Fun with Fleece Session 2: What is Fleece?

Fleece is everywhere. You see it from blankets to outerwear, from PJs to hats. What is it about fleece that makes us love it so much? Well, first of all, it's very, very lightweight and it's very, very warm. Warmth without weight is always a good thing.

It's also water and wind resistant, which makes it the perfect fabric for outerwear. It also wicks away moisture from your body, which is part of what helps keep you so warm. And it has an amazing ability to retain its loft and insulation even when it's soaking wet. It doesn't shrink, so you don't have to preshrink it before your projects. It doesn't ravel, so you really don't have to do seam finishes.

And it's available in literally unlimited prints, everything from, as you see here, sports-related prints to children's prints, camping prints, stripes, geometrics, plaids, you name it. If you can think of it, there's probably a fleece out there. Not to mention, a wonderful array of solid fleeces. Fleece is available in several different weights. The lightest weight is typically worn next to the body.

You'll even see it for underwear and socks. And that's because it's designed specifically for its wicking abilities. The medium and heavyweights are used more for outerwear, pajamas, even the hats, and that's because it's warm and it has breathability. Most of the prints that you see in the chain fabric stores are indeed medium weight prints. So keep that in mind when it's time to select fleece for your project.

The manufacturers have different designations for the weights. Typically it's 100, 200, and 300, with 100 being the lightweight, 200 being medium, and 300 being heavyweight, but not necessarily. It depends on the manufacturers. They all do different things. So how is this wonderful fabric made?

It's very interesting. It's primarily a polyester fabric, it can either be 100% polyester, or oftentimes you'll see it blended with either cotton, wool, Lycra for stretch, or even rayon. The rayon is part of what gives it more of a brilliant color. The fabric is a knitted fabric and they first take the fibers and twist them into yarns. Then these yarns are knitted and then the manufacturer takes wire brushes and brushes the fabric to raise the nap.

And then the fabric is sheared. So one side of the fabric, when you look at it, if you look down on the edge, sometimes it's a little hard to see, but one side will actually have a denser pile than the other side. And once they've sheared it then they apply the different finishes. Sometimes they'll add an extra finish to enhance the water repellency and the wind repellency, possibly a fire retardant for children's wear, also a finish for the wicking. So it depends on what the designation of the fleece is on that particular run determines what finished will be applied.

The history of fleece is rather interesting. There are numerous manufacturers, and I was surprised when I was doing my research for the video to find out just how many are in the United States and Canada since the majority of the textile industry, all of the mills anyway, have moved out of the United States, but there are quite a few within the good old U.S. of A. There also are mills in China, specifically in Taiwan. Fleece actually, while it hasn't been popular until recently, actually first came onto the market in 1929.

A company called drys burg, or Dyersburg rather, Dyersburg Corporation out of the USA, developed it as a wool blend and it was used for ladies' coats. Later they started using it for blankets. And I can remember in my family, we never had quilts. I'm a huge quilter and do it professionally and I did not grow up with quilts. We had blankets.

And talking with my mother that's because after the war blankets became very, very popular. They were lightweight. They were warm. Guess what, they were fleece. And that was the new, the new mode for that generation and somewhat of a status symbol if you were instead of having to make your blankets and put them together from literally whatever fabric you could find.

So as a quilter, I found that very interesting how fleece changed history a little bit there. The same company, Dyersburg Corporation, was the first one in 1972 to develop a flame retardant finish for fleece, which again makes it perfect for children's wear and even for adults with pajamas. The big explosion for fleece though came in 1979. A company called Malden Mills out of the USA first marketed fleece under the brand PolarFleece and they sold it to the Patagonia Company. Patagonia, which is known for outerwear, then made a Patagonia PolarFleece jacket and that became hugely popular.

Everybody wanted the fleece jacket. And that's why the word PolarFleece, or the brand PolarFleece is now interchangeable with the generic term of fleece. Kind of like how we use the term Kleenex, get me a Kleenex instead of get me a tissue. Kleenex is the actual brand while tissue is the product. So it's the same thing with fleece.

So if you hear somebody call it PolarFleece, they're probably referring to the generic rather than the specific brand made by Malden Mills. Later on, Malden Mills improved their fleece even more and they made a version that they call Polartec. And the claim to fame for Polartec is that it is a non-pilling version of fleece. That should be clarified slightly because all fabric will pill. All fabric.

You may not see it. You may not realize that even your cottons that are used for shirts or quilting do pill to a certain degree, but because of the way it's manufactured the pills literally fall off and they don't cling to your garment. Because of the nature of fleece the pilling tends to stay there and you have to really either cut the pills away or kind of shear them away with a razor. They just tend to cling. They stick around.

This particular finish is either an anti-pill or pill-resistant finish and it will make it that it doesn't pill as much. So that was the claim to fame with Polartec. Today, PolarFleece is primarily used in the fashion market where Polartec is used for the outdoor enthusiast market. So generic fleece, if you will, is what you're going to want to use for mostly your accessories and fashion type items, and the non-pill, anti-pill version you're definitely gonna use for your outerwear. And we'll talk about that a little bit more.

As far as a fleece goes, it's firmly embedded in the fashion market. It's not going anywhere. We love it. We can't get enough of it. And we just love that lightweight warmth.

And the good thing is the technology keeps advancing. So I'm looking forward to even more good things from fleece in the future. We'll just need to keep on top of that technology so that we will be more savvy as shoppers when we go out and purchase fleece. And in the next session, we're gonna talk a little bit more about shopping tips and what to look for to make sure you can find a quality fleece.