What is corduroy fabric?

Corduroy is a durable, ridged fabric that textile producers can make with a variety of different materials. This fabric is most notable for its unique ridged pattern, which corduroy producers can weave in a variety of widths.

While it is usually made with cotton, corduroy can also be woven with blends of polyester and cotton or even full polyester. Textile producers also sometimes make corduroy with wool, but the ridges present on wool corduroy are not as visible as the ridges on corduroy made with other materials. Fabric manufacturers dye corduroy in a wide variety of different colors, and one form of corduroy dying results in an uneven fading that is highly aesthetically pleasing.

Corduroy technical specifications

Corduroy consists of three separate yarns woven together. The two primary yarns create a plain or a twill weave, and the third yarn intersperses into this weave in the filling direction, forming floats that pass over at least four warp yarns.
Textile producers then use blades to sever the float yarns, which causes ridges of piled fabric to appear on the surface of the weave. The ridges of piled yarn on corduroy fabric are known as wales, and these wales vary significantly in width. A piece of corduroy fabric’s “wale number” is determined by the number of wales contained in a single inch of fabric, and standard corduroy fabric has around 11-12 wales.

The lower the wale number, the thicker the wales on corduroy fabric will be. Concurrently, higher wale numbers indicate thinner wales that are more closely bunched together.

Corduroy in the 20th century

Corduroy received a resurgence in popularity during World War I, and it briefly became the default fabric for infantry uniforms as well as the era’s school uniforms. This fabric remained reasonably popular throughout the first half of the 20th century before going out of vogue in the 1950s.

During the 1970s, corduroy enjoyed a widespread revival within Western culture, and bands like the Grateful Dead re-popularized this fabric throughout the United States. Sometimes seen as a throwback to early 20th-century working-class culture and other times simply viewed as a “groovy” fabric with unique colors and textures, corduroy rapidly became the defining fabric of the era.

Corduroy today

Since then, corduroy has come in and out of style numerous times. While this fabric has largely lost its cult following, the general public still views corduroy as a versatile, durable fabric that’s ideal for pants, jackets, and children’s clothes. While textile manufacturers commonly produced corduroy using synthetic fibers throughout the 20th century, a recent resurgence of interest in natural textiles has increased the popularity of all-cotton or all-wool corduroy fabrics.

Corduroy fabric certifications available

Corduroy fabric may be eligible for various certifications depending on the fibers it contains. Recycled synthetic textiles may be eligible for Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certification, and GOTS is also the world’s premier certifier of organic cotton and wool. Non-recycled synthetic textiles may be eligible for International Organization of Standardisation (ISO) certification. Wool corduroy products may be eligible for certification from organizations such as Woolmark, and corduroy products containing American pima cotton may be eligible for certification from the American Supima Association (ASA).