Key Concepts

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🏠 HOME 🧵 NATURAL FIBERS 💼 LEATHER 📝 QUIZ 🧔🏽 ABOUT ME 🔎 RESOURCES

🧵 NATURAL FIBERS 💼 LEATHER 📝 QUIZ 🧔🏽 ABOUT ME 🔎 RESOURCES

There are a few vocab words you should get comfy with before you explore the rest of this site, to help you understand whats going on.

Staple

Is a term used to refer to discrete lengths of fibers. Lets say you have two grades of cotton one high and one lower, the higher one will have a longer staple length, resulting in better strength, and the ability to make finer yarn for finer garments.

Bast Fiber

Is a term used to refer to the long strong fibers found in the bast or outer structure of the stalk of the plant. A few examples are flax and hemp.

Seed Fiber

Is a term that in the context of the clothing industry is specifically used to accurately describe the boll or protective fiberous seed covering of the cotton plant.

Animal Fiber

Is a term that is used to describe fibers that unlike plant fibers which are primarily composed of cellulose, are instead mostly made up of animal proteins. This includes outlies such as the silks of silkworms and spiders.

"Genuine Leather"

Is a term usually used to describe the lowest of grade of leather products. Like you can claim that MDF (medium density fiberboard, IKEA furniture material) is wood, likewise you can label shredded up and glued lower grade leather as genuine. There are other more enlightening terms on the leather page for better grades of leather. Also known as reconstituted leather, and bonded leather