FABRIC GLOSSARY

Brocade

This rich, heavy and elaborately designed fabric was once usually made in silk - at times with silver
and gold threads - making the pattern stand out against a sateen weave background. Used for
evening gowns and precious home decoration items since the 1800's, traditional pure silk brocades -
like the ones Frette makes - are now extremely rare.

Cady

Precious silk fabric, slightly fulled, originally produced in the French region of Languedoc, for
couture and evening gowns. Generally produced in 2 plies, Frette uses a high-quality 3-ply cady,
which is finished to create a denser, heavier, pre-washed effect, increasing the fabric's luxurious
feel.

Calf Skin

For its exclusive moccasins and slippers, Frette only uses small skins in top quality Italian calf.

Cashmere

Cashmere is a precious fibre with extraordinary traits. It is obtained exclusively from the fleece of
the Hyrcus goat, native to the mountainous regions of Asia and found mainly in Kashmir in India,
Tibet, Iran, Iraq, Northern China, Persia, Turkestan, Afghanistan and Outer Mongolia. In order to
survive in a hostile environment, with bitterly cold winters and torrid summers, the Hyrcus goat has
developed an under-fleece called down beneath its coarser outer coat. This soft, fine down is what
we know as cashmere - and has an extremely high capacity for thermal insulation in both cold and
hot climates. Cashmere is highly prized because of the small quantity of down produced each year:
about 150-200 grams per goat. Frette deals exclusively with the best raw material and has it spun,
woven and finished in Italy, where the sophisticated techniques, combined with the expertise of a
long tradition in the textile sector, turn it into the very best cashmere fabric available today. Frette
mainly uses un-dyed, natural mélange colours which maintain the softest feel and most lustrous
look. Like woollen yarns, cashmere can be woven or knitted. For knits, Frette uses precious double
28 yarns. For some wovens, Frette employs traditional methods of shuttle weaving with ancient
looms, creating an exceptional softness. Due to the difficulty of the process and the rarity of the
necessary raw material, only a limited number of shuttle-woven pieces are made each year. These
are items of utmost beauty and rarity, snapped up by collectors almost as soon as they come off the
loom.

Chemical Testing

Frette performs a chemical test after dyeing and finishing / mercerising to ensure that the cotton
quality, measured by its degree of polymerisation, maintains a predefined standard. Non-skilled
dyeing and mercerising weaken the fabric making it more subject to wear and tear, although
initially no difference can be detected by the human eye.

Chiffon

A light, diaphanous silk fabric, sheer and transparent, made with fine, tightly twisted yarns. It is
very strong, despite its filmy look. It is difficult to handle when sewing, which is why Frette only
hand-stitches it.

Chinchilla

Chinchillas are native to the Andes mountains in South America. Extremely precious, their fur is
considered the softest in the world and is thirty times softer than human hair. Chinchillas have the
highest fur density of any land animal with more than 20,000 hairs per square cm. Where humans
grow one hair from each follicle, a chinchilla has more than fifty hairs from a single follicle. Their
fur is especially costly not only because of its softness, but also due to the small size of the animal.
In nature, chinchillas are generally grey, while other colours, like white or beige, are very rare and
even more precious. To ensure a soft, warm colour for home decoration, Frette uses exclusively
farmed beige chinchillas.

Creponne

A fine, often gauzelike fabric with a wrinkled surface in the direction of the warp. It has a crinkled,
puckered surface, or soft, mossy texture, due both to the crinkled silk yarns used and the finishing.
It comes in different weights and degrees of sheerness and is dull with a harsh, dry feel. It is
generally used for elegant long dinner dresses, suits, coats. Frette uses creponne for elegant home
wear.

Deerskin

Extremely soft to the touch, Frette uses this prized leather for precious bedspreads and decorative
cushions.

Dyes

Frette chooses reactive dyes for its Home Collection, since they are resistant to light and heat,
colour-fast and allow a wide and sophisticated palette. During after-care, bleaching is strongly
discouraged, as is the use of detergents with optical brighteners. The former might damage colour
and fabric; due to the presence of blue particles, the latter alters the fabric colour over time.

Egyptian Cotton

Cotton quality depends on fibre length. Longer fibres make a more uniform, resistant and smoother
thread when twisted. Egypt produces the best quality, longest fibre and most valued cotton world-
wide. Frette buys its supplies from El Amria in Egypt, which guarantees exceptional quality. Only
the best quality raw materials will suffice for the production of jacquard and this exclusive cotton
permits incredibly fine weaving, foregrounding even the smallest details of the design.

