Tricot is a type of warp knitted fabric which by definition is made on a tricot machine. There are an endless variety of construction capabilities of a tricot machine due to variable configurations such as yarn types, patterning, runner adjustment, number of bars and gauge.
The products produced on a tricot machine have a wide variety of uses. They have the unique ability to produce a very wide product due to the width of the machine, in some cases as wide as 220″. Constructions can vary thickness, stretch, opacity, weight and other characteristics. Tricot products can produce the finest of products using yarns as light as 15 denier or as heavy as 150 denier.
Due to the close proximity of very small knitting elements moving and passing through each other at blurring speeds, tricot constructions are almost exclusively made from synthetic extruded yarns rather than spun yarns. Although spun yarns are possible on a tricot machine, they produce a large amount of fly which has to be cleaned and remove frequently. Spun yarns on tricot machines also are prone to high levels of defects. Warp knitted fabrics from spun yarns are more easily produced on other warp knit machines that employ latch needles instead of compound of spring beard needles.
There are a number of incorrect definitions and some misinformation about tricot that need correction. Tricot is sometimes also called a tricot weave or sometimes it is described incorrectly as being woven. It is not a weave, it is not woven. It is a knit. A weave is produced on a loom by interlacing fibers. A knit is produced on a knitting machine through the continuous formation of loops.
Tricot often is defined by a common tricot stitch or pattern but this is not a definition of tricot. For example, tricot is sometimes incorrectly defined by describing the front and back as smooth and ribbed. Yes, some patterns of tricot are smooth on one side and ribbed on the other but a tricot machine can produce an infinite variety of patterns including nets, meshes and patternwork that defy that description.
Tricot fabric is often incorrectly defined as either nylon and spandex or polyester and spandex. Again, this definition describes one or two fiber combinations that are commonplace in the market but by no means describes the fibers that can be used or have historically been used. Early tricot fabrics were produced from natural fibers long before the invention of polyester, nylon or spandex. Tricot machines can handle almost any kind of filament fiber, natural or synthetic. Fibers such as silk, rayon and acetate were knit on tricot machines.
Tricot is often described as a opaque fabric but the versatility of the machine and the many different types of tricot machines can produce nets, scrims, solid fabrics and even very intricate pattern fabrics.
« Back to Glossary Index