Fabric weight sounds like manufacturing terminology, and, OK, it is. However, if you put on clothes today, you’ve already thought about it at least once within the last 24 hours.
Fabric weight uses a simple mathematical formula to quantify how a fabric will feel and behave when it’s in use. In the case of promo products, it can help you understand how strong a bag is, how cozy a blanket will be, or which t-shirt is going to feel best in the weather you’re expecting for your event.
There will be some math, but we’ll keep it light.
What Fabric Weight Means
Like we said, you already take fabric weight into consideration on a daily basis. Say you’re going to an outdoor show at 2pm on the hottest day of the year in 95% humidity. Would you rather wear a denim jacket or a flowy t-shirt?
The reason all but the most dedicated denim aficionados said the t-shirt is because t-shirts are generally made of lightweight fabrics. You can get lightweight denim, but denim jackets tend to be heavyweight because they need to be sturdy.
See, you already knew what fabric weight is and why it matters, you just didn’t know that you knew. However, that doesn’t help when you’re shopping online and can’t touch the fabric. And it doesn’t help manufacturers, who need a standardized way to calculate fabric weight. Instead of coming up with one, they invented two different methods for determining fabric weight (plus some extras.)
Units of Fabric Weight Measurement
The two main units for measuring fabric weight are grams per square meter (GSM) and oz per square yard (oz or oz/yd2).
It’s very annoying that oz per square yard is sometimes abbreviated to oz, partly because this abbreviation is already in use, and partly because the square bit is the whole point.
Anyway, to calculate these, you:
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Take a 1 meter x 1 meter (or 1 yard x 1 yard) square of your fabric.
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Weigh it in grams (or ounces.)
Boom, that number on your scales is your GSM or oz/yd2. It’s a way to make a direct comparison between different fabrics, and put a number on why a square of denim jacket feels different to wear than a same-size square of t-shirt fabric.
Honorable Mentions
There are a couple of other terms you might come across on our fabric products. Technically these are units of fabric thickness, not fabric weight. But since thickness can affect weight, and because we reference them a lot, here’s a quick explainer.
Denier
Denier measures the thickness of the strands of fiber that make up a fabric. A strand that is 1 denier (D) thick weighs 1 gram and measures 9,000 meters. For the imperially inclined, that’s a weight of 0.035 ounces for a length of 5.59 miles. Yes, MILES. So, very thin – human hair is around 20D. Low denier fiber tends to make lightweight fabric, because as thickness increases so does weight.
Denier is my favorite way to measure fabric, except maybe mommes. I don’t have space here to explain what mommes are, but if you want to know, I’ll put it at the very end of this post.
Points
This one is for paper, and again, it measures paper thickness rather than weight. It combines the metric system’s love of decimals (breaking numbers into groups of 10) with the imperial system, so everyone is happy. It’s easy: 1 point represents 1/1000th of an inch. That’s 0.001” for the ant-fractions faction, and 0.025mm for the metric skeptics. Basically, 1 point is very thin: Newspaper paper is around 2 to 4 points.
Paper weight is also measured in pounds, which is how many pounds 500 sheets of that paper weighs, where each sheet is a set size. (Pounds is another unit of measurement that’s already in use.) But that’s for bulk-buying sheets of paper, not promotional coasters and calendars.
What Types of Promo Product Reference Fabric Weight
Here are the categories of products where you’re most likely to encounter references to fabric weight on our site.
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Apparel
Measured in oz per square yard (oz/yd2)
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Bags
Measured in grams per square meter (GSM) or denier (D)
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Microfiber Cloths
Measured in grams per square meter (GSM)
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Blankets
Measured in grams per square meter (GSM)
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Calendars, Coasters
Measured in points
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Paper Bags, Card Stock
Measured in grams per square meter (GSM)
Interpreting Different Fabric Weights
That’s the theory out of the way, now let’s get into what this all feels like in the real world. Here’s a breakdown of how different fabric weights actually feel in different products.
T-Shirts
| Fabric Weight | How It Feels/What It’s Used For |
|---|---|
| 3.5 to 4.5 oz/yd² | Lightweight |
| 4.5 to 5.5 oz/yd² | Medium weight |
| 5.5 to 6 oz/yd² | Heavyweight |
Sweatshirts and Hoodies
| Fabric Weight | How It Feels/What It’s Used For |
|---|---|
| 6 to 8 oz/yd² | Lightweight |
| 8 to 10 oz/yd² | Medium weight |
| 10 to 16 oz/yd² | Heavyweight |
Non-Woven Bags
| Fabric Weight | How It Feels/What It’s Used For |
|---|---|
| 60 to 80 GSM | Lightweight (cosmetics bags) |
| 80 to 120 GSM | Medium weight (tote bags) |
| 120 to 150 GSM | Heavyweight (backpacks) |
| 150+ GSM | Extra strong (hiking bags) |
Polyester Products
| Fabric Weight | How It Feels/What It’s Used For |
|---|---|
| Less than 1D | Microfiber cloths and apparel |
| 40D to 100D | Upholstery, clothes |
| 100D to 600D | Tents, camping chairs, outdoor gear |
| 600D+ | Industrial-strength fabrics |
Blankets
| Fabric Weight | How It Feels/What It’s Used For |
|---|---|
| 150 to 250 GSM | Lightweight |
| 250 to 350 GSM | Midweight |
| 400+ GSM | Heavyweight |
Paper
| Fabric Weight | How It Feels/What It’s Used For |
|---|---|
| 70 to 100 GSM | Notebook paper |
| 130 to 250 GSM | Posters, fliers, puzzles |
| 260 to 300 GSM | Magazines, business cards |
| 350 to 450 GSM | Invitations, paper bags |
| 40 to 80 points | Coasters |
| 8 to 15 points | Calendars |
Fabric Weight FAQs
We love inquisitive types! For those of you with enquiring minds, here are answers to the questions weighing on your mind.
