Flock

What Flocking Is

The American Flock Association's definition is the trade's standard: flocking is the application of fine particles to adhesive-coated surfaces, and the majority of flocking done worldwide uses finely cut natural or synthetic fibers. The fibers - flock - are precision-cut to lengths from a fraction of a millimetre to several millimetres, from nylon, viscose (rayon), polyester or cotton tow. A ground material is printed or coated with adhesive in the areas to be flocked, the flock is applied, and the fibers anchor in the adhesive standing upright, so a printed pattern gains a dense, velvet-like pile. Application is mechanical - flock scattered and beaten in - or electrostatic, the industrial standard, where a high-voltage field charges the fibers and drives them to stand perpendicular in the adhesive, giving the even, deep pile that makes flocked cloth feel like suede or velvet and flocked wallpaper feel like the flock papers of the eighteenth century, whose technique this industry descends from.

The results divide by ground and purpose. Flocked fabrics - velvet and suede imitations, flocked velvets themselves, upholstery and wallcoverings - are flocked across the full width, usually by specialist finishers working for converters. Flocked transfers and graphics apply the same pile to a design only: the velvety letters and logos on T-shirts, jeans, labels and hats that several companies below specialise in, applied by heat transfer to a finished garment. Flock coating of objects - automotive glove boxes and trim, packaging inserts, display and jewellery cases, rubber seals whose flock reduces friction and noise - extends the process beyond cloth entirely, and the directory's companies span all three trades, which is why this page reads as a small industry directory rather than a mill list: flocking is a finishing speciality, practised by coaters and transfer makers as much as by fabric mills.

Flock Fibers, Quality and Care

Fiber choice sets the flock's character. Nylon flock is the durable standard - strong, resilient, colourfast - for upholstery, automotive and hard-wearing garment work. Viscose flock is softer and more velvet-like, the choice for fashion cloth, flock velvet and decorative paper, at some cost in wet strength. Polyester serves outdoor and technical uses; cotton flock is the soft, matte, economical option for paper and packaging. Quality shows in the cut - precision-cut flock of even length stands uniformly, while milled flock, ground rather than cut, gives a shorter, denser, more suede-like surface at lower cost - and in the adhesive and cure, which decide whether the pile survives washing, abrasion and flexing or sheds. A well-flocked cloth can be washed gently and brushed to restore the pile; a poor one bald-patches. Buyers should test rub-fastness and wash behaviour on the actual article, because flock quality lives entirely in those two tests.

Care follows the ground fabric, with the pile's needs added: wash inside out and gently, avoid harsh brushing when wet, and expect flocked prints to prefer lower iron temperatures applied from the reverse. Around this directory, flock belongs with the surface-decoration pages of the fabric section - Embroidered Fabric is its stitched counterpart - and the Fabric Directory hub indexes the full family. This directory lists fourteen companies linked to their own websites, plus Annpurna Flock Industries and Transflock Bangkok, which are listed without website links. Thank you for using the Apparel Search Fabric Mill Directory.

Flock Companies Listed in This Directory