Reading the label
How to read a label
The composition line is the one specification on a garment that is both standardised and predictive. It tells you how a piece will feel, how it will age, how often it needs cleaning, and whether the price is doing anything. It is also written to be skimmed past. Here is how to read it the way we do.
Every card on this site shows the shell and the lining as two separate lines, with percentages, before you click anything. That is the whole method, and you can do it yourself on any product page in about ten seconds.
- Read first
- Shell, then lining
- Fine by default
- Elastane to 5%
- Not counted
- Thread, trim, buttons
Find the shell
The shell, sometimes called the self, main, outer or body fabric, is the cloth you see. It is the first composition listed, and the only one most retailers lead with. Read it as a list of fibers that adds to 100. If it does not add to 100, something has been left off, usually the trim or the elastane, and the piece deserves a second look.
Then find the lining, which is usually hidden
The lining is the layer against your skin or your other clothes. It is listed second, labelled lining, contrast or combo, or not listed at all. A product page that says only Lined is telling you the retailer did not want to say with what, and in our experience that usually means polyester. We show those as lining not disclosed rather than guessing.
A wool crepe dress with a polyester lining breathes like polyester. The lining is the part that touches you.
What the words mean
- 100% wool or any single fiber at 100 is the cleanest answer a label can give. Nothing is being hidden inside the number.
- Blend on its own means nothing. Read the percentages. A wool blend can be 90% wool or 30% wool.
- Elastane, spandex and Lycra are the same fiber under three names. Up to 5% is there for stretch and recovery, not to cut cost, and we count it as fine by default.
- Nylon and polyamide are the same fiber. Five to fifteen percent in knitwear adds abrasion resistance at the cuffs and elbows. More than that is there for price.
- Viscose, rayon, modal, cupro and lyocell are made from wood pulp. We show them as regenerated cellulosic, separate from both natural and synthetic, and never count them toward the natural percentage. Bamboo on a label is bamboo viscose.
- Recycled polyester is polyester. We give it no credit. It still sheds, it still does not breathe, and the recycled part is a feedstock claim, not a performance one.
- Organic, Pima, Supima, Egyptian, merino, virgin describe where the fiber came from or how it was grown. They say something about quality, but a 100 next to them says more.
What we do not count
Thread, interfacing, buttons, zips, pocket bags and labels are not part of the composition on this site and should not be on yours. Elastic, lace and embroidery thread are a grey area. They touch you, they are often synthetic, and a retailer that lists them is being unusually honest. We show them as a trim note on the card when the retailer says.
Our default, and how to move it
The default view on every shop page is pieces that are at least 95% natural fiber in the shell, with elastane up to 5% allowed inside that. You can move the bar in either direction, exclude a fiber outright, and ask for a natural lining only. The number is yours to set. We just read the label first so you do not have to.