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1. Does fabric weight impact ink absorption?
Yes: Fabric above 5oz/yd² (medium to heavyweight t-shirts, for example) hold ink better than lightweight fabrics, which means less bleeding through and clearer, longer-lasting images. The ink type can also make a difference: Water-soluble ink works well on lightweight fabrics, but if you’re using a viscous ink like plastisol, stick to heavier fabrics.
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2. Does fabric weight impact how well heat transfers work?
It will change how you apply them, as heavier fabrics need higher heat and pressure to apply the design, but the end result should be the same.
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3. Does fabric weight determine imprint durability?
Heavier fabrics can take on more ink without it bleeding through, which can help the design last longer. However, the type of imprint makes the biggest difference: You can read our t-shirt test to find out more.
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4. Are heavyweight fabrics more durable?
Generally yes, because heavier fabric is usually thicker, and thicker fabric wears slower than thinner fabric, because there’s more material that needs to get worn away before a hole appears. However, you also have to consider factors like the fabric content (synthetic is generally stronger than natural, but it depends), plies (are the strands twisted for extra strength) and construction (different weaves have different strengths.)
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5. Can you do sublimation printing on heavyweight fabrics?
Yes, as long as it has at least a 65% polymer (probably polyester) content – the golden rule for all sublimation printing. It will probably take longer for heavier fabric to absorb the dye, but the end results will be the same.
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6. Which fabric weight is best for embroidery?
Embroidery needs strong fabric that can resist the tug of the stitches that can otherwise cause the design to pucker. Heavyweight fabric is better at this than lightweight fabric, but fabric content and construction also make a difference.
For example, a lightweight polyester blend will hold embroidery better than a lightweight t-shirt made of stretchy knit jersey. However, with the correct stitch tension, stabilizer, and design, you can embroider on most fabric weights. Check out this blog post for more info.
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7. Does fabric weight affect shrinkage?
Heavyweight fabric tends to shrink less than lightweight fabric, because they typically have a tighter weave. Other factors like fabric content, weave pattern, finishing treatments, and, of course, how well you care for the garment also matter. We recently shrink-tested a bunch of t-shirts: you can read about that here.
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8. Does denier determine softness?
Yes and no. If you have two strands of the same fiber that are different thicknesses (different deniers), woven in the same weave pattern, the thinner strand will produce a fabric that feels lighter and has more drape, which makes it feel softer. But if the thinner strand is made of cotton and the thicker strand is made of silk, the silk one will likely feel softer. Some weave patterns also produce softer fabric than others. So in short, denier is one factor in softness, but it’s not the only one.
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9. Does a higher denier mean stronger fabric?
Again, yes and no! Higher denier means each strand of the fabric is thicker. If you take two strands of the same fiber that are different thickness (different deniers), the thicker one (the higher denier) will be more durable than the other. However, in the final fabric, you have to also look at factors like fabric construction (the tightness of the weave, for example) and whether it has special protective coatings. Plus fiber content plays a big part. For example, nylon is structurally stronger than wool, and increasing the denier of the wool will not change this property.
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10. What are the most popular promo product fabric weights?
Can’t decide which weight of fabric would be your safest bet when ordering promo products? Let’s crowdsource that answer! Here are the fabric weights of our bestselling products in the following categories:
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T-shirts: 4.3 oz/yd² (light to midweight)
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Polo shirts: 4.6 oz/yd² (light to midweight)
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Sweatshirts: 8 oz/yd² (light to midweight)
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The Bottom Line
While we intuitively understand fabric weight in terms of the clothes we wear, having formulas to calculate it is useful when you can’t touch the fabric. Knowing a fabric’s weight can help you get a sense for a fabric’s feel, durability, and whether it’s appropriate for your needs. However, it’s not the only factor: You also need to consider things like strand thickness, construction, and fiber content.
What Mommes Are
Welcome to my nerdy sidebar! The reason we don’t use mommes is because it’s exclusively used to assess the density of silk. That’s a little fancy for us, but it’s fun to know.
You calculate mommes (pronounced “mommys” by the way) by weighing in pounds a piece of your material cut to 45” by 100 yards. Higher mommes indicate heavier weight fabric.
For context, fabric less than 20 mommes is considered lightweight, 20 to 28 mommes is midweight, and anything above 28 mommes is heavyweight. Feel free to use this information to show off.
Natasha Lavender
Natasha is an experienced writer and editor who has covered topics including technology, health and safety, business, and pop culture. Her work has been published by Good Housekeeping magazine, Forbes, Success, and more.
