Genuine Fabric Check Tests: Identify Real Vs Fake

When you’re shopping for clothes in a store, sometimes it’s tricky to tell which side is the front and which is the back of the fabric. This can lead to mistakes when the store is cutting and sewing the clothes. If they get it wrong, the colors might not look right, and the patterns won’t match, making the clothes less attractive. So, it’s really important to figure out which side is the front and which is the back by looking and touching the fabric with your eyes and hands. Specifically, grasp the following aspects:

• When you look at the front of the fabric, you can see the pattern and colors very clearly, and they look neat and bright. But if you turn the fabric to the other side, the pattern becomes blurry, and you can’t really see it well.
• Fabrics like corduroy, velveteen, and mercerized velvet have one side that’s soft and fuzzy (like velvet), while the other side is smooth and flat (not fuzzy). When it comes to double-faced velvet, the soft and fuzzy side is full and neat, while the other side has less fuzziness.
• Fabric edges often have a flat side and a curled side. Sometimes, fancy fabrics like silk have writing or patterns on their edges. When you look at the flat side, you can see the writing or pattern clearly, but on the curled side, it might look blurry or reversed.
• When we want to figure out where a piece of fabric comes from or what it’s made of, we often look at the symbols and marks on it. If it’s made in the same country, you’ll find these marks on the back of the fabric, along with the production date and an inspection stamp at both ends. But if it’s meant to be sold in other countries, you’ll see these marks on the front of the fabric.
• When you buy clothes or fabric with packaging, remember that the part you usually see is the front side. But, if it’s a special kind with two layers, like a jacket with a soft inside and a shiny outside, then the inside is the front, and the outside is the back.

How to test your Fabric for authenticity:

By touch and feel:

By simply looking at a fabric, you can tell a lot about it. You can see how it’s finished and touch it to figure out how soft or stiff it is. You can also feel its overall texture by running your hand over it.

When you fold cotton and linen, they might stay folded, but wool and silk bounce back and don’t stay creased.

Knowing various aspects of fabrics, like the kind of fibers they’re made from, the way they’re woven, the prints on them, their different types, special finishes, thread count, denier, and textured fabric names can be quite useful.

Close examination of the fabric fibers:

You can use a microscope or magnifying glass to look closely at a fabric and figure out what it’s made of because each type of fabric has its own special characteristics that give it away.

To do this, take a long piece of yarn and pull it apart into tiny strands. Place these tiny strands on a glass slide with a tiny bit of clean water. Look at them closely under a special tool called a microscope. Compare what you see to a fiber that you already know about.

• If the fabric is cotton – When cotton is all done, it looks big, straight, smooth, and round, and it shines. If the fabric has a fuzzy texture, when you rub a wet finger on the cotton, the fibers will flatten out.
• If the fabric is linen – Imagine fibers like tiny pieces of bamboo with joints along the way. When we look at cotton and linen fibers, cotton is softer and has a dull white color, while linen is stiffer and has a creamy color.
• If the fabric is silk – The material will be in a straight, really thin, and very smooth form.
• If the fabric is nylon – The material will look shiny.
• If the fabric is wool – The material will feel bouncy and strong, and it might have a bit of shine. If it’s a fuzzy fabric, when you rub a wet finger on it, the fuzz will stand up.
• If the fabric is rayon – The fiber will be very thin and soft. It might look a bit like silk, but rayon fiber isn’t as soft or fine as real silk.

Fabric burn test:

Here’s a simple way to understand the fabric you have – you can do it quite easily.

What do you need to do the tests:

• To figure out what a piece of fabric is made of, you can either burn a small 4 cm square piece of the fabric or burn a 4-inch length of its fibers. It’s important to note that if the fabric has different types of yarns for its lengthwise and widthwise threads, you should burn them separately to know what the whole fabric is made of.
• You can use a ceramic pot, a steel pot, a microwave-safe pot, or aluminum foil.
• Use tweezers to look at the tiny fibers closely without getting your fingers burnt.

(Be careful – certain fabrics can quickly catch fire, so remember to take safety measures and avoid using large pieces of these fabrics.)