Embroidery

Ornamental designs obtained through a variety of stitching techniques on a fabric's surface to enrich
its look. Frette mainly uses full or chain stitching to achieve rich and intricate effects

Faille

Originally French, this is a soft, transversely ribbed silk with a lustrous finish. Since it drapes well,
Frette chooses it for men's robes.

Finishing
After weaving, the fabric is gassed (excess fibre is burnt), washed, bleached, mercerised, starched
and ironed. The fibres are purged to give them a shiny and silky aspect that emphasises colour and
design. The durability of the fabric during washing is also increased. Frette's exclusive finishing
process renders its products unique in both feel and look.

Fox

Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are prized for their long soft fur in a variety of beautiful natural colours.
Frette uses only natural farmed varieties, black, silver and golden fox, to create stunning home
accessories.

Georgette

A sheer or crêpe dress material, usually made of silk. It is characterised by its crispness, body and
outstanding durability. It was named after Georgette de la Plante, a French dressmaker, who first
invented it, and Frette chooses it for fine home wear.

Haircalf

Printed in leopard or zebra patterns, this highly textured material makes the softest and most
fashion-forward travel slippers within Frette's home wear range.

Jacquard

A type of weave created on the eponymous machine invented in 1801. The machine automatically
controls the warp and weft threads on a loom by recording patterns of holes in a string of cards, thus
enabling the creation of intricate designs. Nowadays, the cards have been substituted with digital
information, but the quality of the machines is still paramount. Large scale designs, which are
Frette's trademark, are difficult to produce due to the very small number of looms capable of
weaving these complex jacquards.

Lace

For home decoration, Frette uses three main techniques: tulle, macramé and sangallo, all in 100%
cotton. The composition is extremely important to guarantee the same soft hand and shrinkage after
washing as the fabric on which it is applied. Tulle lace, originating from the eponymous town in
South-West France, is embroidery on cotton mesh. Macramé lace, an Arabian invention, is a
connected embroidery on a synthetic mesh which is then dissolved by heat or water leaving only a
rich pattern. Sangallo was developed in Switzerland using larger patterns cut to shape, creating an
eyelet effect. For homewear, Frette uses embroidered tulle, macramé and Chantilly, a delicate,
artisan-made lace, which is hand-stitched piece by piece and then cut to shape.

Lamb Nappa

Used for throw borders, this soft lamb skin, is given a nappa treatment, to achieve the highest
softness.

Linen

Linen is a natural fibre extracted from the flax plant. The yarn has a fresh feel, a silky shine and
high resistance. Due to its molecular structure, linen can absorb water equivalent to up to 20% of its
weight without the body feeling any humidity. This makes linen especially appropriate for fabrics
that come into close contact with the skin, especially in warmer climates. Linen is more expensive
than cotton, and more difficult to spin, but the above-mentioned properties make it one of the most
comfortable and attractive fibres.

Matelassé

A jacquard fabric woven with heavy "stuffer" filling yarns to create a puffed, quilted effect. The
textile's beauty comes from the yarns used to make it, which can create very different results. Frette
selects Shantung silk, wool and cotton, mixing them expertly to produce unusual designs. The
patterns are complex, concentric and "blown-up" to fit the fabric, rendering each piece unique.

Mercerising

Invented by John Mercer, this is a key step in the finishing process, in which caustic soda is used to
give fabrics resistance and additional shine. The process also stabilises shrinkage, allowing the
fabric to remain soft and loose when washed. Mercerisation requires extremely skilled personnel
and advanced machinery, and Frette relies on its own patented formula to ensure unrivalled results.

Merino Wool

Wool was the first natural fibre used for clothing. Because of its insulating properties, it is
irreplaceable even today. The best wool comes from the merino sheep, which originates from the
Mediterranean coastal area but was introduced towards the end of the eighteenth century to
Australia and New Zealand. Here, this unique animal found an ideal habitat helping it produce the
world's highest quality wool, the only one capable of meeting the standards for Frette's exacting
weaves.

Mink

A precious fur derived from the Mustela Vison, commonly known as mink. For its throws and
cushions, Frette uses farmed Danish male mink, due to the higher quality of Danish supplies and of
male animals. The part used is the back of the animal, which is more precious than the underbelly.
The mink fur is then plucked, not sheared, a long and careful process resulting in the hard, long hair
(nept) being removed and only the soft, short hair (wool) remaining at its natural height. The skins
used are of exceptional quality since any small defect becomes very obvious after plucking. The
skins are subsequently tanned and dyed (for colours which do not exist in nature) in Italy, renowned
for its expertise in fur treatment.

