Whipcord
Encyclopedia
Fabric
The fabric whipcord is a strong worstedWorsted
Worsted , is the name of a yarn, the cloth made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from the village of Worstead in the English county of Norfolk...
or cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
fabric made of hard-twisted yarns with a diagonal cord or rib. The weave used for whipcord is a steep-angled twill
Twill
Twill is a type of textile weave with a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs . This is done by passing the weft thread over one or more warp threads and then under two or more warp threads and so on, with a "step" or offset between rows to create the characteristic diagonal pattern. Because of this...
, essentially the same weave as a cavalry twill
Twill
Twill is a type of textile weave with a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs . This is done by passing the weft thread over one or more warp threads and then under two or more warp threads and so on, with a "step" or offset between rows to create the characteristic diagonal pattern. Because of this...
or a steep gabardine
Twill
Twill is a type of textile weave with a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs . This is done by passing the weft thread over one or more warp threads and then under two or more warp threads and so on, with a "step" or offset between rows to create the characteristic diagonal pattern. Because of this...
. However, the ribs of whipcord are usually more pronounced than in either of those fabrics, and the weft (filling) may be visible between the ribs on the right side, which is usually not the case for gabardines. In practice, marketing considerations, rather than technical details, determine when the specific term whipcord is used.
Whipcord is usually found in durable outdoor clothing (typically pants, sometimes jackets) as a 16 to 18oz (ounce per square yard fabric weight) wool, or in durable workers' clothing (typically overalls) as a 9 to 12oz cotton. In the latter case, whipcord is an alternative to duck
Cotton duck
Cotton duck , also simply duck, sometimes duck cloth or duck canvas, commonly called "canvas" outside the textile industry, is a heavy, plain woven cotton fabric...
, which has a different weave.
Whipcord should not be confused with corduroy
Corduroy
Corduroy is a textile composed of twisted fibers that, when woven, lie parallel to one another to form the cloth's distinct pattern, a "cord." Modern corduroy is most commonly composed of tufted cords, sometimes exhibiting a channel between the tufts...
. Whipcord has a hard smooth finish with diagonal ribs. Corduroy is fuzzy with vertical ribs.