What Is French Terry Fabric?
French terry is a knit fabric with soft loops on the inside face and a smooth, flat surface on the outside. It is the cloth most sweatshirts, hoodies and joggers are made from. The loops are the entire point: they hold air, absorb moisture, and give the fabric substance that a plain jersey of the same fibre cannot reach.
You will also see it written French terry cloth, French terry knit, or shortened to terry. The name comes from ordinary terry towelling, which carries loops on both faces. French terry has them on one face only — which is why a sweatshirt is smooth against the world and soft against you.
How French terry is made
It is knitted rather than woven, on a circular knitting machine. Alongside the yarns forming the ground fabric, an extra yarn is fed in and drawn into loops that stand proud of the back face. Change how long those loops are, how fine the yarn is, and how tightly the ground is knitted, and you change the weight, the stretch and the handle of the finished cloth. That is why two fabrics both correctly labelled French terry can feel nothing alike, and why a swatch settles arguments that a specification cannot.
French terry vs fleece
This is the question we field most often, and the answer is simpler than most sources make it. Fleece is French terry that has been brushed. The loops are mechanically raised and cut into a soft nap, which traps more air and makes the cloth warmer, thicker and fluffier inside. Leave the loops as knitted and it stays French terry.
| French terry | Fleece (brushed back) | |
|---|---|---|
| Inside face | Loops, left as knitted | Loops brushed into a soft nap |
| Warmth | Moderate, and breathable | Warmer, holds more air |
| Handle | Drapes, holds its shape | Bulkier and softer |
| Season | Year round | Autumn and winter |
| Pilling | Less prone, the surface is stable | More prone, brushing loosens fibre ends |
| Suits | Sweatshirts, joggers, dresses, year-round hoodies | Winter hoodies, heavy loungewear |
For a brand the consequence is seasonal. A fleece-back hoodie sells hard from September and sits still in June. French terry moves all year, which is usually the better first choice when you are carrying the stock yourself.
What weight to specify
French terry is bought and specified by weight in GSM, grams per square metre, and the number decides more than the feel — it sets the fabric cost of every unit and the freight weight of every carton.
- 240–280 GSM — summer-weight sweatshirts, drapey dresses, lighter joggers.
- 280–350 GSM — the standard hoodie and sweatshirt range. Most brands start here.
- 350–500 GSM — heavyweight streetwear, the boxy structured hoodie that stands up on its own.
Above roughly 400 GSM the garment stops draping and starts holding a shape, which is the effect heavyweight streetwear is buying. It also gets slower to dry and more expensive to ship, so the weight is a decision about the product rather than a measure of quality. Heavier is not better; heavier is different.
Cotton, and organic cotton
100% cotton French terry is the classic and still the most common. Adding 2–5% elastane gives stretch French terry, which recovers better at cuffs and waistbands and suits fitted joggers. Polyester blends cost less and resist shrinking, at the cost of the dry cotton handle most brands are actually asking for.
Organic cotton French terry is the same construction knitted from certified organic yarn. If you intend to make an organic claim on the label, the certificate has to follow the fabric through every stage, which is what a GOTS certified factory exists to document. Ours is RSC 9687, and it is checkable in the GOTS public database without asking us.
The variants worth knowing
- Reverse French terry — knitted so the loops sit on the outside. A deliberate texture choice, common in premium streetwear.
- Brushed French terry — the loops raised into a nap. Warmer, softer, and the same thing as fleece-back.
- Stretch French terry — elastane in the blend, for fitted shapes and better recovery.
- Heavyweight French terry — 350 GSM and up, structured rather than drapey.
What a factory needs from you
A fabric name on its own is not a specification. "French terry" narrows it to a family, and every question that decides the garment is still open. What we ask for, in order of how much trouble it saves later: the weight in GSM, the composition including any elastane, whether the back is to be brushed or left as loops, and a reference garment you already like the feel of. That last one settles more than the first three combined, because handle is the thing numbers describe worst.
If you are pricing a range, it is worth knowing that moving a hoodie from 280 to 400 GSM raises the fabric cost of every unit and the shipping weight of every carton at once. On a full container that is a real number, not a rounding error.
We knit and sew French terry every week at our own floor in Narayanganj, from a 100-piece minimum per style. If you are working on hoodies, sweatshirts or joggers, send the reference garment with your enquiry and we will match the fabric rather than guess at it.
Frequently asked questions
Is French terry warm?
Moderately, and that is its advantage rather than a shortcoming. The loops on the inside face hold a layer of air, so it is warmer than a single jersey t-shirt fabric but cooler than a brushed fleece, and it stays breathable because the loops are open rather than napped. In practice that makes it the year-round option: a French terry hoodie is comfortable in spring and autumn and survives a mild winter, where a fleece-back hoodie is too warm for half the year. If you are carrying your own stock, that seasonal spread usually matters more than peak warmth.
What is the difference between French terry and fleece?
One finishing step. Fleece is French terry that has been brushed: the loops on the inside face are mechanically raised and cut into a soft nap, which holds more air and makes the fabric warmer, thicker and fluffier against the skin. Leave the loops as knitted and it remains French terry. Everything else follows from that. Fleece is warmer and softer but bulkier, more prone to pilling because brushing loosens fibre ends, and slightly more expensive per metre for the extra process. French terry drapes better, holds its shape, and sells all year.
Is French terry stretchy?
It has natural give because it is a knit rather than a woven, so it stretches across the width and recovers reasonably well. That is enough for a relaxed hoodie or a straight jogger. It is not enough for a fitted shape that has to hold at the cuff and waistband through repeated wear, which is why fitted joggers usually specify stretch French terry with 2 to 5% elastane in the blend. If your sample keeps bagging at the knee or the cuff goes slack, elastane content is the first thing to check, not the weight.
What GSM is French terry?
Most French terry sits between 240 and 500 GSM. Around 240 to 280 gives a summer-weight sweatshirt or a drapey dress; 280 to 350 is the standard hoodie and sweatshirt range where most brands start; 350 and above is heavyweight streetwear, structured enough to hold its own shape. Above roughly 400 GSM the fabric stops draping, takes longer to dry and costs more to ship, so treat the weight as a decision about what the garment should do rather than a measure of quality.
What is reverse French terry?
French terry knitted so the loops sit on the outside of the garment rather than the inside, putting the smooth face against the skin and the looped texture on show. It is a deliberate aesthetic choice rather than a performance one, common in premium streetwear where the texture is the point. It behaves like standard French terry otherwise, though the exposed loops are more vulnerable to snagging in wear, which is worth knowing before you put it into a range that has to survive being thrown in a gym bag.
Does French terry shrink?
Cotton French terry will shrink if nothing is done about it, which is why the finishing matters as much as the fabric. Compacting, sometimes called pre-shrinking, relaxes the fabric before cutting and brings residual shrinkage down to a few percent. Ask what the finishing is and what residual shrinkage the mill states, then confirm it on your own sample with a wash test before bulk rather than after. A garment that fits the size chart off the machine and misses it after one wash is a shrinkage problem, not a grading one.
Have an idea? Let’s make it.
We manufacture from 100 pieces per style, with GOTS-certified organic options and photos at every stage. Send a sketch or a sentence — we’ll reply within a day.
