Heathered
Also known as: Heather
Visual term for fabric with a mixed, shading colour impression from differently dyed fibres.
Description
Heathered is the common term in retail for textile goods whose surface shows a mixed, visually dissolving colour impression. The effect arises from knitting or weaving melange yarns (see separate entry) or from cross-dyeing a blend fabric. The most striking form is the silver or grey heather look on classic basic T-shirts that defines the entire sport and leisure textile industry.
In practice several heather grades exist: 5-10 % foreign fibre gives a fine, barely visible heather; 15-25 % a medium melange look; 40-60 % (two-colour melange) a distinctly shading effect with clear colour character. Fibres can be cotton with cotton, cotton with polyester (typical for 60/40 sport sweat goods) or wool with wool.
Retail advantages: heathered goods look wearable, hide small stains and pilling and age visually more attractively than solid colours. Downside: heathered cannot be produced by later piece or garment dyeing but must be set up before processing through fibre or yarn dyeing. This increases lead time for collections.
Properties
| Process | Fibre blend before yarn formation |
|---|---|
| Result | Visually dissolved colour impression |
| Colour fastness | High, as fibre is pre-dyed |
Related product categories
Sources & references
2- Wikipedia: Melange Wikipedia — Freie Enzyklopädie https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melange_(Textil)
- Textile Value Chain textilevaluechain.in https://textilevaluechain.in/
