Knit vs. woven

Every fabric a print shop touches is built one of two ways. Knits are made from a single continuous yarn looped through itself row after row — like hand-knitting a scarf but on an industrial circular machine — which is why a knit like a standard 5.3 oz jersey tee stretches 20% or more across the chest. Wovens interlace two separate sets of yarn, the lengthwise warp and the crosswise weft, at right angles, over and under, the way a basket is woven — that structure has almost no give in either direction.

This one distinction sorts nearly every blank in the catalog. T-shirts, hoodies, joggers, and polos are knits, chosen because loops move with the body. Button-down shirts, twill caps, canvas totes, and woven work shirts are wovens, chosen because the fabric needs to hold a crisp collar, a stiff bill, or a sharp seam without sagging.

The distinction changes decoration decisions directly: knits need stretch-compatible plastisol or inks with a stretch additive so a print doesn't crack over a stretched-out neckline, while wovens can run tighter, more rigid ink films because the substrate underneath isn't moving. Embroidery backing choices differ too — a stretchy knit tee usually needs a cutaway, while a stable woven oxford can often get by with a lighter tearaway.

New buyers sometimes assume cotton content alone tells you how a garment will behave. It doesn't — a 100% cotton knit tee and a 100% cotton woven oxford shirt handle completely differently on press, because the fiber isn't what determines stretch, the structure is.