Knit denim gives the look of woven denim with the stretch and comfort of a knit. In our records it is polyester-elastane, always heat set. Here is the route from greige fabric to the cutting table.
At a glance
Polyester + LycraMain fibre in our records
AlwaysHeat set
130°CDisperse dyeing
Denim-look knit (knit denim) is a knitted fabric made to look like woven denim: a twill-like face, a darker face and a lighter back, often with a slub or mélange effect. Because it is a knit with elastane, it stretches and recovers far more than woven denim, which is why it is used for jeggings, joggers and stretch jackets.
This is a rare fabric in our records, so this article gives the route and the rules rather than statistics.
How it is dyed
Piece-dyed knit denim in our records is polyester-elastane, so it follows the polyester-elastane route: heat setting, loading hot, disperse dyeing at 130°C, reduction clearing on every shade, and a cool stenter at 100–110°C to protect fastness. Yarn-dyed knit denim has its own process, covered separately.
The denim look comes mainly from three things together: two-tone or mélange yarn, the fabric construction, and controlled dyeing. Polyester-elastane needs disperse dyeing and proper heat setting, with the heat controlled carefully to protect the Lycra and keep the denim effect.
The sequence before the dyeing machine
Every chart below follows the same sequence before dyeing. Steps a fabric does not need simply drop out; they are drawn dashed.
- Greige inspection, then batching. A fabric that stays a tube is turned inside out here.
- If it needs heat setting, singeing or mercerising: slitting first. None of these is ever done on a tube.
- If it needs heat setting: heat setting in open width.
- If it needs singeing: singeing in open width, after checking the flame cannot damage the fabric.
- If it is mercerised: mercerising, then drying.
- If the fabric was opened: back sewing, to make it a tube again with the face side inside (the loop side, for terry).
- Loading into the dyeing machine, then scouring, bleaching and dyeing, single part or double part as the fibre needs.
Flowchart
Polyester-elastane denim-look knit
Full fibre process: Polyester dyeing process.
Dyeing and finishing: Polyester-elastane denim-look knit
Common faults and buyer complaints
Shade or two-tone variation. Control the dyeing and keep yarn lots together.
Poor denim effect. Control the yarn, the structure and the dye recipe.
GSM and width variation. Control heat setting and the stenter.
Crease marks. Reduce tension and rope marks.
Poor stretch and recovery. Control the Lycra heat setting.
Textile engineer with 14+ years in dyeing and fabric development. He writes every guide on Dyeing Solution from real production work. Full profile