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Textiles For Shoes

To design shoes, an understanding of textiles is essential. Textiles come in a variety of fabrics, fibers, weaves and treatments suited for different purposes in footwear. When selecting a textile for shoe design, one must consider: the thread size and composition, weave or knit pattern, backing material, sizing treatments and surface finishes. Common fibers for shoes include cotton, nylon and polyester while weaves and knits can impart different properties like stretch, durability and breathability. Proper backing and sizing of fabrics is also important to create a material suitable for shoe construction.

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81 views4 pages

Textiles For Shoes

To design shoes, an understanding of textiles is essential. Textiles come in a variety of fabrics, fibers, weaves and treatments suited for different purposes in footwear. When selecting a textile for shoe design, one must consider: the thread size and composition, weave or knit pattern, backing material, sizing treatments and surface finishes. Common fibers for shoes include cotton, nylon and polyester while weaves and knits can impart different properties like stretch, durability and breathability. Proper backing and sizing of fabrics is also important to create a material suitable for shoe construction.

Uploaded by

ijustyadav
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Textiles for Shoe Design:

If you want to learn how to design shoes you must have an understanding of fabrics.
Fabrics, or textiles, are a miracle material for footwear designers! With an infinite variety
of weaves, knits, colors, patterns, and special features, textiles have a special place in
footwear design. You will find fabric inside and outside on footwear, even on shoe
bottoms. The polymer fibers such as nylon and polyester are lightweight and durable.
Lycra is stretchable and cotton canvas is a must for vulcanized construction and has a
look all its own.
When considering any textile for your shoe
design there are five things to consider. The
thread size, fiber composition,
weave pattern, backing material, sizing, and
surface treatments.

Thread Size:
The basic building block for fabric is…of
course, thread! Denier is how thread weight
is measured. 1 denier = 1 gram per 9000
meters of thread. Typical deniers are 110D
for very lightweight fabric, 420D to 600D are
common in shoes, 1000D for boots and
bags.

Fiber Types:
Footwear textiles come in many fiber types
including cotton, wool, nylon, polyester,
polypropylene, rayon, and lycra. Each has
their own look and physical properties like water absorption, stretchability, UV resistance,
and colorfastness. For shoe design, polyester and nylon are very common. Stretchable
lycra is often used for bindings and linings. Cotton is a must for vulcanized shoes as
synthetic fibers tend to melt. Natural fibers like cotton or wool will
accept finishing treatments. Cotton canvas shoe uppers can be salt or stone washed
before assembly to give the shoes a special character. Cotton can also accept an oiled or
waxed finish, but this must be done after the shoe is assembled. Oily or waxed canvas
cannot be easily bonded to the shoe outsole during assembly.
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Fabric Weaves:
There are many ways to “weave” the fibers
together. In a woven pattern, two fibers
cross each other. The fibers running the
length of the fabric are called the “warp”.
The fibers running across the fabric side to
side are called the “weft”. The more typical
“plain” square weave has an equal number
of fibers in the warp and weft. There are
many weaves: plain, twill, satin, basket,
doddy, and ripstop.

The “knit” is the other common way fibers


are joined. In knitted fabrics, the thread
follows a meandering path forming
symmetric linked loops. These linked and
meandering loops can be easily stretched in
different directions giving knit fabrics more
elasticity than woven fabrics. Depending on
the fiber type and knitting pattern, a knit
fabric can stretch as much as 500%.
Common knits types are jersey, interlock,
double knit, and ribbed.

High-tech “air” mesh or 3D mesh is made by


knitting. Also known as sandwich mesh, the
inner surface can be smooth and act as the
shoe lining.
Fabric Backing and Sizing:
Once the fibers are knit or woven, the fabric must be dyed, sized, and backed before it
can be used in shoes. The freshly made fabric is soft and shapeless, not suitable for use
in shoes. It’s the sizing and backing treatments that give fabric the toughness and body to
make it useful. Sizing is a liquid resin treatment applied to the fabric. The fabric is
stretched, heated, and treated with the sizing resin, this holds the fibers in place. The
backing material is critical to the character of the fabric. There are two common backing
types. The thinner clear coating called PU; this is the cheaper, lighter, less waterproof
coating. You can see the fiber under the coating. Next, we have PVC backing which is
more solid; you cannot see the fibers through the backing. PVC is used to make a very
sturdy waterproof fabric.

Solid PVC Backing

Thin PU Backing

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