Lacoste Fabric Mills Directory

What Lacoste Fabric Is

The name comes from the polo shirt: the knitted pique developed for tennis in the early twentieth century and popularised by the Lacoste shirt became so closely tied to that garment that 'Lacoste fabric' entered trade language as a name for the cloth itself. Structurally it is pique, a double knit in which a pattern of fine cords and small indentations is knitted into the face. Those indentations are the point: they lift much of the fabric slightly off the skin, create tiny air pockets, and give the surface its dry, textured hand. A pique polo therefore feels cooler and less clingy than the same weight of plain single jersey, which is why the structure survived long after tennis whites gave way to everyday sportswear.

Most Lacoste-type piques are knitted from cotton or cotton-rich yarns, sometimes with polyester for colourfastness and easy care in team and work uniforms. Weights sit in the middle of the knit range - heavy enough that the texture shows and the collar stands, light enough to wear in summer. The classic ground is white and the classic palette runs through navy, black, red, green and sky, but the structure takes piece dyeing, yarn dyeing and printing well, and finer gauges knit the smooth, dressier piques used in better polos and knit dresses. Quality shows in recovery: a good pique springs back after stretching at the placket and cuffs, holds its texture through washing, and does not twist around the body.

Where Pique Knit Is Used

The polo shirt is the fabric's home - golf, tennis, team kit, school and work uniforms, and the casual Friday wardrobe all run on it - but the structure earns its place elsewhere too. Pique appears in knit dresses and skirts that need body without stiffness, in children's wear that must wash constantly, in the collars, cuffs and plackets of garments whose bodies are another knit, and in light jackets and sweatshirt alternatives where a flat jersey would look underdressed. Buyers specifying pique should name the gauge or texture scale they want, the fibre and any elastane content, the finished weight, and the shrinkage standard the garment programme requires, because two fabrics both sold as pique can differ in all four.

This directory page is the Lacoste entry in the wider fabric mill listings. Its one listed company, Gideon Textiles Inc. of Canada, is carried below with a link to its Fabric Mills by Name profile, where its directory record lives. Readers comparing knit structures should also see this section's Pique Fabric directory, the Jersey Knit Fabric page for the plain single knit a polo is usually compared with, and the Interlock Knit Fabric directory for the smooth double knit. Thank you for using the Apparel Search Fabric Mill Directory.

Caring for Pique Knit

Pique rewards simple care. Cotton pique washes well in warm water, and its texture settles into a better hand over the first few washes as the yarns relax; the enemies are hard twisting and excessive heat, which can distort the honeycomb and shrink a collar out of proportion with the body. Better garments guard against this with firm knitted collars, taped necklines and side vents that move with the wearer. When buying pique by the yard, test the recovery by stretching a corner - it should spring back flat - and hold the cloth to the light, where thin, uneven knitting shows at once. A dense, even pique with a dry hand is the cloth the classic shirt is made from.

Lacoste Knit Fabric Mills Listed Here