Know your fibers

What your clothes are made of

Composition is the one specification on a garment label that is both standardised and genuinely predictive. It tells you how a piece will feel, how it will age, how often it needs cleaning, and whether the price is doing anything. Here is what each fiber is actually good at, and where it lets you down.

• Wool — moisture held 30% of its weight, clean 2 to 3 times a season, weakness slow to dry
• Linen — strength when wet 20% stronger, lifespan decades, softening, weakness creases, always
• Cotton — what decides quality staple length, extra-long staple 34mm and up, weakness holds damp
• Silk — blouse weight 12 to 16 momme, substantial 19 to 22 momme, weakness water marks, sun
• Cashmere — warmth about 3 times wool, grade worth paying for under 16 microns, weakness pills, snags
• Viscose & lyocell — source wood pulp, our tier separate, not natural, weakness weak when wet