Tricot Fabric Factories

Warp Knitting, Not Weft

Most knits a shopper knows - jersey, rib, French terry - are weft knits, built from yarn running across the fabric. Tricot is a warp knit: thousands of yarn ends run lengthwise from beams, and the machine loops each yarn into its neighbors' columns, zig-zagging between two adjacent wales. The result is a fabric with a smooth face of fine vertical ribs, a cross-grain pattern on the back, excellent run resistance (a broken yarn does not ladder the way jersey does), and modest, controlled stretch that factories can tune from almost stable to quite elastic by changing the underlap.

Tricot machines run two guide bars for the standard cloth - the classic two-bar tricot of lingerie and lining - and more bars for patterned and mesh qualities. Seven factories are listed below, and the Tricot Fabric Machinery directory is linked on this page.

The Qualities the Trade Buys

Everyday tricot is nylon or polyester filament, light at roughly 60-150 gsm, and specified by denier and gauge: fine-gauge, low-denier cloth for lingerie, slips and linings; heavier and brushed tricot for sportswear and warm-up suits; tricot mesh and power-net relatives for athletic and foundation garments. Satin tricot carries a long underlap on the face that floats like a satin weave, giving linings and nightwear a liquid sheen. Because the yarns are filament and the structure is stable, tricot prints crisply, heat-sets permanently, and resists the spirality and edge-curl that complicate single jersey.

Buyers distinguish tricot from its warp-knit cousins by structure and use: Raschel, built on a heavier machine type, makes laces, meshes and coarser nets; Milanese is a finer, more elastic two-bar relative now rarely woven; and 'tricot' in a garment spec almost always means the smooth two-bar cloth described here. Ask which the mill is quoting - the words are sometimes used loosely in trade catalogs.

Elastane changes tricot's range without changing its family: a few percent of spandex in the warp-knit structure gives the controlled, even stretch that swimwear, dance costumes, foundation garments and compression sportswear need, with recovery that weft-knit stretch jerseys struggle to match at the same weight. Those qualities are quoted by elastane percentage and stretch-and-recovery test results, and factories heat-set them carefully, because warp knits remember the dimensions they were set at.

Where Tricot Is Used

Lingerie, slips, nightwear and linings are tricot's historic core: the cloth is smooth against skin, does not fray when cut, and slides under other garments. Sportswear takes it for shorts, warm-up suits, jersey linings and mesh panels; swimwear and dancewear use elastane-bearing warp knits from the same machine family; and industry uses tricot in automotive interiors, medical and filtration supports, interlinings and coated-fabric backings, where its stability under coating is the point.

In the cutting room, tricot's stability is its virtue: it lies flat, cuts cleanly without the laddering risk of weft knits, and its edges can be left raw in lingerie and lining work. Seams still need stretch-compatible stitching where the garment must move, and elastane qualities should be rested before cutting, like any elastic knit, so panels do not shrink back off the pattern.

The Factories on This Page

Seven factories are listed below: Dimple International Corporation and Lu Her Knitting Factory from Taiwan; Edley Associates from the USA; G.S. Kankariya and International Technotex from India; Jong Stit Knitting from Thailand; and Glacial Exports. Taiwan's presence is no accident - the island built a world-leading warp-knitting industry around its nylon and polyester filament supply, and Taiwanese tricot still anchors the lingerie and sportswear supply chains that these listings serve.

Fabric Mills and Factories in This Directory

The mills below are listed in this directory. Each name opens the company's profile in the Fabric Mills by Name directory.