Knitwear Glossary: Essential Terms Every Buyer Should Know

By YZR Sweaters · 2026-09

Sourcing conversations move quickly and run on shorthand: gauge, lab dip, linking, AQL, tolerance. Knowing the vocabulary does two things for a buyer — it lets you brief a knitwear manufacturer precisely enough to get comparable quotes, and it tells you within a minute whether the person quoting your order actually knows the product. This glossary collects the terms that come up most often when sourcing sweaters, cardigans, polos, dresses and knit accessories, grouped by where they appear in the process.

Stitch structures and patterns

• Jersey — the basic single-knit structure of interlocking loops; smooth on the face and the foundation of most fine-gauge sweaters.
• Rib — alternating knit and purl columns that stretch crosswise and recover, which is why cuffs, hems and neckbands use it.
• Cable — stitches crossed over one another to form a rope-like twist; the classic Aran texture, usually knit at heavier gauges.
• Cable knit — a garment family built around cables rather than a single stitch, typically in wool or wool blends at 3GG–7GG.
• Jacquard — a pattern knitted into the fabric with multiple yarns, so the design is structural rather than printed and does not wash off.
• Intarsia — a colour technique where separate yarn blocks sit side by side with no floats behind, used for large graphic motifs.
• Pointelle — a delicate openwork structure with small eyelets, often used as a feminine detail on fine-gauge knits.
• Ottoman — a raised horizontal ribbed structure that holds its shape firmly; common on knit polo collars and plackets.

Machines, gauge and construction

• GG (gauge) — needles per inch on the knitting machine; a higher number means a finer yarn and smaller stitches.
• Flat knitting — knitting panels back and forth on a flat-bed machine, the standard route for sweaters and cardigans.
• Circular knitting — knitting a continuous tube; fast and economical, and usually the route to cut-and-sew garments.
• Linking — joining knitted panels stitch for stitch, which preserves elasticity; its quality shows first at shoulders and necklines.
• Fully fashioned — panels knitted to final shape with increases and decreases, then linked, so seams follow the body and little is cut away.
• Whole garment — a seamless knit made in one piece on specialised machines, with no side or sleeve seams at all.

Yarn and fibre terms

• Yarn count — the thickness of a yarn, expressed in systems such as Nm or tex; count and gauge have to match.
• Ply — the number of strands twisted together to make the working yarn; two-ply and up generally gives a denser, more durable yarn.
• Worsted — a smooth yarn spun from combed, longer fibres, giving a clean surface and strong stitch definition.
• Woolen — a softer, airier yarn spun from carded fibres, with more loft and a slightly fuzzy face.
• Blend — two or more fibres spun together, such as wool and cashmere or cotton and acrylic, to balance cost, hand feel and performance.
• Melange — a yarn spun from fibres dyed in different shades, creating a heathered effect that solid dyeing cannot reproduce.

Sourcing, sampling and production terms

• MOQ — minimum order quantity, usually set per style and per colour; it reflects yarn minimums and machine set-up time.
• Tech pack — the document that defines your garment: measurements, construction, yarn, colours, trims, labelling and packaging.
• Lab dip — a small dyed yarn or swatch submitted for colour approval before bulk dyeing; the approved dip becomes the colour standard.
• Seam sample / PP sample — the seam or salesman sample confirms construction and fit; the pre-production sample is the final version in bulk materials, approved before knitting starts.
• AQL — acceptable quality limit, the sampling plan that sets how many units are inspected and how many defects are tolerated.
• Cut-and-sew — knitting fabric first and then cutting and sewing panels, rather than knitting panels to shape.
• Tolerance — the permitted measurement variance on a size chart, normally stated as plus or minus millimetres or centimetres.
• Lead time — the period from order confirmation, or PP approval, through to shipment.

Using the vocabulary well

The terms matter most in combinations. Gauge plus yarn count determines weight and hand feel; fully fashioned versus cut-and-sew changes both cost structure and what a size chart can promise; linking quality decides whether a neckline survives the first wash. When you brief a supplier with these words rather than descriptions, quotes come back comparable instead of ambiguous.

None of this is meant to be academic. Buyers who use the vocabulary precisely tend to catch problems earlier — a colour approved on the wrong substrate, a tolerance that was never written down, an MOQ that quietly applies per colourway rather than per style.

At YZR Sweaters, we are a Dongguan knitwear manufacturer producing OEM/ODM custom knitwear for brands, wholesalers and online sellers, working with BSCI, SEDEX and Oeko-Tex certified partner factories. Send us a tech pack, a reference garment or even a rough brief — we will help you translate it into a specification and a sampling plan.

Frequently asked questions