selection · 6 min read

Knit vs woven: what changes for your product

Knit and woven are not two styles of the same thing. They are two different ways of making cloth, and the difference decides whether your garment stretches, holds a crease, or falls apart at the seam. Pick the structure before you pick the fibre.

By Weft Bridge · Reviewed by our Guangzhou sourcing team · Updated 2026-11

The structural difference

Woven fabric is made from two sets of yarns crossing at right angles: warp (lengthwise) and weft (crosswise). The interlacing locks the yarns in place, so the cloth is stable and does not stretch unless elastane is added. Cut a woven edge and it frays.

Knit fabric is made by interlocking loops of a single yarn. The loops can move, which is why knit stretches and recovers. Cut a knit edge and it curls rather than fraying.

What that means for the garment

Property	Woven	Knit
Stretch	None, unless elastane is added	Built in, varies by structure
Shape retention	High — holds a crease and a silhouette	Lower — follows the body
Drape	Structured unless very light	Soft, fluid
Edge behaviour	Frays; needs a seam allowance or overlock	Curls; needs a finish that controls it
Shrinkage	Usually 2–5%, depends on finishing	Often higher; 5–10% is common in cotton jersey
Typical garments	Shirts, trousers, denim, jackets, dresses	T-shirts, hoodies, loungewear, activewear

The commercial difference

Woven fabric is usually sold by the metre or yard. Knit is often sold by the kilogram, especially in China, because the weight per metre varies with the structure and the finished width. That means two quotes that look comparable can be quoted in different units — always confirm the unit before comparing price.

Knits usually carry a higher minimum order per colour in kilograms than wovens do in metres, because a knitting machine run is shorter and dyeing is done by weight.

Ask for the unit: metre, yard, or kilogram.
Ask for the finished width, not the greige width.
For knit, ask for GSM and tolerance; for woven, ask for construction and pick count.

How to choose

If the garment must hold a shape — a shirt collar, a tailored trouser — start with woven.
If the garment must move with the body — a tee, a legging — start with knit.
If you need stretch in a woven, you are adding elastane, and you are adding cost and care instructions.
If you are not sure, send a reference garment. The structure is obvious in the hand, and much harder to describe in an email.

FAQ

Is jersey a knit or a woven?

Jersey is a knit. The word describes the structure, not the fibre — cotton jersey, viscose jersey and polyester jersey are all knits.

Can a woven fabric stretch?

Only if elastane or a mechanical stretch yarn is added. A plain cotton poplin has no meaningful stretch.

Which shrinks more?

Usually knit, and usually cotton knit. Ask for the mill’s shrinkage figure after the finishing they will actually apply, not from a data sheet for a different finish.