How Joggers and Sweatpants Are Made: Fleece Weights, Rib, Drawcords and What Moves the Price

Most premium sweatpants sit between 320 and 400 GSM (grams per square metre), roughly 9.4 to 11.8 oz per square yard. That band is heavy enough to hold a shape and hide the knee but light enough to wear indoors. Our working range for joggers runs from 280 to 450 GSM. From 280 to 320 you get a light terry that drapes and dries fast, suited to warm climates, lounge and travel sets and summer drops; below 280 the trouser becomes a lounge pant. From 400 to 450 you get heavyweight fleece, warm and slow to dry, for winter ranges and cold-climate markets such as Canada; above 450 it becomes a winter garment that takes a long time to dry. Weight is also the largest single price lever, because fabric is bought by the kilo and a trouser uses a great deal of it, so choose the band for your season and market rather than defaulting to the heaviest.

French terry and fleece sweatpants are knitted the same way; fleece simply has its looped back brushed into a soft nap, which makes it warmer than terry. Left unbrushed, the loops give French terry, sometimes called loopback, which breathes, drapes and dries faster. Brushed, they give fleece, which is warmer and softer but heavier for the same yarn. Brushing is an extra mill process, so fleece costs more, and on a cheap base yarn it pills once brushed, which makes the yarn matter more on fleece than on terry. For sweatpants the choice is mostly about season: we usually steer year-round and warm-climate ranges to terry, and winter ranges, cold-climate markets such as Canada, or customers who buy the jogger for its softness, to fleece. Whichever you choose, the quote should name the fabric family and the weight, because a 450 GSM brushed fleece and a 300 GSM terry are very different trousers at very different prices.

Jogger cuffs go loose because the cuff rib was under-specified: it has no elastane, it is knitted at a loose gauge, or it is a strip of the leg fabric standing in for rib. The cuff, usually a 2x2 rib, is pulled over a foot every time the jogger goes on. Plain cotton rib recovers well when new but relaxes over a season of being pulled on and off, and the cuff ends up slack and wavy. Elastane is there for the thousandth time the cuff is pulled over a heel, not the first: it keeps the ankle closing. Ask each factory what the cuff rib is made of and whether it is knitted as rib. We specify our cuff rib with elastane and have body and rib dyed in the same lot at our partner dye house, so the cuff is not a shade off the leg. Open-hem sweats avoid the problem, at the cost of the silhouette.

Not from us: we do not fit functional drawcords on children's joggers at all, only elastic or a fixed decorative cord that looks the same. Neither the US rule nor Health Canada's notice is written for trousers. The US rule, 16 CFR 1120 built on ASTM F1816, covers children's upper outerwear, which CPSC describes as garments such as jackets and sweatshirts, and Health Canada's notice likewise covers upper outerwear. At the waist and hem of those garments, in sizes 2T to 16, they limit a drawstring to 3 inches (76.2 mm) outside the channel when fully expanded, with no toggles or knots. The European standard EN 14682:2014, which is also designated in Great Britain, covers cords on children's clothing more broadly and limits cords and their free ends by age band. We leave the functional cord off kids' joggers in every market. Our children's clothing safety guide sets out each market's rule.

A reference pair, or a photo of one, and four answers: French terry or fleece, the weight band, cuffed or open hem, and how many colours. From that we propose the cuff rib, the waistband build and the pocket set, then sample the jogger, wash it and send you the washed measurements. A physical pair you already like is the most useful reference, because we build the pattern from its measurements and grade it across your sizes, with inseam options, as a one-off cost shared across the order; a photo shows the style but cannot fix the fit. A tech pack helps if you have one, and our free tech pack template already has the jogger fields laid out. On quantity, plan for 150 pieces per style and colour, with sizes split freely inside that. Two colours are two minimums, because each colour is its own dye lot, and a matching hoodie doubles the fabric booking.

Compacting is a mechanical pre-shrinking of the fabric before it is cut, and on cotton joggers it is the step that stops the trouser losing a size in the first hot wash. Cotton fleece and French terry both shrink, and on a trouser the loss shows mostly in the length, so an uncompacted jogger comes back from the wash with a shorter inseam. Compacting takes that movement out of the cloth before any pattern piece is cut. It is charged per kilo, so on a 150-piece run it adds only a small cost to each pair. Every fleece and terry we run is compacted at the partner mill before cutting. We then put the pre-production pair through a wash and measure its inseam and waist again, so the size chart you approve allows for whatever shrinkage the compacting left behind. When you compare quotes, ask whether the fabric is compacted and whether the size chart is set from washed or unwashed measurements.

In six stages, and most of the quality is decided in the first two. First the fabric: cotton yarn is knitted into French terry, with loops on the back, and for fleece those loops are brushed into a soft nap. Second, the cloth is dyed, with the cuff rib dyed in the same lot so the ankle matches the leg, then compacted, a mechanical pre-shrink that stops the trouser losing length in the first hot wash. Third, a pattern is built, often from a reference pair you already like, and graded across sizes with inseam options. Fourth, the panels are cut and sewn: side seams and pockets, the rise, the covered elastic waistband with its drawcord and eyelets, and the rib cuffs. Fifth, a pre-production sample is washed and measured again. Sixth, that sample is sealed, and every bulk piece is measured against it before it ships.

Most joggers are cotton French terry or cotton fleece, which are the same knit with or without a brushed back, in weights from about 280 to 450 GSM. French terry, sometimes called loopback, leaves the loops on the reverse as they are, so it breathes, drapes and dries quickly; fleece has those loops brushed into a soft nap, which makes it warmer and softer but heavier for the same yarn. The band most premium brands settle on is 320 to 400 GSM. The rest of the jogger is trims and rib: a covered elastic waistband, a flat drawcord through metal or embroidered eyelets, and ankle cuffs knitted as 2x2 rib, which we specify with elastane so the cuff keeps closing. Zipped pockets add a zip as a further trim. When you compare quotes, check that each names the fabric family, the weight and what the cuff rib is made of, because those three decide how the jogger wears.

It depends on what the sweatpants are for, because each fibre fails in a different way. 100% cotton French terry or fleece breathes and feels dry and soft against the skin, but it shrinks unless the cloth is compacted, and without a little elastane it can bag at the knee. A cotton-rich blend with polyester holds its shape, shrinks less and dries faster, which suits hard-worn everyday or team sweatpants. Its weakness is pilling. Cotton Incorporated's guidance on pilling notes that blends of cotton and synthetic staple fibres tend to pill more than 100% cotton, because the stronger polyester fibre anchors the balls of lint to the surface. The joggers this guide describes are cotton terry or fleece, compacted before cutting, with elastane in the cuff rib. Whichever you choose, ask for the exact fibre split in writing and check it against the sample's content label.

In everyday speech the two words overlap, but in a factory they are two different patterns. A jogger tapers through the knee to a narrow ankle and finishes in a rib cuff, usually 2x2 with elastane, so the leg gathers above the shoe and reads as athletic or streetwear. A classic sweatpant is cut straighter or more relaxed and usually finishes in an open hem that falls over the shoe, although some older styles are cuffed too. Both use the same French terry or fleece and the same waistband build. The difference sits in the thigh, knee and leg opening measurements, and in whether the bottom of the leg is a separate rib piece or a turned hem. So the tech pack changes too: a cuff needs its height, an open hem a hem depth. Because they are different patterns, each is its own style with its own minimum of 150 pieces per colour.