Glossary

Customer Care

If you like to “talk DreamFit® sheets,” here are some terms that might come in handy.

BARRIER (geotextile)

is a material that prevents fluid movement across the surface of a geotextile. A non-woven geotextile saturated with an impermeable substance can act as a barrier material.

BLEND

is a term applied to a yarn or a fabric that is made up of more than one kind of fiber. In blended yarns, two or more different types of staple fibers are twisted or spun together to into the finished yarn. An example of a typical blended yarn or fabric is polyester/cotton.

BREATHABLILTY

is the ability of a fabric, coating or laminate to transfer water vapor from one of its surfaces… through the material… to the other surface.

CARDING

is the disentanglement, cleaning and intermixing of fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passing the fibres between moving pins, wires or teeth.

COLOR FASTNESS

is a term used to describe a dyed fabric’s ability to resist fading due to washing, exposure to sunlight and other environmental conditions.

COMBING

is the process that takes fibers an additional step beyond carding. In this process the fibers are arranged in a highly parallel form, and additional short fibers are removed, producing high quality yarns with excellent strength, fineness, and uniformity.

ELASTICITY

is the ability of a fiber or fabric to return to its original length, shape, or size immediately after the removal of stress.

FINISHED FABRIC

is a fabric that has gone through all the necessary finishing processes and is ready to be used in the manufacturing of garments.

GREIGE

is a term used to describe textile products prior to bleaching, dyeing or finishing. Some greige textiles may, however, contain already dyed or finished yarns.

HAND

is the way a fabric feels when touched. Terms like softness, crispness, dryness, and silkiness are all terms that describe the hand of the fabric.

LINEN

is a fabric made from fibers obtained from inside the woody stem of the flax plant. Linen fibers are much stronger and more lustrous than cotton. Linen sheets are very cool and absorbent, but wrinkle very easily, unless blended with manufactured fibers. Linen is one of the oldest textile fibers.

MERCERISATION

is a treatment of yarns or fabrics with caustic alkali. It makes fibers swell and stretch to increase luster in the finished product.

PILL

is a tangled ball of fibers that appears on the surface of a fabric. A pill happens because of wear or continued rubbing on the fabric’s surface.

PLIED YARN

is a twisting together of two or more single yarns in one operation.

QUILTING

is a method of fabric construction where a layer of down…or fiberfill…is sandwiched between two outer layers of fabric. The multiple layers are then held in place by stitching or sealing which makes a consistent pattern.

RESILIENCY

is the ability of a fabric to spring back to its original shape after being twisted, crushed, wrinkled, or distorted in any way.