Fabric Selection. 10 mill-tested fabrics for yoga & activewear.
One matrix. Every composition, GSM range, stretch direction, opacity grade, and recovery rating in our standard fabric library — plus the garments each fabric is built to dominate. Use this page before you brief your tech-pack.
10 fabrics, side by side. Composition, GSM, stretch, opacity, recovery, and what each is built for.
This is the table that compresses our entire fabric library onto one screen. Every row is a fabric we run at scale — not a one-off lab swatch. Shortlist two or three candidates here, then drill down in the deep-dive section below.
ID
Fabric
Swatch
Composition
GSM
Stretch
Opacity
Recovery
Best For
F01
Nylon-Spandex 4WS
78–82% nylon / 18–22% spandex
180–260
4-way
A / A+
High
Leggings · biker shorts · sports bras
F02
Recycled Polyester 4WS
86–88% rPET / 12–14% spandex
200–250
4-way
A
High
Eco-line leggings · tops · shorts
F03
ECONYL® Regenerated Nylon
78% ECONYL® nylon / 22% spandex
220–260
4-way
A+
High
Premium eco leggings · longline bras
F04
Polyester-Spandex Interlock
88–92% polyester / 8–12% spandex
170–220
4-way
A
Mid-high
Tanks · tees · crop tops · racerbacks
F05
Modal-Blend Jersey
60% modal / 35% poly / 5% spandex
180–240
2-way
B+
Mid
Layering tees · loungewear · longline crop
F06
Tencel™ Modal Blend
50% Tencel™ modal / 45% poly / 5% spandex
200–260
2-way
B+
Mid
Premium athleisure · everyday tees
F07
Ribbed Cotton-Modal
60% combed cotton / 35% modal / 5% spandex
220–280
2-way
A
Mid
Ribbed crops · ribbed tanks · ribbed sets
F08
Organic Cotton Jersey
95% organic cotton / 5% spandex
200–260
2-way
A
Mid-low
Natural-lifestyle tees · loungewear
F09
Brushed Poly-Spandex Fleece
82% poly / 18% spandex (brushed back)
260–340
2-way
A+
Mid
Hoodies · joggers · sweatshirts · jackets
F10
Power Mesh / Air Mesh
88% poly / 12% spandex (mesh-knit)
120–180
4-way
C (intentional)
High
Ventilation panels · liner · bra inserts
Opacity grade. A+ = full squat-test pass, no transparency at any angle. A = pass at standing or sitting, slight sheen on full bend. B+ = light-color see-through under direct light. C = intentionally sheer (mesh).
Recovery rating. Subjective shop-floor scoring after a 100-cycle stretch test on the wash-and-flex rig — how the fabric returns to shape, not how it looks new.
GSM range is what we run, not the absolute mill min/max. Custom GSM outside this band is possible — see custom fabric request.
Certification overlay. F02 and F03 ship with GRS-eligible documentation; F01 and F04 ship with OEKO-TEX 100 documentation by default. Full cert detail on certifications.
Deep Dive
The three fabrics 70% of yoga briefs end up specifying.
Out of the ten in the matrix above, three carry most of the yoga apparel volume worldwide. Here's the composition story behind each — what mill it comes from, why the spec sheet looks the way it does, and which garment categories it's actually built to dominate.
F01 — for leggings
Nylon-Spandex 4-Way Stretch
Warp-knit construction with high-tenacity nylon 66 filament paired with bare elastane. The nylon gives abrasion resistance and the silky hand; the spandex (18–22%) supplies the 200%-plus elongation and snap-back recovery that defines a true "squat-proof" legging. Mill base from a knit-house we've run since 2016.
Interlock-knit polyester (88–92%) blended with low-percentage spandex (8–12%). Wicks moisture faster than nylon, sits slightly stiffer in the hand, and holds full-piece sublimation print without bleed. The standard base for tanks, tees, racerback bras, and crop tops where moisture management beats compression as the priority.
