Holl Fabrics

Holl Guide to Shirt Fabric Types

In general most shirts today are produced from fabrics made of cotton. More sporadically we find shirts of other fabrics such as linen, cashmere, wool, silk and hemp.

Cotton
The term cotton comes from the Arabic katun that means "conquered land" referring to the empire of Alexander the Great that promoted the diffusion of cotton in the Mediterranean area.

A vegetable fiber, it is obtained from the cotton plant, a shrub with lobe shaped leaves and large flowers of white, yellow or red. The dry fruit at maturity is a capsule that opens in five lobes revealing the seeds covered with thick white "wool" comprised of unicellular fibers of nearly pure cellulose. After the fibers are separated from the seeds the cotton is cleaned and combed to eliminate impurities.

Cotton is the fabric from which 90% of men's shirts are produced. This is due to the characteristics that make it well adapted to be in contact with the skin. It is a fiber which is soft, light, allows the skin to breathe, has a good capacity to absorb and is capable of surviving many washings. It takes color very easily and retains it well.

In commerce cotton is classified based on the criteria for judging its quality which are the grade, the color, the length of the fiber and the character.

• GRADE is the external appearance which is determined based on the luminosity of the fiber, major or minor, the white color more or less intense and on the minor or major presence of extraneous substances in the cotton.

• COLOR varies greatly from a more or less immaculate white to a gray characteristic of cultivated cottons, but also colors tending toward red, chamois and yellow. The whiteness of the color determines the subsequent processing and the possibility of obtaining a quality yarn.

• LENGTH of the cotton can be long fiber or short fiber; the first beginning at about 28 mm (1.01 in.) up to a length of 50 mm (2 in.) The others can have maximum length of 18 mm (0.71 in.). There exists also a category of cotton produced in the United States that reaches an intermediate length relative to the others and which constitutes the major part of the global cotton production.

• CHARACTER is an attribute connected to the origin, variety and maturity. In practice, it is the robustness of the fibers, the resistance to traction and breaking, uniformity, coarseness and silkiness.

Cottons are classified in these ways:

Fil-A-Fil
A light fabric suited to all seasons; Its characteristic comes from the working of the different types of cotton of which it is composed.

Twill
A fabric also well suited to all seasons; it is characterized by a texture which is perceived as diagonal lines which may emerge to varying degrees.

Oxford
Characterized by a weave of one line of texture for every two of warp; the effect looking at this fabric is of very small points of white emerging from a colored background. It can have three different versions:
• FINE with a distinct softness can be worn both in the summer in winter.
• MEDIUM suited for garments more informal and sporty
• HEAVY with a notably granular texture, however still soft

English Look
Characterized by a texture of alternating bands of white and colored fibers. It presents itself as an exclusive fabric.

Pinpoint
A fabric derived from an evolution of Oxford, the effect is that of a fairly granular fabric but with a texture that seems to be formed by many tiny pin points.

Poplin
A smooth light fabric characterized by finer lines of warp than those of the texture.

Voile
A very light fabric nearly as impalpable as silk.

Other Yarns

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