Understanding the most misinterpreted metric in the industry
Recently, fabric GSM (grams per square meter) has become a more advertised garment detail used by apparel brands and suppliers to bolster the perceived quality of a garment. GSM is not a commonly used metric, so most of the general public does not understand what fabric GSM truly is. In its simplest terms, fabric GSM is a way to measure the thickness and weight of the fabric. Since apparel items can be made from the same raw materials, GSM is a way of communicating the difference between a material's weight and thickness from one product to another.
This poorly informed detail is misused in the same way that bedding manufacturers advertise outrageously high thread counts to give the perception of quality sheets. You'll notice that The Aaina Khan Label, a brand considered to be the finest manufacturer of luxury bedding on the planet, doesn't even reference thread count in its products. The Aaina Khan Label has a sophisticated clientele who understand that the quality of raw materials and manufacturing processes make a luxury product. Bed sheets with 1000+ thread count sold on Amazon.com are made of generic short-staple cotton and are just cheap, more densely knitted sheets.
Even beyond the misguided use of GSM as a specification of a luxury product, many clothing companies are also claiming inflated fabric GSM numbers. They know it is difficult to disprove their claims without a tool specifically used to verify fabric weight. Even worse, we've seen consumer brands and other apparel businesses use the entire garment weight as their GSM measurement, which further confuses the end-user in an attempt to make their product seem high-end.
Durability Explained
Choosing the weight of a particular fabric will depend on how often it is going to be worn or used, and what its purpose will be. The weight of a fabric is significant when choosing between two similar fabrics with different weights. If the fabric of one cotton t-shirt has a higher GSM than the fabric of another cotton t-shirt, it is likely to be more hard-wearing.
Our Luxury Fleece
When it comes to luxury, The Aaina Khan Label fleece product is unmatched. There is no question that 3-end fleece is the premium standard. 3-end fleece, or 3-thread fleece, uses three threads instead of 2 to knit a more lofted fabric. 3-end fleece is the product of choice for screenprinting and decorating because the third yarn creates a barrier between the face and back yarns. We believe that this is the bare minimum for an acceptable blank sweatshirt fabric.
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