How to read a swatch book
The small print on a swatch book tells you more than the colour does.
On the table in our shop there are swatch books for shirting, suiting, linen and chino. Each one has a few lines of print on the cover or inside. Here’s what they mean, using examples from books we actually have.
Weight: gsm
Grams per square metre: how heavy the cloth is. Lower is lighter and usually cooler; higher is more substantial. As examples, one of our easy-care shirting books is listed at 128–150 gsm, a non-wrinkle shirting at 136 gsm, and our stretch chino cloth at 260 gsm. Chinos are meant to be heavier than shirts.
Width: 44″ or 58″
The width of the bolt. It matters to us more than to you: it affects how a garment is laid out and how much cloth it takes. You’ll see both 44″ and 58″ on our shirting books.
Ply
Two-ply means each thread is made of two yarns twisted together. Our Avante shirting book, for example, is described as a 2-ply pure Egyptian cotton collection. Two-ply shirting generally feels more substantial than single-ply.
Weave: plain, twill and others
A twill has a fine diagonal line in the weave. It drapes well and tends to crease less than a plain weave. Stripes, checks and houndstooth are patterns in the weave or the yarn colour.
Easy-iron, non-wrinkle, easy care
Shirting treated or woven to resist creasing. It won’t replace an iron entirely, but a shirt that comes out of a suitcase presentable is worth a lot when you travel.
Stretch
A small amount of stretch in suiting or chino cloth lets the garment move with you. It’s comfortable, and good for travel.
What the swatch can’t tell you
How the cloth feels, and how it looks in daylight. That’s why we’d rather you handle it. If you can’t visit, ask us for photos, and tell us what you’re looking for so we can narrow it down first.