Chiffon Fabric Directory

What Chiffon Is

Chiffon is a sheer, lightweight plain weave made with tightly twisted yarns. The twist is the signature: warp and weft yarns are given a hard crepe twist in alternating directions, which makes the finished cloth slightly springy, faintly crinkled in hand, and possessed of its famous behaviour - it does not fall so much as float, settling in slow, liquid folds. The weave is a simple plain weave with a fine mesh-like openness: hold chiffon to the light and the grid of the weave is visible, which is why chiffon is almost always layered, lined or used where translucency is the point. Its name is French for a cloth or rag - an unglamorous origin for the fabric of evening dresses, bridal veils, scarves and blouse sleeves.

Fiber splits chiffon into two price worlds. Silk chiffon is the original: fluid, breathable, soft to a matte glow, and priced like the luxury it is. Polyester chiffon, which the mills below largely produce, reproduces the float and the drape at a fraction of the cost, resists wrinkling and washing damage better, and holds pleats and prints sharply - at the price of less breathability and a slightly slicker hand. Nylon, rayon and blended chiffons sit between. A buyer comparing chiffons should always start with fiber, then weight in momme or grams per metre, because two cloths both named chiffon can serve a bridal gown and a costume respectively.

Sewing, Printing and Care

Chiffon is famously the fabric dressmakers respect. It shifts under the presser foot, frays at cut edges, and shows every needle hole, so it is sewn with fine needles, narrow French seams and patience; in the factory it rewards experienced lines, which is part of why chiffon garment production concentrates where the mills below operate. The same openness that makes it difficult makes it a superb printing ground: floral polyester chiffons for scarves, blouses and dress overlays are a staple product of the Chinese mills in this list, printed in long runs with the pattern showing softly through both faces of the cloth.

Care follows fiber again - polyester chiffon washes gently and dries in minutes, silk chiffon wants hand washing or dry cleaning and shade drying - and in wear, chiffon's enemies are rough jewellery, hook-and-loop fasteners and sharp nails, all of which pull its fine yarns into snags that cannot be repaired invisibly. Around this directory, the Fabric Directory hub places chiffon among the sheer fabrics, and the trade runs through the Machinery directory, Clothing Industry Factories, Yarn Factories, Fabric Retail and Fabric Wholesalers, with the Fibers Directory and Fabric Definitions alongside.

Using This Directory

The listings below are the complete set for this category as Apparel Search carries it: four mills - Flytex Fabric Company of China, Shenghong Group of China, Vardhman Fabrics and Wujiang Hengyu Textile Dyeing Finishing of China - each linked to its own profile in the Fabric Mills by Name section. No listing has been added or removed. The list's geography is the chiffon market in miniature: high-twist filament weaving is a specialism, and it concentrates in the synthetic-fiber districts of coastal China alongside a major Indian producer. Industry readers also use Fashion Industry News, Clothing Industry Employment and Conversion Charts. Ask each mill for its stock colour range and its minimums on printed designs as well, since chiffon programmes are usually planned a full season ahead, and lead times vary sharply between qualities held in greige and qualities dyed or printed to order. Thank you for using the Apparel Search Fabric Mill Directory.

Chiffon Fabric Mills Listed in This Directory

Choosing between the two dress fabrics? Crepe vs chiffon puts the textured, opaque crepe and the sheer, floating chiffon side by side.