Most people buying workwear compare colour, price and delivery time, and skip straight past the fabric composition on the product page. That is the wrong order. Fabric determines durability, comfort, how the garment survives washing, and whether your team wears it willingly or leaves it in the van. It is the single most consequential spec on the page, and it takes about five minutes to understand.

Start with two numbers

Before the fibre types, two figures on the spec sheet tell you a lot.

• Composition — the percentage split, for example 65% polyester / 35% cotton. This tells you how the garment will behave.
• Weight in gsm — grams per square metre. Higher generally means more substantial and more durable, but warmer and less comfortable in heat. A lightweight summer t-shirt and a heavy winter work shirt can be the same fabric type at very different weights.

Neither number is good or bad on its own. They are trade-offs, and the right trade-off depends entirely on the work.

The main fabrics

Cotton

Comfortable, breathable, soft against the skin, and it handles heat well because it absorbs moisture. It also takes dye nicely and feels natural to wear, which is why people generally prefer 100% cotton garments when asked in isolation.

The downsides matter in a work context. Cotton creases, shrinks if washed hot, takes longer to dry, loses strength when wet, and wears through faster than synthetics under abrasion. Colours fade with repeated hot washing.

Best for: hot environments, garments worn against the skin, anywhere comfort outranks longevity. Kitchens, warehouses in summer, t-shirts.

Polyester

Strong, abrasion-resistant, holds its shape and colour, dries fast and barely creases. It also carries print and technical finishes well, which is why performance and hi-vis garments lean heavily on it.

The catch is breathability. Polyester does not absorb moisture, so on its own it can feel clammy in heat unless it is engineered with moisture-wicking construction. It can also hold odour more than cotton.

Best for: hi-vis, waterproofs, softshells, performance polos, anything that needs to keep its colour through heavy laundering.

Poly-cotton

The workhorse of the industry, and for good reason. Blending the two gives you most of cotton's comfort and most of polyester's durability. Common splits are 65/35 and 50/50 in either direction.

The ratio tells you which way the garment leans. More polyester means more durability, better colour retention and faster drying. More cotton means more comfort and better breathability.

Best for: almost everything. Polos, work shirts, trousers, coveralls. If you are unsure, poly-cotton is rarely the wrong answer.

Cotton canvas and duck

Heavy, tightly woven cotton fabrics built for abrasion. Stiff when new and they need breaking in, but they take punishment and they resist snagging and tearing better than lighter weaves.

Best for: heavy trades where garments get destroyed rather than worn out. Joiners, groundworkers, anyone working against rough surfaces all day.

Ripstop

Not a fibre but a weave. A reinforcing grid is woven in at intervals so that if the fabric does tear, the tear stops rather than running. You will see it in lightweight trousers and jackets where you want tear resistance without the weight of canvas.

Best for: lightweight durability. Summer trousers, lighter jackets, kit that snags on things.

Stretch fabrics and elastane

A small percentage of elastane, often two to five per cent, blended into a poly-cotton or polyester fabric. It transforms how a garment moves without much cost to durability, which is why it has become standard in work trousers over the last decade.

Sometimes the stretch is only in panels, at the knee, seat and crotch, which keeps the rest of the garment robust. That is usually the better construction for heavy work.

Best for: anyone climbing, crouching or kneeling. Our work trousers page covers where stretch matters most.

Quick comparison

Where the fabric choice is made for you

For some garments the decision is not open. Where a garment is certified to a safety standard, the fabric is part of that certification and cannot be swapped for something that feels nicer.

• Hi-vis. The fluorescent background material and the retroreflective tape are both specified as part of certification to EN ISO 20471. See our hi-vis regulations guide.
• Flame-resistant and arc protection. The protective performance comes from the fabric itself. Inherently FR fabrics and treated fabrics behave differently over their life. Our arc flash and FR workwear page covers it.

How fabric affects branding

The fabric changes what decoration works well on it.

• Embroidery sits well on stable, medium-to-heavy fabrics: poly-cotton polos, fleeces, softshells, canvas. On very light or very stretchy fabrics it needs more care to avoid puckering.
• Print and transfer works well on smooth polyester and cotton jersey. Heavily textured fabrics like fleece and canvas are less suited to fine printed detail.

We will tell you if your artwork and your chosen garment are a poor match before anything goes into production. Our embroidery vs print guide goes deeper on the trade-offs.

Washing is where cheap fabric shows

Work kit gets washed hot and often, and that is the real test. Cheap cotton-heavy garments shrink, go bobbly and fade to slightly different shades at slightly different rates, which is what makes a team look scruffy even when everyone has the right garment.

If uniform consistency matters to you, weight the decision toward polyester-rich blends. They hold colour and shape through the kind of laundering that work garments actually get. Our workwear care guide covers getting the longest life out of what you buy.

A simple way to decide

Ask three questions about the work, in this order:

• Is there a safety standard involved? If yes, the fabric is decided for you. Specify to the standard.
• Is the main enemy abrasion or heat? Abrasion points to polyester-rich blends, canvas or ripstop. Heat points to cotton-rich blends and lighter weights.
• How hard will it be laundered? The harder the wash cycle, the more you want polyester in the mix.

Then order free samples and let people wear them for a couple of days before committing to a whole team. Spec sheets are useful, but a fabric that the crew dislikes gets left in the van regardless of what the numbers say.

Working out a full kit list? See our branded polos and t-shirts, or tell us the trade and we will recommend fabrics that suit the work.