Modal — a regenerated cellulose fiber spun from beech pulp — blended with polyester and a touch of spandex. The two SKUs differ only by modal source: F05 runs standard modal; F06 runs Lenzing Tencel™ modal (premium, traceable). Soft hand, anti-pilling, drape-forward — built for the athleisure half of the category where leggings give way to longline tops and lounge sets.
Four certified-eligible fabrics — when "eco" is on the spec sheet, not the marketing deck.
Four fabrics in the library qualify for the major recycled, regenerated, or organic certifications. Cert names are teased here only; full documentation, audit chain, and dye-house compliance live on the dedicated certifications page — this is a fabric reference first.
F02
Recycled Polyester (rPET) 4WS
rPET filament from post-consumer plastic bottle flake
GSM 200–250, 4-way stretch, opacity Grade A, mid-high recovery
Built for eco-line leggings, recycled-content tops, sustainability-positioned drops
Full cert documentation, audit chain, and dye-house compliance details live on the dedicated certifications page. This page only tells you which fabrics are eligible.
How It Feels
GSM decoder — what 180 vs 220 vs 280 actually feels like in your hand.
GSM (grams per square meter) is the single most common spec a buyer over-specifies or under-specifies. A 180 GSM legging will feel thin in a sculpt context; a 280 GSM tank will feel like a sweatshirt in a hot studio. Here's a hand-feel ladder so you brief the right weight.
120–150 GSM
Tissue-light, semi-sheer, highly breathable
Mesh panels, summer liner mesh, sports-bra inserts, breathable side gussets
Briefing tip: when writing a new SKU spec, lead with the end-use ("daily studio legging, all-season, mid-tier price point") and let the fabric engineer back-spec the GSM band. Buyers who lead with a GSM number alone often over- or under-specify by 30–50 GSM.
Swatch Book
Free swatch book — 10 to 15 fabric samples, dispatched within 3 working days.
The swatch book is how a serious sourcing engineer skips two weeks of email back-and-forth. Real fabric in your hand beats any photo on a PDF. Here's how the program works.
What's inside
10–15 swatches, roughly 10 × 10 cm each, mounted on a numbered swatch card.
Default selection covers the full matrix (F01–F10), plus two or three GSM variants of F01.
Each swatch labeled with fabric ID, composition, GSM, stretch direction, and opacity grade.
Custom selection on request — e.g. "send only the 4-way stretch fabrics" or "send only the certified eco line."
Reference QR on every card pointing back to this matrix for live spec updates.
How to order
Free on first inquiry — one swatch book per company per quarter.
3 working days dispatch lead time after request confirmation.
Ship cost on us via DHL or FedEx (your courier account accepted on request).
5–9 working days to your dock, depending on destination market.
$25 each for additional books after the first — refunded against your first PO.
Custom fabric development — when the standard 10 don't fit the brief.
About one in twelve briefs comes in with a fabric requirement outside the standard matrix — a special GSM, a niche composition (bamboo-poly, hemp blend, sea-cell), or a proprietary blend a designer has in mind. Here's what custom fabric development looks like from our side, including where the mill-economics line is.
What we can do
Custom GSM within an existing composition — e.g. F01 at 200 GSM, sitting between Standard Flex and Sport Pro tiers. Typically no mill MOQ; runs on the next scheduled F01 production batch.
Custom composition blend — e.g. 70% modal / 25% poly / 5% spandex. Mill MOQ usually 500–1000 kg with a 30–45 day development lead time.
Custom color dyed-to-spec on standard fabrics. Pantone matching available; dye-lot MOQ from 300 pcs.
NDA-protected fabric development for brands building signature-fabric IP positioning.
What we won't do
Reverse-engineer a competitor's proprietary fabric (e.g. "match Lululemon Nulu"). Bring your own composition target instead.
Custom fabric below 500 kg mill MOQ on entirely new compositions — the mill amortization breaks at lower volume.
Source non-textile fabrications (latex, neoprene, leather). Out of scope for our knit-house.
Go Deeper
Which product page covers which fabric in detail.
This page is the master index. Each product page below picks one or two fabrics from the matrix and goes deep on construction, fits, and SKU options. Use these once you've already shortlisted the garment category.