French terry vs fleece: weights, feel and which to choose

French terry and fleece start as the same fabric: a smooth jersey face with extra yarn floated into loops on the back. Fleece is French terry whose back loops have been brushed, or napped, into a soft, fuzzy pile. That one finishing step makes fleece warmer and plusher, and French terry lighter-feeling, more breathable and wearable in more seasons. Brushing also adds risks to test for, chiefly pilling and twist, so the choice is about climate, handle and how much finishing you want to control.

How are French terry and fleece made?

Both are circular weft knits built from at least two yarns. One yarn knits a plain jersey face, the side you see on the outside of a sweatshirt. A second yarn is not knitted into every loop; it is caught in at intervals and floats across the back between them, forming the loops. Cotton Incorporated’s CottonWorks guide shows the float in a common construction spanning three stitches.

• French terry is this two-end construction left unbrushed. Cotton Incorporated points out that it is not technically a terry at all, because its loops are made by floats rather than by a terry sinker; it is, in its words, an un-napped fleece. It is also sold as loopback, after the visible loops inside.
• Two-end fleece is the same knit with its back loops napped. The yarns that will be napped tend to be coarser and carry less twist than the fine jersey yarn on the face, because low twist lets them be raised more easily.
• Three-end fleece adds a third yarn: a face or ground yarn, a tie-in or binding yarn, and a pile or loop yarn. Cotton Incorporated calls it the most stable and fullest fleece, used where extra warmth is needed. A 2023 study from the Bangladesh University of Textiles describes the same three parts and notes that the loop yarn is visible only on the technical back.

So “terry or fleece” is really two questions: how many yarns, and brushed or not.

What does brushing change?

Brushing, or napping, is a mechanical finish. Cotton Incorporated describes napping machines with up to 30 raising rolls covered in bent wire points. Some rolls strike the fabric point-first and pull fibres out in a random way; others use the backs of the wires to comb the raised fibres parallel. Balancing the two sets the character of the pile. A shearing machine may then trim the raised fibres to an even height. The 2021 study in Heliyon puts it simply: as the fabric passes over rotating brushes, the loops are split into a fuzzy sheet.

The result traps more still air, which is why fleece feels warmer. But brushing works by breaking and pulling fibre, and the literature records costs as well as benefits. The 2023 Bangladesh University of Textiles study summarises earlier research showing that raising significantly reduces a fleece’s elasticity, that the brushing strain affects final strength, and that spirality in a cotton-rich fleece increased after brushing. Brushing also leaves loose fibre ends on the surface, which is where pills come from.

French terry vs fleece at a glance

Typical weights in GSM

There is no standard that says French terry must weigh one thing and fleece another; the same knit can be made light or heavy by changing the yarns and loop length. As a working guide, our hoodie and sweatshirt page lists French terry at 280 to 380 GSM, brushed fleece at 300 to 450 GSM and heavyweight fleece up to 500 GSM. Our fabric and GSM guide for knitwear explains how those bands compare with jersey and piqué.

Published research on Bangladeshi fleece sits inside those ranges. The 2021 Heliyon study worked to a finished target of 300 GSM for a polyester and cotton three-thread fleece. The 2023 study knitted four three-thread structures on the same machine and measured finished weights from about 330 to 370 GSM, and found the structure had a significant effect on weight.

Two cautions. First, weight changes a lot in finishing: in the 2021 study the greige fabric weighed 264 to 274 GSM and ended at 337 to 342 GSM after singeing, heat setting, stentering with 40% overfeed and compacting with 35% overfeed. Always specify finished weight. Second, a fleece and a terry of the same GSM do not feel the same, because napping changes the bulk and handle of the back. Compare swatches, not only numbers.

Which is better for which season?

Cotton Incorporated describes French terry as performing well in all seasons because it is versatile and has no napping on the back, and fleece as heavier and suited to cold-weather and active garments. For an all-year range, for warm markets such as Australia’s summer or the Gulf, or for pieces meant to be layered, French terry is the safer choice. For a winter hoodie in northern Europe, Canada or the northern US, brushed fleece is the usual expectation when a customer puts a hand inside.

