What is stretch fabric?

The objective of this article is to give you some basic understanding of what a stretch fabric is, how to identify it, understand its characteristics, and ultimately choose it better.

The specificity of lingerie or swimwear manufacturing is to work with this type of textile. To make your own underwear, it is important to know the properties and compositions of the fabrics used and how they behave in relation to each other. In this article we will only deal with stretch fabrics. Non-stretch fabrics will be discussed in another article.

The article, even if it remains predominantly "theoretical", will then be supported by concrete examples which will be easier to understand. It is not intended to give a course in chemistry, nor data on the origin of textiles, ... These points will not be addressed.

This article is also a preamble to another article "How to choose stretch fabrics by their description".

 

To begin with: But where does the stretchiness of a fabric come from?

The stretchiness of a fabric comes from either :

- its composition

- the type of "weaving".

• THE COMPOSITION

Stretchiness comes from the elastane (EA) or spandex (SP*) or lycra (LY*) component of the textile.

You can therefore easily identify the extensibility on the labels or in the technical descriptions in the product sheets.

*SP, LY are brand names in comparison to elastane which is a generic name.

• WEAVING / KNITTING

In this case we speak of mechanical stretch - The mechanical stretch is not recognizable in its composition, you will only see it by touching and handling the fabric. This is an indication that you will find in the descriptions of the articles in our shop.

Many times this is not specified by the sellers, I know this from having experienced it myself...

This mechanical stretch can be more or less important even if it is often limited as for the lining knit.

Expandability means rebound

When we talk about the extensibility of a fabric, we must also talk about the rebound of the fabric. These are two different but complementary characteristics.

Rebound is the power of a fabric to return to its original position after stretching. The greater the rebound, the more force is required to stretch it; this is the power of withdrawal that the fabric has - it can be said to be the "sheathing" power of the fabric.

This is an important feature in the manufacture of your panties, bras, bodysuits, etc.

 

But how do you determine whether a fabric has more or less bounce?

For a fabric of the same composition and weight per m2The higher the elastane content, the greater the rebound effect.

A concrete example:

Consider two pieces of fabric of identical composition, each with a different elastane content.

I take a 160-180 g/m2 polyamide fabric (lycra type) one with 8% elastane and the second 20%.

The first will be "soft", "supple" while the second will be more "sheathing". The first one will be perfect for the realization of panties while the second one could be considered for the realization of swimming costumes for example.

 

For a fabric with the same composition and the same elastane content, the higher the weight per m2 of the fabric, the greater the rebound effect.

A concrete example:

I use a 10% elastane fabric, one with a weight per m2 of 110g/m2 and the second 250g/m2.

The former will have less rebound than the latter.

As a summary and to help you choose your textiles, you can refer to the table below.