Fabric Burn Test – Chart

We made a table with detailed information about how different fabrics burn when we set them on fire:

Types of Fabrics	Reaction to flame	Burning behaviour	Odour of flame	After the flame is over	Type of Ash
Cotton, Hemp, Ramie	Does not shrink away from flame, ignites easily on contact with flame	Burns rapidly with a yellow flame and light grey smoke.	Burning paper	Continues to burn, there is an afterglow.	Soft Grey powdery smooth ash
Linen	Does not shrink away from flame, ignites easily on contact with flame	Burns rapidly with a bright yellow flame and light grey smoke.	Burning paper	Continues to burn, there is an afterglow.	Soft Grey powdery smooth ash
Rayon, Tencel	Does not shrink away from flame, ignites easily on contact with flame	Burns rapidly with a yellow flame and light grey smoke.	Burning wood or paper	Burns slowly without flame with slight melting	No ash
Wool	Shrink away from the flame	Burns slowly with an orange color but does not melt.	Strong odour of Burning hair	May self-extinguish ie it burns itself out	Crushable black bead that turns to ash.
Silk	Shrink away from the flame	Burns slowly sizzles but does not melt.	Burning hair.	May self extinguish	Crushable black bead that turns to ash.
Acrylic, Olefin	Melts and pulls away from the flame	Melts and burns rapidly with hot sputtering black flame.	Acrid Chemical odour (Fishy odour)	Continues to burn and melt.	Forms irregular small beads in black /tan
Modacrylic	Melts and pulls away from the flame	Difficult to ignite, melt, and burn	Chemical odour	Self extinguishes with white smoke.	Forms small hard beads in black
Spandex	Melts but does not pull away from the flame.	Melts and burn	Musty Chemical odour	Continues to burn and melt.	Soft sticky black ash.
Polyester	Melts and pulls away from the flame.	Melts and burns with black smoke	Sweet chemical odour	Continues to burn and melt.	Forms small hard beads in cream and later tan color
Acetate	Melts and pulls away from the flame.	Melts and burns with yellow smoke	Acrid, harsh, sharp odor.	Continues to burn and melt.	Forms small beads
Nylon	Melts and pulls away from the flame.	Melts, and bubbles as it burns	Acrid, harsh, sharp odor.	Continues to burn and melt.	Forms small beads

How to do fabric burn test for fabric identification:

Light a match and bring it near the fabric inside the pot until the fabric starts to burn.

• Natural fabrics 

These fabrics, like cotton, linen, rayon, wool, and silk, can easily catch fire. When they burn, they produce a yellow flame, continue to glow even after the fire is out, and leave behind a soft ash that’s either grey or white.

• Cotton, Linen, Ramie, Hemp, Bamboo

These fabrics catch fire easily and burn rapidly when exposed to flames. They produce a smell similar to burning paper, leaves, or wood and leave behind soft grey ash, or sometimes, they may not leave any residue at all.

• Wool

These fabrics don’t catch fire quickly, and when they do, they burn slowly. They also move away from the flame. When they burn, they smell like burning human hair. If you crush the leftover bits, they feel soft and powdery. The same thing happens with wool blend fabric.

• Silk

When you put a flame near silk, it moves away from the fire. Silk doesn’t keep burning once you remove the flame. It smells like burning feathers and leaves a lumpy black bead that can turn into ash easily.

• Rayon/Viscose/Tencel

This fabric can catch fire easily, just like cotton, and it produces a large flame quickly. When it burns, it smells like burnt leaves. If you touch the leftover bits after it’s burned, they feel powdery.

• Synthetic Fabrics

Fabrics like Polyester, Nylon, Acetate, Acrylic, Olefin, and Spandex are considered synthetic. These materials can handle high heat without immediately catching fire, but they do melt when they get too hot. When they do catch fire, they not only burn but also continue to burn even after the fire source is gone. This can produce harmful smoke, so it’s important to be very careful. When they burn, they leave behind a small, plastic-like bead as residue.

• Polyester 

When this material catches fire, it burns fast. It smells like a mix of vinegar and burnt plastic. After burning, you might find some tiny, hard lumps in the ashes.