Percale

A fabric in a close, simple weave created by weaving one thread over and one thread under. The
finer the thread used in the weave, the lighter and softer the fabric. The feel is crisp. Frette percale
has a 200 to 240 thread count.

Piqué

Thick cotton fabric with relief motifs. Often used for ladies garments and home decoration, it is
Frette's choice for fresh bedspreads and decorative cushions.

Poplin
A light dense fabric woven with a fine weft, and an even finer warp, originally made of wool. It was
first created in Avignon, France, for the use of the Pope. Nowadays, it is usually made of mercerised
cotton and is used for fine shirts and pyjamas. Frette's poplin is woven from an uncommonly fine
100 thread making its garments feather-light and exceptionally soft.

Python

This prized snake skin is used by Frette for avant-garde home accessories, cushions and throw
borders, as well jewel-like slippers.

Quality Control

Careful quality control strategies performed at various stages of the production process guarantee
that Frette items meet the highest standards.

Reps

With narrow ribs running its width, this fabric usually has a fine warp and heavier filling yarns.
Frette manufactures a silk variety in its Luxury line, unique for quality and shine.

Sateen

A soft, light, lustrous fabric with a loose interlacing in fine, dense thread. The fabric is created with
one weft thread leaping over four warp threads, then under for one and again over for four, creating
a silky hand and a higher shine. Frette's sateen has a thread count of 300 to 500.

Silk

The only natural fibre that comes in a filament form: from 300 to 1,600 yards in length obtained by
unreeling the cocoon of the silkworm, either cultivated or wild. Although considered a "cool" fabric
in the East, silk helps maintain body temperature and is therefore suitable for insulation in winter.
Strong and absorbent, silk is one of the oldest known textile fibres, used in China as long ago as the
27th century BC. The silkworm moth is native to the Orient, and for about 30 centuries the
gathering and weaving of silk was a secret process, known only to the Chinese. Major silk
producers include China and Japan, while Italy, once an important producer, has been the world
leader in high quality silk fabric manufacturing for decades. Ensuring the highest quality, Frette's
silk is exclusively spun and woven on Italian soil.

Suede

The soft back of leather, suede comes in many qualities and varieties: Frette only uses top quality
Italian calf. Small skins are chosen for their lack of imperfections and special softness, which give
Frette moccasins, throws or blanket borders a heavenly touch.

Taffeta

Lustrous, crisp silk fabric with a plain weave, woven with one colour in the warp and another in the
filling, giving the fabric an iridescent shine. It is thought to have originated in Iran (Persia), where it
was called "taftah" (fine silk fabric). In the 16th century, this smooth, stiff fabric was used for
luxury women's wear. Frette uses it for stunning home accessories.

Thread Count
The number of threads woven into a square inch of fabric. While thread count is often quoted as the
main indicator of fabric quality, the quality of the thread and the finishing are also key factors in
assessing a fabric's calibre. Because of this, fabric quality cannot be determined by merely referring
to the thread count. A thread can be made using a single ply or several plies. In some cases the
number of plies, instead of threads, is counted when calculating the thread count. This creates an
inaccurate measuring unit, since a high number of plies does not correspond to a higher fabric
quality.

Velvet

Fabric with a dense, soft, furry surface obtained by lifting either warp or weft threads and cutting
them short to create an even finish. Although today's velvet is often made of mixed fibres to reduce
costs, Frette's homewear velvet is created in pure cotton, while the home accessories velvet is silk-
based, guaranteeing unrivalled quality.

Voile

Derived from the French word for "veil", this thin, semi-transparent dress material is usually made
from cotton, wool, or silk, using cylindrical combed yarns. To obtain a top quality fabric, highly
twisted yarns are used. It has a hard finish and a crisp, sometimes wiry, hand. Frette uses it for light,
soft home wear.

Warp and Weft

The lengthwise and crosswise threads which are interwoven to create the fabric.

Yarn-Dye

The yarn is dyed before the fabric is woven, allowing different-coloured threads to create contrast
as in a painting - another of Frette's trademarks. Yarn-dyeing also guarantees better colour
penetration giving higher resistance and uniformity. Even simple pinstriped patterns in Frette's
home wear collection or bedding are usually yarn-dyed rather than printed, ensuring a more
precious and durable fabric.