THE ABC'S OF DENIM

Learn all about the ABC's of Denim, from wash techniques, to dyeing processes, to how designers achieve your
jeans' favorite worn-in feel.

Abrasion The process of making garments look worn and aged by scraping or rubbing the
surface of the fabric causing abrasion.

Acid Wash The finish that gives indigo jeans sharp contrasts by soaking pumice stones in
chlorine and letting the stones create the contrast.

Bartak Stitching that reinforces places on jeans such as flies and pocket openings.

Bleach A chemical used to make denim fade.

Carding The process in which raw cotton is separated and cleaned to make a sliver.

Cotton After blooming, this plant turns from white to purple, providing the well-known textile
that withstands high temperatures, accepts dyes well, and increases in strength when wet.
The quality of cotton is determined by the length of fibres; the longer the fibres, the higher the
quality.

Crocking A term used to describe how dye rubs off fabric on skin or other fabric.

Crosshatch Mixing uneven yarns in both the weft and warped directions to create a unique
type of denim that shows a square grid-like pattern in the weave.

Defoliant A chemical that causes plants' leaves to drop off earlier, used to speed up the
harvesting process of cotton.

Denim The word denim is believed to be a derivative of the French term, serge de Nîmes, a
rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more warp fibers, producing
the familiar diagonal ribbing identifiable on the reverse of the fabric distinguishing denim from
cotton duck.

Dips What fabric or yarn are called when dipped in dye.

Double Needle A common seam on jeans where two stitchs run parallel to each other for
reinforcement.
Dual Ring Spun The process in which both the warp and weft threads are made of ring-
spun yarn. It creates a much softer and textured hand than regular (single) ring-spun denim.

Enzymes Proteins that speed up chemical processes. They are used in textile processing,
mainly in the finishing of fabrics and garments.

Enzyme Wash A more environmentally sound way to create a stone wash, organic
proteins are used to eat away at the indigo.

Finishing The overall processes performed on a garment giving it its unique look.

Five Pocket Jeans Most frequent design for denim: two back pockets, two front pockets
and a coin pocket inside the right front pocket.

Ginning The process in which seeds are removed from picked cotton.

Hand The term used to describe how denim feels.

Indigo A blue dye obtained from indigo plants. The chemical structure was synthetically
produced in 1987. Indigo's inherent features are good colorfastness to water and light and a
continual fading. This allows the blue color in jeans to always look irregular and individual.

Jean Possibly derived from the French work "genes", it was first used to describe the type of
pant worn by Genoan sailors.

Laundry A facility that takes unwashed jeans and processes them; i.e. stone wash,
sandblasting, finishing, etc. It is essential in creating commercial denim and has become as
important as fabric development.

Left-Hand Twill A weave in which the grain lines run from the top left-hand corner of the
fabric towards the bottom right. Usually in piece-dyed fabrics, left-hand twill fabrics are woven
from single piled yarns in the warp. They often have a softer hand feel to them after washing.

Loop Dyed One of three major industrial methods of dyeing indigo yarn.

Open-End Spinning A spinning process in which individual fibers are fed into a high-
speed rotor shaped like a cup where they begin to accumulate. The yarns produced using this
method are not as strong as the ring-spun yarns of the same size.

Overdye A dying process in which additional color is applied to create a different shade or
cast on the garment.
Oxidation In denim manufacturing, when indigo yarn comes out of the dip and joins
oxygen, penetrating the fibre.

Padazoic A dye used in the late 1960's - early 1970's in place of indigo, which was in short
supply and high demand.

Pigment Dyes Dye that lack the ability to grab onto the fibers and must be held to the
fabric with resins.

Pima Cotton Originally grown in the 1900's in Peru, Pima Cotton is known for its long
fibres, making it a very high quality, luxurious cotton. Pima Cotton was brought to America
and got its name from the Pima Indians, who harvested this particular type of cotton.

Polyurethane Provides a chemical resistance in the washing and dyeing process in order
to achieve the desired denim wash/ color. It is the basis of a novel type of elastomeric fiber
known generically as spandex. It is a man-made fiber (segmented polyurethane) able to
stretch at least 100% and snap back like natural rubber.

Pumice Stone Lightweight and strong, this stone is used in the process of stone-washing
apparel.

Ring Dyeing Describes a quality unique to indigo dye in which only the outer ring of the
fibers in the yarn is dyed while the inner core remains white.

Ring Spinning The process that creates unique surface characteristics in a garment by
feeding individual fibers into the end of the yarn while in its twisting zone producing an
irregular authentic vintage look. Ring-spun yarns add strength, softness and character to
jeans.

River Washing The process that creates a naturally aged look by combining pumice
stones and cellulose enzymes. The washer is first loaded with stones and fabric. The second
stage introduces the enzymes and tumbled together to give denim a vintage, worn hand.

Rivet A metal accessory that is used for reinforcement of stress points as well as
nonfunctional ornamentation.

Sanding Process that makes the surface of a garment soft by rubbing aggressively with
paper containing small loose grains of worn rock.

Sea Island Cotton Known for its silky feel and lustre, one of the best cotton fibres.

Selvage The edge of a fabric that is woven so that it will not fray or ravel. Old 28 to 30 inch
shuttle looms produce denim where selvages are closed, whereas on the larger modern
weaving machines the weft yarn is cut on every pick, creating what is called a fringe selvage.

Skewing Refers to the occurrence of twisting that happens when the fabric shrinks more
perpendicular to the twill line. Denim needs to be redirected or "skewed" to prevent the side
seam from twisting to the front of the jean.

Slasher Dyeing One of the three main methods of dyeing indigo yarn.

Spinning A process used to create yarn or thread where short fibres are twisted together.
These yarns will be used to weave into cloth or used in sewing. Longer fibres like silk are not
spun.

Stone Washing Process that physically removes color and adds contrast using pumice
stones. The longer the denim and stones are rotated the lighter the color becomes and more
contrast occurs. The denim is then rinsed, softened, and tumble-dried.

Supima American Pima Cotton

Weft The un-dyed crosswise filling yarns used in denim weave.

Whiskering Term used to describe a denim that has a fading of the ridges in creases in the
crotch area and back of the knees giving the appearance of aged denim.

Yarn Dye Refers to fabric where the individual yarns are dyed prior to weaving.