What Is Velour?

How is velour made?

Velour is made by building a short, thick pile on a base fabric, and that base can be knitted, woven or felted. The MFA Boston’s CAMEO materials database, drawing on Fairchild’s Dictionary of Textiles, records that velour was originally made in France from wool and is now also made from cotton and synthetic fibres.

Stretch velour: the knitted form

Stretch velour is a knit. The pile starts as small loops of yarn on the face of the fabric, and those loops are then cut so the fibre ends stand up. A University of Idaho extension guide to sewing these fabrics puts the difference simply: the loops are left on the surface of stretch terry and cut on stretch velour. Uncut loops are what you see on terrycloth; cut loops give velour its smooth, velvet-like face.

Woven velour and velour felt

Velour is a fabric description, not a single construction, so woven velours exist alongside the knitted kind. Merriam-Webster notes that the heavier weights are used for upholstery and curtains and the lighter weights for clothing. The same dictionary records a separate meaning in millinery: velour is also a fur felt, for example of rabbit or nutria, finished with a long velvety nap and used especially for hats.

What are the properties of velour?

Stretch velour is soft, drapes well and is usually very stretchy, though the amount of stretch varies from one fabric to the next. The University of Idaho guide for home sewers, reprinted in July 1981, records these traits and adds several that matter when you buy or wear it:

• Stretch varies. Some velours do not stretch enough for pullover styles, which need to pass over the head.
• Shrinkage. The knit construction may shrink by up to 10 cm (4 inches) per yard, and fabrics with a high cotton content may need preshrinking several times.
• Colour changes with direction. Velour has a nap. With the nap running up, the fabric feels rougher and the colour looks darker and richer; running down, it feels smoother and looks lighter and shinier.
• Two faces. Some velours can be sewn pile side in for a smooth, polished look, or pile side out to show the plush texture.

What is the difference between velour and velvet?

Velvet is a woven fabric whose pile comes from the warp, while stretch velour is a knit whose pile comes from cut loops on a knitted base. The confusion is partly linguistic. In French, velours is the word for velvet, and CAMEO lists it as velvet’s French name.

Velour also sits near two other pile and raised-surface fabrics. Corduroy has its pile arranged in ribs. Microfleece is closer still: a 2018 study by Carney Almroth and colleagues defines microfleece as knitted terry that is mechanically napped and/or cut.

How is velour graded or measured?

None of the sources here describes a grading scale for velour; what you can check is fibre content, stretch and shrinkage. For stretch, home-sewing patterns for knits usually carry a stretch gauge on the envelope, and the Idaho guide advises checking the fabric against it before cutting. For shrinkage, the guide’s figure of up to 10 cm per yard is the number to keep in mind when a garment has not been preshrunk.

How does velour appear on a clothing label?

“Velour” never appears as a fibre on a care or content label, because it names the fabric, not the fibre. Under US law, the US Federal Trade Commission requires textile labels to give fibre content using generic fibre names in descending order by weight, the country of origin, and the identity of the manufacturer or another company that markets or handles the product (by name or registered identification number, RN).

• Pile and backing may be listed separately. The FTC allows pile fabrics to state fibre content for the whole product, or for the pile and the backing separately, with the ratio of pile to backing given as a percentage of total fibre weight. Its own example reads: 100% nylon pile, 100% cotton back, back 60% and pile 40%.
• The EU allows a similar split. Annex IV of Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 covers “velvet and plush textiles, or textiles resembling velvet or plush”. Composition must be given for the whole product and may also be stated separately for a distinct backing and use surface made of different fibres; those two components must then be named.
• Small amounts of stretch fibre. In the US, fibres under 5% of the fibre weight are listed as “other fiber” rather than named, unless they have a definite functional significance at that amount. The FTC’s example is 4% spandex added for elasticity, which may be named; see spandex. Wool and recycled wool are the exception: they must always be named with their percentage, even below 5%.

The pile is what you touch, so a label that lists it separately tells you whether the soft face is polyester, cotton or something else.

How do you tell good velour from poor velour?

Good velour garments show an even pile running one way on every panel, enough stretch for the style, and seams and hems built for a stretchy pile.

1. Stroke every panel the same way. Velour pieces must be cut in one direction, following a “with nap” layout. If the front and a sleeve look different shades, or one feels smooth while the other feels rough, the pieces were cut in different directions.
2. Stretch the neckline. Stretch varies between velours, and some lack enough give for pullover styles. Pull the neckline open: it needs to pass over your head without straining the seams.
3. Look at the hem. The Idaho guide advises against hand-sewn hems on these fabrics because the stitches pull out of the pile. Expect a topstitched hem or an invisible fused one.
4. Pinch the shoulder seam. Look for a seam stay of twill or seam tape inside it. The Idaho guide recommends stays at shoulders, faced necklines and patch pockets to stop the knit stretching out.
5. Fold the collar or facing. The Idaho guide recommends fusible interfacing on facings and collars to prevent rolling and curling. A collar that flips up or ripples at the edge may not have been interfaced or understitched, the two steps the guide gives to stop rolling.
6. Read the content label. Check whether the pile and backing are listed separately, and what each is made of.

Red flags: panels that change shade at the seams, hand stitches dimpling the pile at the hem, collars that roll, and a label with no fibre content at all.

How do you care for velour?

Follow the care label first; stretch velour is generally machine washable and dryable, according to the University of Idaho guide:

• Hanging. Use padded hangers for garments that stretch sideways. Store garments that stretch lengthways flat, on a shelf or in a drawer.
• Restoring shape. Stretched velour can often be brought back by washing, drying or steaming. Some synthetic velours recover on the hanger or in a drawer.
• Pressing. Press on the wrong side over several layers of plush towel, under a press cloth, with light pressure. Steam the right side to raise a flattened nap.

Is velour sustainable?

Velour has no single environmental profile, because it is a construction rather than a fibre: it can be made of wool, cotton or synthetics. Start with the fibre content on the label.

For synthetic velour, the open question is fibre shedding in the wash. No study in this entry’s sources tested velour itself. A 2018 study of synthetic knits (polyester, acrylic and polyamide) by Carney Almroth and colleagues found that fleece released significantly more fibres than the other knits tested. It also found that knits made from yarns with more exposed filaments per area shed more. Velour’s cut pile presents fibre ends at the surface, but how much it sheds has not been measured in that work, so treat any claim about velour’s shedding, high or low, with caution.