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Fashion & Textiles vocabulary · Fibres & Fabrics

Fibre

Meaning in fashion & textiles, with examples

/ˈfaɪbə/nounCore term

In fashion & textiles, fibre means: A very thin, long strand of natural or man-made material that is spun into yarn to make fabric, such as cotton, wool, polyester or viscose.

In Turkish: lif, elyaf

How it is used

Fibres are grouped as natural (cotton, linen, wool, silk), synthetic (polyester, nylon, elastane) and man-made cellulosic (viscose, lyocell, modal). The word appears in fibre content, fibre blend and fibre composition on labels and spec sheets.

Example sentences

  1. Natural fibres like linen breathe well but crease easily.

  2. The label must show the fibre content in descending order.

Common collocations

  • natural fibre
  • synthetic fibre
  • fibre content
  • fibre blend
  • recycled fibre
  • yarnA continuous thread made by twisting fibres together, which is then woven or knitted into fabric.
  • fabricCloth made by weaving, knitting or bonding fibres or yarns together, used to make clothes, home textiles and many other products.
  • compositionThe fibres a fabric or garment is made of and their percentages, for example 60% cotton, 40% polyester.
  • cottonA soft natural fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant, and the yarn or fabric made from it; the most widely used natural fibre in clothing.
  • polyesterA strong synthetic fibre made from oil-based chemicals; it dries quickly, resists creasing and is the most produced textile fibre in the world.

More terms: Fibres & Fabrics

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