One of the most vital preconditions for creating a long-lasting, durable, and sustainable wardrobe is purchasing the best quality clothing items. However, to create such a high-quality wardrobe, one must be able to examine the quality of the fabric. There are huge differences between long-lasting clothing items & fast-fashion items. Inferior garments lose their shape quickly, don’t even last longer not more than a season, and lead to uncomfortable skin irritations. So it’s vital to know what differentiates premium-quality clothing from inferior, low-quality products, and how to understand these attributes before making a purchase.
To help you with future successful purchases, here is an introduction on how to identify & evaluate high-quality cotton clothing. You can get premium cotton fabric online from the best textile store in Dubai, Sew Banana. In this blog, our major focus is on cotton. Cotton fabric is one of the most commonly used types of fabrics in the world, that is used to create basics & essentials.
Characteristics of high-quality clothing
Before we dive into the details of how to find & examine fabrics, it’s also illustrative of what actually quality means, how to evaluate it and what differentiates a high-quality product from a low-quality one. Quality is defined by numerous important factors:
- Durability: A good garment should be long-lasting. You should feel carefree while using that garment, without the fear of getting torn when putting them on or taking them off.
- Resistance: All garments should have the ability to keep their shape. Even after washing it several times, a good quality garment should not wear out, shrink or twist.
- Colors: Colors should not get dim or disappear. Instead, they should look deep, dark, and fresh even after wearing it for several years or washing it numerous times.
- Drape: Everyone wants fabrics with a natural drape that are then further used to create exceptional clothing.
- Comfortable: The fabric must feel comfortable on the skin. Nobody likes irritating & scratchy garments.
- Style: Naturally, everyone wants those garments that are not only of premium quality but also subjectively manifest that quality.
Accomplishing a few or all of these attributes outlay time, and money. So, it’s very difficult to find a piece of clothing that is not only of high quality but also costs less. It is very appealing for all of us to buy garments that look great and had a unique design available at discounted prices, but usually, such items change after being worn or washed.
But there is also an important factor that plays a vital role in contributing towards the environment, i.e. sustainability. Although quality and sustainable production are not directly related to each other, mostly some sustainable fashion & clothing brands have such an ideology that gives more consideration to quality. It is more promising to buy items that last longer or even a lifetime is more sustainable than investing in low-quality products that don’t even last a season and results in getting thrown away.
That’s all about the important characteristics that make up a good quality product, but the major concern here is to know how to check the quality of fabric before purchasing it?
First impressions
Mostly, people judge an item by its first impression, while very few take some time to look into the details and check its quality. At first, it is vital to see the garment as a whole: as a great design & finish are of little use if the fabric is of inferior quality & vice versa.
Longevity, Softness, and Permeability
Even clothing that states 100% cotton fabric has a huge difference in reality. Cotton is considered one of the most popular and commonly used fabrics because of its versatility, inexpensiveness, and durability if it’s of good quality. We have already discussed some main quality characteristics above, but the following features can be used to objectively examine the quality of cotton.
- Durability: Fabrics that are made from long-staple fibers are usually of higher quality because they are twirled into finer yarn. This phenomenon makes the fabric stronger and increases its durability.
- Softness: The length of the fibers also plays an important role in the softness of the fabric. This is due to the fact that with short fibers, their ends cannot finish neatly, whereas, with long fibers, the fabric is woven more cleanly and smoothly.
- Breathability: The most common reason for the less breathability of some fabrics is the tiny air pockets between the individual threads, which supply thermal insulation.
Haptics: The Tactility Test
You can easily judge the quality of cotton by touching it: cotton fabrics that are made from 100% ELS (extra-long staple), or finely combed cotton feel smoother like silk. While low-priced varieties lack this softness when touching them (unless they are made from inferior polyester blends: so always check the care label to ensure that you’re investing in a 100% cotton garment).
It is obvious that touching the fabric is not the only option to consider when buying online. All you can make sure of is that the brand from which you are buying mentions ELS etc. on the website and product description.
Light: The Optical Test
Apart from touching and feeling the fabric, light is another amazing trick that can be proven useful while purchasing high-quality cotton. If a fabric reflects a lot of light through it, then it represents that the fabric is not woven or knitted very densely and is probably going to lose shape and wear out quickly.
Finishing: The Uniformity Test
Since cotton is spun to create a yarn, which makes it easy to be inspected. With a closer view, all you could see is a regular pattern of smooth rows.
When Doing Online Shopping
When opting to buy online, you need to depend on the details & product description. As a rule of thumb, one can assume that the product with more information related to fabric, its composition, specs, and characteristics, the higher the quality would be of that product and vise versa. So, if a brand does not exhibit the attributes of their materials in detail, one can consider that the cotton fabric is of poor quality mainly due to the absence of necessary information.
At Sew Banana, the best online fabric store in the UAE, we work solely with high-quality or finely combed cotton. If you are interested to find more details about it, check the product description of each of our products, available on our website.