Blends matter too. The 2021 study’s authors note that blending polyester with cotton makes garments more durable, with less deformation and shrinkage, and that cotton fibre is more prone to shrink than synthetic fibre. A cotton-rich blend feels most natural; a higher polyester share improves stability but, as the next section shows, brings its own pilling challenge.

Shrinkage, twisting and pilling

All knits shrink more readily than wovens, as Cotton Incorporated’s shrinkage guidance notes, and heavy fleece and terry are no exception. Shrinkage depends on knitting parameters, processing tension and the relaxation and compaction used in finishing, so it has to be controlled at the mill, then confirmed by test.

• Shrinkage. The 2021 study tested to ISO 6330 and treated under 5% in length and width as its target for a quality fabric; its samples averaged about 3%. Set your own limit in the tech pack and test the finished fabric and a washed garment.
• Spirality. The same study measured twist higher than shrinkage, against a target under 7%. Brushing can raise it, so test after brushing, not before.
• Pilling. In the 2021 study, untreated polyester and cotton fleece rated grade 1, the worst on the pilling scale. Heat setting lifted it to grade 2, singeing to grade 3, and both together gave the best result, which the authors describe as acceptable to the buyer. The 2023 study found that fleece structure also changed pilling and spirality, with a double-tuck three-thread fleece doing best on both.

The practical rule is to name a minimum pilling grade and maximum shrinkage and twist for the fabric, and to ask which finishing steps the mill will use to reach them.

What moves the price between them?

Fabric price follows the steps and the yarn that go into it, and the two fabrics differ on both.

• Brushing is an extra process. Napping, and often shearing, are separate machine passes that French terry does not need.
• Three yarns cost more than two. A three-end fleece carries a binding yarn as well as the face and loop yarns, and is usually heavier.
• Weight adds yarn. For the same construction, every extra gram per square metre is extra yarn in every garment. Our hoodie page notes that heavyweight fleece at 400 to 500 GSM costs considerably more per piece than 280 GSM terry.
• Pilling control adds steps on blends. In the 2021 study, reaching an acceptable pilling grade on a polyester and cotton fleece took both heat setting and singeing.

None of this makes fleece poor value. It means the lightest, cheapest option in a range is usually a two-end terry, and each step towards a heavy, brushed, low-pilling fleece is a step up in cost that should buy something your customer will notice.

Printing and embroidery on terry and fleece

The outside of both fabrics is plain jersey, so a screen print or embroidery sits on the same kind of surface either way. The differences come from what is behind it. A heavy fleece is thicker, which can change how a print is cured or pressed, and a thick, springy fabric needs the right backing and hooping to keep embroidery flat.

None of this rules either fabric out. It means a print or embroidery strike-off should be done on the production fabric, at its finished weight, not on a substitute. Our screen printing and embroidery pages set out what to specify for each method.

How to choose, and what to do next

• Winter hoodie, cold market: brushed fleece, cotton-rich, 330 GSM or more finished.
• Year-round sweatshirt or zip top: French terry around the lower-middle of its range.
• Joggers and shorts: terry for warm weather and summer shorts; fleece for winter joggers. Matching a hoodie and jogger in the same fabric gives a set. Our joggers and shorts small-run page covers bottoms from smaller quantities.
• Heavyweight streetwear: heavy three-end fleece or heavy loopback, chosen by whether you want the plush inside or the visible loops. Our small-run hoodies and sweatshirts page is the starting point for a first drop.

In the tech pack, write: construction (two-end or three-end; terry or brushed fleece), fibre blend, finished GSM with a tolerance, colour, finishing steps you require (brushing, shearing, singeing, heat setting for blends), and test limits for shrinkage, twist and pilling. Then send us the brief through the quote request form. We will send terry and fleece swatches at the weights you are weighing up, so you can put a hand inside both before you decide.