• Acetate and acrylic 

When certain fabrics catch fire and you take away the flame, they can continue to burn and turn into a solid bead as they melt.

• Blends 

If you burn a fabric to figure out what it’s made of, you might not get the right answer if it’s a blend of different materials, like a mix of polyester and cotton.

Be very careful because we’re working with fire. Here are some important things to remember before you start burning stuff. Wear clothes that don’t catch fire easily when doing this test. If you’re a kid, make sure an adult knows what you’re doing and is there to watch you. If you’re testing things that can easily catch fire, be super careful. Have a damp cloth made of wool nearby to put out a fire if it happens. Don’t let your hair get close to the flame, and don’t let the burning stuff touch your skin. Sometimes, when different fibers are twisted together, the test results might not be clear. Also, if the fabric has different coatings or finishes, it could give different results.

Fabric Bow and skew:

There are machines that check how threads are in a fabric curve. In the fabric, the up-and-down threads are usually straighter than the left-to-right threads because the left-to-right threads can bend and slant. The edge of the fabric goes in the same direction as the up-and-down threads.

Standard fabric tests:

The American Association for Textile Chemists and Colorists uses specific tests to figure out what fabrics are like. These tests help them understand the different traits of fabrics.

• There are two tests to see how strong a fabric is when it gets pulled or torn. These tests are called the “Tongue test” and the “Elmendorf test.” They help us figure out how easily a fabric can tear.
• The width of the woven fabric means how wide it is.
• Pilling is when tiny balls or fuzz form on your clothes. Some clothes don’t get these balls easily.
• A way to check if fabrics can catch fire easily.
• Colorfastness testing.
• Creasing in fabrics.
• The thickness of fabrics.
• Stretch properties of fabrics woven from stretch yarns.
• Abrasion resistance of textile fabrics.
• Standard specification for knitted fabrics.
• Water repellency and resistance.
• Weather resistance.
• Identification of finishes in fabrics.
• Insect pest deterrents on fabrics.
• Wrinkle recovery of fabrics.
• Assessment of upholstery fabrics includes evaluating their resistance to yarn slippage at sewn seams, as well as their stiffness when subjected to the circular bend test. Additionally, the bursting strength and elongation of sewn seams in both knit and woven stretch textiles are examined. Staining and color change are quantified using grayscale measurements, while the bond strength of bonded fabrics is assessed. Curtain fabrics are also analyzed for their light-blocking properties, and the smoothness of seams is a crucial factor in this evaluation process.

Fabrics sticking together because of static electricity; Measuring the colors of textiles; Adding stuff to fabrics so they don’t get fungus or bacteria; Making fabrics not soak up oil; Checking how well things make fabrics wet.

FAQs:

1. How can I identify the type of fabric in a garment or textile?
Fabric identification can be done through visual examination and touch. Look at the care label, and feel the fabric to determine its texture. You can also perform burn tests or seek professional help if needed.

2. How can I tell if a fabric is natural or synthetic?
Natural fabrics are derived from plant or animal sources, such as cotton, silk, and wool. Synthetic fabrics are man-made and include materials like polyester, nylon, and acrylic. You can identify them based on their texture, appearance, and burn test results.

3. What is a burn test, and how can it help in fabric identification?
A burn test involves burning a small piece of fabric to observe its reaction. Natural fibers like cotton and silk will burn and smell like burnt hair, while synthetics like polyester will melt and produce a chemical odor. The residue and ash can also provide clues.

4. Can I identify the fabric by looking at its weave or pattern?
Weave patterns and textures can offer clues, but they are not foolproof for identifying fabric types. For example, twill and plain weave can be found in various fabrics. It’s best to combine visual inspection with other methods.

5. Are there professional services or tools available for fabric identification?
Yes, professional fabric identification services and tools are available. Some textile laboratories can analyze fabrics using advanced techniques. Additionally, there are portable fabric identification tools that use spectroscopy to identify fibers.

6. Can the identification of fabric help with proper care and maintenance?
Yes, knowing the fabric type is crucial for proper care and maintenance. Different fabrics require different cleaning methods, temperatures, and handling to prevent damage.