Previous Page (C3)     Textile Glossary

cramoisie  crimson cloth.

crape crépe. a soft thin light fabric with crinkled texture surface. [also, non relevant to fashion a crepe is a French pancake]

crash  a coarse fabric used for draperies, toweling, and clothing and for strengthening joints of cased-in books.  Plain weave. Generally linen.

crash helmet  a helmet that is worn, as by motorcyclists, as protection for the head in the event of an accident

cravat  a band or scarf worn around the neck; necktie

cream  a pale yellow.

credential clothing Credential clothing is clothing which has been donated but not yet sorted or graded.

creepere  a usually one-piece garment for a child at the crawling age.

crepe  worsted cotton, wool, silk, man-made synthetics.  Mostly plain, but various weaves.  Has a crinkled, puckered surface or soft mossy finish.  Comes in different weights and degrees of sheerness.  Dull with a harch dry feel.  Woolen crepes are softer than worsted.   If it is fine, it drapes well.  Has very good wearing qualities.  Has a very slimming effect.  Depending on weight, it is used for dresses of all types, including long dinner dresses, suits, and coats.

crepe-back satin (satin-back crepe, crepe-satin, or satin-crepe)  satin weave on the face and a crepe effect on the back obtained with twisted crepe yarns in the filling - 2 or 3 times as many ends as picks per inch.  It is a soft fabric which is reversible.  It is usually piece dyed.  Very interesting effects can be obtained in a garment by using both sides, in different parts. e.g. the crepe side for the body and trim or binding with the satin part up.

crepe de chine  silk warp and crepe twist silk filling 25 x 22. More ends than picks per inch.  Has a soft hand and considerable lustre.  Made of raw silk or rayon.  It is easy to manipulate and handle.    It is fairly sheer. Could be piece dyed or printed.  Has a slight rippled texture.  Heavy crepe de chine is called "Canton crepe" which is slightly ribbed and now mostly made in rayon.

crepon  crepe effect appears in direction of the warp and achieved by alternate S and Z, or slack, tension, or different degrees of twist.   Originally a wool crepe but now made of silk and rayon.  It is much stouter and more rugged than the average crepe.  Has a wavy texture with the "waves" or "crinkles" running in a lengthwise direction.  Mostly used for prints.

cretonne  cotton, linen, rayon.  Plain or twill weave.  Characteristics: Finished in widths from 30 to 50 inches.  The warp counts are finer than the filling counts which are spun rather loose.  Strong substantial and gives good wear.  Printed cretonne often has very bright colors and patterns.  The fabric has no lustre (when glazed, it is called chintz).  Some are warp printed and if they are, they are usually completely reversible. Designs run from the conservative to very wild and often completely cover the surface.  Used bedspreads, chairs, draperies, pillows, slipcovers, coverings of all kinds, beach wear, sportswear.

crewel  a fine, loosely-twisted, two-ply worsted yarn. Common applications are embroidery [typically worsted wool on a plain weave fabric] and crewel lace (narrow edging).

crewelslackly twisted worsted yarn used for embroidery.

crew neck  a sweater with a crew neck, namely a round collarless neckline

crew sock  a short bulky usually ribbed sock.

crimp  natural waviness of wool fibers.

crinoline  an open-weave fabric or horsehair or cotton that is usually stiffened and used especially for interlinings and millinery.  A full stiff skirt or underskirt made of crinoline fabric, namely stiffened open-weave horsehair or cotton

crimson  any of several deep purplish reds.

crocking

crop top  a very short women's top ending just below the breasts; a tank-style brassiere cropped to midriff length.

crown  a royal or imperial headdress of cap of sovereignty, diadem

crystalina plastisol  printing process where specialty inks are used to give prints a multi-color pearlescent appearance when printed directly on light colored garments or over a flashed color. Crystalina can also be used for producing cold peel transfers.

cuff  hem of shirt sleeve

CUIN measures insulation in regard to down.  CUIN stands for cubic inches per once and indicates how much volume (cubic inches) is filled by one ounce (27.3 grams) of down.  For simplicity sake, we can say that the higher the CUIN value of a jacket, the better it insulates (assuming everything else equal).

cuirass  a piece of armor covering the body from neck to waist; also, the breastplate of such a piece

cuisse  a piece of plate armor for the front of the thigh

culet  plate armor covering the buttocks

culottes is a word that originated in the French language. Historically, "culottes" referred to the knee-breeches commonly worn by gentlemen of the European upper-classes from the late Middle Ages or Renaissance through the early nineteenth century. This style of tight trousers ending just below the knee was first popularized in France during the reign of Henry III (1574–1589).  Culottes were normally closed and fastened about the leg, to the knee, by either buttons, a strap and buckle, or by a draw-string.  The women's fashion industry commonly takes words that have historically been used to describe men's garments and uses them to describe an entirely different garment, often creating confusion among historians and history students and readers. For example, currently, the term "culottes" in French is now used to describe women's panties, an article of clothing that has little or no relation to the historic culottes.  Another latter-day use of the word culottes describes a split or divided skirt or any garment which "hangs like a skirt, but is actually pants."  culotte a divided skirt; also, a garment having a divided skirt [Often used in plural]

cummerbund  a broad waistband usually worn in place of a vest with men's dress clothes and adapted in various styles of women's clothes

cup  an athletic supporter reinforced usually with plastic to provide added protection for the wearer

curch  [Scottish] kerchief

customer return  Merchandise that has been purchased at a retail level and then returned to the original store for various reasons. Some returns are defective, broken or simply returned for no apparent reason at all. A consumer might return merchandise because it was bought in haste or by impulse. In this scenario if the original packaging is not intact or missing a component the retailer will deem it Salvaged. Defective or broken merchandise is a tricky area, often products can be repaired if you have the skill required. (definition provided by Robert Cyr at RLC Trading)

customs brokers  are private individuals, partnerships, associations or corporations licensed, regulated and empowered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to assist importers and exporters in meeting Federal requirements governing imports and exports. Brokers submit necessary information and appropriate payments to CBP on behalf of their clients and charge them a fee for this service.

cutaway  a coat with skirts tapering from the front waistline to form tails at the back

cutoff  [Plural] shorts originally made from jeans with the legs cut off at the knees or higher

cutty sark  [Chiefly Scottish] a short garment, especially a woman's short undergarment

cyan  greenish blue. One of the four primary colors.

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