How Seersucker Fabric Is Woven

A summer wardrobe staple, seersucker is a lightweight cotton fabric featuring crinkled stripes that’s best worn during warm weather. The striped pattern is created through a slack-tension weaving process that sees one warp thread held in uniform tension while the other is slack, creating a distinctive puckered effect.

Originally brought across from the British colonies into America, seersucker was quickly adopted as functional workwear in the South. In 1909 it moved into the sartorial space with the introduction of a suit by Joseph Haspel, becoming synonymous with New Orleans and the jazz movement.

Origin

The word Seersucker Fabric derives from the Persian shir o shakar, or milk and sugar, referring to the fabric’s alternating textures of smooth and puckered stripes. It’s woven with tight and loose threads, creating a textured surface that allows for more circulation, making it especially breathable.

Seersucker first made a name for itself in Europe, but it really took off in the American South after World War I. A New Orleans man named Haspel developed the fabric specifically as a suiting material for the region’s blazing heat.

He also created it to cater to the sartorial sensibilities of young Southern men who were not interested in wearing tweeds or woolens during the summer. As the wild college culture of the 1930s blossomed, however, a new generation of Princeton boys began to embrace the look as both a way of breaking protocol and of demonstrating their real or desired Southern bona fides. Today, seersucker can be found on dresses, hats, belts, caps, and shorts as well as in the classic blue and white striped suits that are its most famous form.

Styles

The crinkled look of seersucker is created by weaving one warp yarn with regular tension and another at a much higher tension. This slack-tension process produces the striped pattern that is the trademark of the fabric.

It's this unique texture that makes seersucker so cool to the touch and slow to crease, making it the ideal fabric for summertime clothing. It was first a staple of British colonial warm weather wear, then became the choice of American prepsters in the 1920s.

Today, seersucker can be found in a wide variety of colors and styles, with blue and white stripes being the most well-known. This classic color scheme, when paired with modern silhouettes and sophisticated accessories like club or spear collar shirts, can give your wardrobe a cool retro vibe that recalls the hazy jazz scenes of New Orleans in the 1950s. The fabric can also be combined with dark blazers and tailored shorts for a smart, yet casual look that can work for any occasion.

Fabric

Typically striped or checkered, seersucker is made from either combed or carded cotton. The combed cotton is smoother and finer, resulting in a more luxurious fabric. The carded cotton is thicker and coarser, resulting in a more rugged and textured fabric. The two types of cotton are woven together on a loom using a technique called slack tension weaving. This creates the distinctive crinkled appearance of seersucker fabric.

Seersucker can be found in a variety of colors, though blue and white is the most common combination. It is commonly used for summer clothing, including shirts, dresses, shorts, and suits. It is also popular for bedding and other home decor items. Seersucker is a versatile fabric that is suitable for a variety of styles and occasions. Its classic appearance and breathable nature make it a great choice for hot weather attire. It is also a good choice for men who want to maintain a preppy or Ivy League style.

Finishing

Unlike most fabrics that have their warp threads held in uniform tension, seersucker has a crinkled look. This is due to the way it is woven. To achieve this, a loom must be set up with two warp beams: one tight and the other loose. By varying the picking sequence in the loose warp, you can create different levels of puckering.

The resulting fabric has the traditional preppy stripes of seersucker, but with the added comfort of cotton. It's easy to wash and wear, and it looks even better with repeated washing.

The processing method of the seersucker fabric includes: fabric preparing, weft straightening, wax printing, fabric drying, alkali rolling, fabric stacking, pine formula washing of banking up, resin processing, fabric dehydrating and drying again. Compared to the conventional dye-resistant resin seersucker, the bubble effect of this fabric is more intense and softer. Its thermal resistance is also higher than that of the conventional seersucker fabric.