count
Refers to fabrics woven with a relatively high thread count, resulting in a dense, tight fabric.
High Twist
Refers to yarn that are manufactured with a relatively high number of turns per inch . This may be done to increase the yarn strength or to give the fabric a crepey texture or hand.
High-Bulk Yarn
A yarn that has been treated mechanically, physically or chemically so as to have a noticeably greater voluminosity or bulk.
High-Speed Spinning (melt spinning)
A melt spinning process in which filaments are drawn down and collected at high speeds.
High/ Low
1. Pile fabrics that have variation in pile height 2 a corduroy with wales of 2 or more different widths.
Hog wool; Hoggett Wool
The first clip from a sheep not shorn as a lamb., also termed tag/teg wool (obsolescent)
Holland/Shadecloth
A plain weave fabric similar to sheeting with a stiff sometimes glazed finish . Often of linen or cotton. Frequently used for shades.
Hollow Filament
A man-made fibre continuous filament or fibre with a single continuous lumen.
Hologram
A three dimensional effect produced with a laser that changes with the angle of view and reflects light in a striking way . Often printed on reflective material.
Homespun
A plain weave fabric loosely woven with coarse uneven yarns that look as if they were spun by hand.
Homopolymer
A polymer in which the repeating units are all the same (cf. Copolymer).
Honan
A high quality, plain weave pongee fabric made with wild silk from henan in eastern china.
Honeycomb
A pique fabric with a waffle or cellular appearance. May be woven or knit.
Honeydew
The result of infestation of growing cotton by aphids of whitefly. It takes the form of more or less randomly distributed droplets of highly concentrated sugars, causing cotton stickiness.
hopsack
See basket weave/hopsack.
Hose (narrow fabric)
A tubular woven fabric for conveying liquid under pressure., note: hose is manufactured in both unlined and lined forms. When unlined, the weave is plain and the material is generally flax or hemp with a weaving density so arranged that when the fibres swell on wetting, the fabric becomes tight enough to reduce percolation under pressure to a negligible amount. For lined hose, fibres other than flax or hemp may be used in a plain or twill weave. Light-weight hose woven from synthetic yams may incorporate an independent tubular plastic lining, which is introduced.
Hosiery
(1) knitted coverings for the feet and legs., (2) formerly in the uk., the term was used in the generic sense of all types of knitted fabrics and, goods made up therefrom.
Hosiery Knitting Machine
A knitting machine for the production of hosiery. Most are small-diameter latch-needle circular knitting machines.
Hot drawing (synthetic filaments and films)
A term applied to the drawing of synthetic filaments or films with the intentional application of external heat.
Hot Mercerization
See mercerization
Hottenroth Number
A measure of the degree of ripening of viscose, note: a hottenroth number is expressed as the number of milliliters of 10% ammonium chloride solution that it is necessary to add to a somewhat diluted viscose (solution) to induce incipient coagulation under standard conditions.
Houndstooth
A pointed broken check design . Most commonly a woven produced with contrasting yarns in groups or multiples of 4, woven in a 2x2 twill. Sometimes called dogstooth.
Household Division for Trooping the Colour
The 5 regiments that make up the Queens Guard. The regiments are Coldstream Guards, Welsh Guards, Scottish Guards, Grenadier Guards and the Irish Guards.
Huarizo
See alpaca fibre
Huckaback
A soft toweling fabric with short, loosely twisted filling floats to aid absorption, and a birdseye or honeycomb surface texture . It is sometimes embroidered.
Hue
That attribute of colour whereby it is recognized as being predominantly red, green, blue, yellow, violet, brown, bordeaux, etc.
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Did You Know...
Costume drama
Hainsworth cloth is used in major BBC TV productions, like Casualty, where authenticity, technical performance and accuracy to the finest detail are a prerequisite.
