Glossary of Terms

Argyle - From the district of Argyll, Scotland, this popular knit design consists of diamond shapes usually alternating in three colors.

Brushed - Knit or woven fabrics of wool, cotton, or synthetic fibers which have been brushed or napped to produce a flannel-like hand, sometimes called "sueded" or "peached".

Camel Hair - Fine wool-like coat of the two humped Bactrian camel. Fleece is collected as it falls off in clumps in Spring. Camel hair coats are especially warm, soft and light-weight.

Chambray - A cotton that looks like a denim but is light weight. Plain weave fabric with colored warp and undyed fillings. The famous blue working man's shirt is chambray.

Dacron - Registered trademark of DuPont for polyester fiber.

Drape - The flexibility and suppleness of a fabric; the way it falls when hung or worn in finished form.

Gabardine - From the Spanish word "gabardine". A sturdy twill fabric with 45 degree diagonal ribs and woven from hard, twisted yarn.

Glen Plaid - An overplaid made of a basic houndstooth check. It originally started not as a plaid at all, but as a distinct check.

Harris Tweed - Hand-woven tweed fabric from the islands of Harris and Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.

Herringbone - A twill weave reminiscent of a fish skeleton created by having a rib effect run to the right then to the left for an equal number of threads.

Knits - Produced by hand or on knitting machines by the interlooping of yarns. Common knits are jersey, interlock and rib knit.

Linen - Fabric woven from strong lustrous fiber of the flax plant. Linen is a cool, absorbent fiber extensively used in lightweight, comfortable summer clothing. Wrinkling is an inherent quality of the fabric.

Oxford - Cotton fabric with a basket weave and slight variations of thickness or warp filling yarns.

Poplin - A tightly woven fabric similar to broadcloth but with a heavier cross-rib. First woven in Avigin, France, it has become a popular summer fabric.

Rayon - Generic term for man-made fibers derived from trees, cotton and woody plants. Originally known as artificial silk. Silky hand, shiny lustrous appearance, good dyeablility and drapability.

Seersucker - Lightweight cotton or synthetic blend with crinkled, puckered stripes. Popular in summer suits and slacks.

Spandex - A generic name for man-made fibers composed largely of segmented polyurethane. Good stretch and recovery, strength and abrasion-resistance, resistance to body acids. Always used in combination with another fiber such as nylon or cotton. Lycra is DuPont's version.

Tropical - A suiting weave featuring fine count yarns woven in porous, light-weight fabric. In most cases, it is between six and one-half and eight and one-half ounces.

Tweed - Large group of rough surfaced woolens with home-spun texture. "Tweed" is the Scotch word for "twill", and tweeds originally were woven at home by the country people living on the Tweed River between England and Scotland.