Can't Get Enough of Stitches University?
By: Shane Dale
Want to start selling chenille-embellished hoodies? Here's a Stitches.com "Stitches University" online-exclusive article on all things chenille – what it's made of, what kinds of fabric and apparel work well with chenille and which don't, decorating tips, and of course, who's buying it.
The decorative process known as chenille has survived throughout the years – particularly in the high-school market – because awards never go out of style, says Mary Bandeen, owner of Embroidery Design Group. "The coveted award letter will always stay the same," she says. "They try to keep the varsity jackets the same year after year after year."
In fact, chenille's popularity has been on the rise for over a decade and continues to have mainstream impact, says Ron Ekstrom, owner of Lasting Impressions Embroidery Company. "I don't know if it's peaked yet, but if you look at some of the Disney and Warner Bros. stores, about two to three years ago they were starting to show some chenille," he says. "I would say there's been a resurgence of it. Certainly the mainstay of that market is the high-school sports market."
Chenille in a Nutshell
So, what exactly is chenille? Ekstrom says it's pretty simple: "Chenille is the fuzzy, loopy stuff you see on high-school letter jackets. It is composed of two types of stitches – chain stitches and loop stitches – which give it depth."
Chenille uses two types of felt, according to Ekstrom. "Athletic felt is a felt with a reinforcement in it, so it will stand up to the chenille process," he says. "The scrim felt is heavily starched, pressed and dried, and it's a pretty stiff product. A large percentage of the high-school sports patches are done on scrim felt rather than athletic felt."
Chenille is made of yarn, which is heavier than thread, meaning that it will typically work on only sturdier garments. "If you put any kind of dense or wide lettering on a T-shirt, it just gets top-heavy," Bandeen says. "You can do it; it just can't be very dense, and you have to make your letters narrower. It's like the consistency of carpet."
Hot Apparel
So, if T-shirts don't work well, what does?
Bandeen says the golden rule for chenille is this: The heavier the fabric, the better it will work. "Chenille is a dense loop made of acrylic yarn. If you sew it on a T-shirt, it won't work as well as on a denim or wool jacket," she says.
Like most decorators who specialize in chenille, Billy Spencer, owner of Koalaty Embroidery, says the heavy-duty high-school letterman jacket tends to be the number-one seller. "That is where I see almost all of it done," he says. "We actually sew patches onto a scrim felt material and die-cut them into shapes wherever necessary."
But, some decorators are branching out into other apparel, says Jamie Faciana, embroidery trainer for Hirsch International. "There are definitely fleece hoodies and that kind of thing that are being done now," she says. "I've also seen it on jerseys. They're not doing it directly on jerseys though – they're doing patches. Chenille machines are flat machines, so you're not doing direct garment application, anyway."
One of the appeals of chenille-embellished hoodies as opposed to letterman jackets is the cost, Faciana says. "Our varsity jacket, that's more expensive and that's something that somebody has to earn, but anyone at a school can purchase a hoodie just as spiritwear," she says, adding that hoodies and wool jackets create a distressed look well.
Fleece blankets with chenille are also selling. "It's more of an award blanket," Bandeen says. "If someone doesn't want to wear a varsity jacket, they'll put chenille on a blanket. They usually don't wear their jackets after high school and college, so the blanket is something they can keep. They're mostly made of wool, but we do a lot of the sweatshirt material and polar fleece."
Unless a sweatshirt is made of heavier material, Ekstrom says it might not be the best option for chenille. "The problem is there's no bobbin involved, and the only thing that holds chenille in place is friction," he says. "The chenille process itself just does not lend itself to the use of many fabrics, because it takes a rather substantial fabric to stand up to that process. Your cottons and polyesters just don't hold up to it."
Industries to Target
While award jackets are the mainstay of the chenille market, Ekstrom says those jackets are not always made for high schoolers. "I've done it for professional sports teams that have created award jackets that they provide as an incentive for individuals to purchase season tickets," he says. "I've also done it for corporations that want to advertise the corporate name."
Bandeen says that some corporations buy jackets with chenille embellishments as a high-end prize for certain employees. "Corporate clients use chenille as an award, similar to a varsity letter," she says. "Also, the retro-looking chain stitch on bowling shirts is making a comeback."
Wool and fleece blankets that include letters and numbers embellished with a chenille/embroidery combo make a great gift for college graduates, a retiring colleague, or a coach, Bandeen adds.
No matter the market, a wide variety of clients value chenille for its timeless qualities. "In the search for a new look, which is always what the fashion market's after," Ekstrom says, "it really does come back to chenille every now and then."
SHANE DALE is a contributing writer to Stitches.