Ottoman Fabric Mills Directory

What Ottoman Fabric Is

Ottoman is a ribbed fabric whose ribs run horizontally, across the width of the cloth, and are far bolder than the fine lines of a poplin or a faille. The classic construction is a plain weave in which a fine warp is completely covered by a much heavier weft, with several weft picks packed into each visible cord, so the surface becomes a series of soft, rounded ridges. Traditionally the warp was silk and the filling cotton or wool, giving a lustrous rib with body underneath; modern ottoman reverses and mixes fibres freely, and knitted ottoman, the form the original directory header names for this page, builds a similar corded effect on knitting machines for fashion and upholstery cloth with some give.

That rib is not decoration added afterwards; it is the structure itself, which is why ottoman keeps its texture through wear and cleaning in a way printed or embossed ribs cannot. The cloth is firm, holds a shape, and catches light differently on the top and side of each cord, so a single dye shade reads as two tones across a garment. Weight follows fibre and cord size: light silk ottoman serves dresses and ceremonial wear, medium cotton and blend ottoman serves suiting and uniforms, and heavy ottoman becomes upholstery, drapery and luggage cloth where the rib also hides abrasion.

Where Ottoman Fabric Is Used

Formal and ceremonial clothing is ottoman's historic home: academic and legal gowns, evening coats, structured dresses and the facings and trims where a ribbed silk catches candlelight and camera flash have used it for well over a century. The same body that serves ceremony serves tailoring, so ottoman appears in jackets, waistcoats, skirts and uniforms that must look crisp at a distance. At furniture weight it covers chairs and panels, and the knitted form turns up in fashion tops, dresses and soft furnishings where a corded surface with stretch is wanted. Buyers should note the rib direction before cutting: ottoman ribs are normally worn running horizontally around the body, and a pattern cut the other way changes both the look and the hang of the cloth.

The nine listings below are this directory's ottoman mills, each linked to its Fabric Mills by Name profile: Ahmed Fine Textile Mills Limited and Gulshan Weaving Mills of Pakistan, Changshu Sunwell Knitting Textile Co., Ltd., Shanghai Best Linen Cotton Textile Factory and Xiamen C and D Inc. of China, Jong Stit Knitting Co. Ltd. of Thailand, Lu Her Knitting Factory of Taiwan, Safer Textile Processing Corp. of the USA, and Shahtex (Leicester) Limited of the United Kingdom. The mix, knitting houses in East and Southeast Asia alongside weaving and processing mills in South Asia, the USA and the UK, fits a fabric made in both woven and knitted forms. None has been removed: no listing was verified dead, and this directory's standing rule is to keep a listing when in doubt. Thank you for using the Apparel Search Fabric Mill Directory.

Specifying and Caring for Ottoman

A useful ottoman specification names the fibre, the construction, woven or knitted, the rib size, fine or bold, the weight, and the finish, because two cloths both sold as ottoman can differ in every one of those. Handle a sample across the rib and along it: good ottoman ribs are even, fully covered, with no grin-through of the ground yarn at the cord tops, and the cloth should recover from folding without the ribs flattening permanently. In the workroom, ottoman sews like the firm fabric it is; mark the rib direction on every pattern piece, match ribs at visible seams where the design calls for it, and test pressing on a cutting first, because high heat and pressure can glaze silk and flatten the cord that gives the fabric its name.

Care follows the fibre, not the rib name: silk and wool ottoman is dry-clean territory, cotton and most blend ottoman washes gently and irons on the reverse under a cloth, and knitted ottoman should be dried flat or hung carefully so its own weight does not pull the ribs out of line. Store structured ottoman garments hung rather than folded, for the same reason mills ship the cloth rolled: a sharp fold across the ribs can leave a line that steaming only partly lifts.

Ottoman Fabric Mills Listed Here