The short answer
A fabric bunch is a book of swatches from a mill or merchant. Each swatch label gives the composition, the weight (grams per running meter on most Italian bunches, ounces per running yard on English ones; 1 oz is about 31 g), any Super number, the width, usually about 150 cm, and a reference code. Quote that code to order the exact fabric.
- A bunch is a mill's or merchant's swatch book; tailors order a cut length from it.
- Divide grams per meter by 31 to get ounces per yard; multiply ounces by 31 for grams.
- A weight in g/m² is about two-thirds of the same fabric's weight in g/m.
- The Super number measures wool fineness, not quality or durability.
- Write down the reference code: it is the only way to order exactly what you chose.
In this guide
- What is a fabric bunch?
- What does a swatch label tell you?
- How do you read fabric weight in a bunch?
- What does the Super number on a swatch mean?
- How do you read the composition on a swatch?
- What do the article and design codes mean?
- How do you judge a swatch by eye and hand?
- What is not on a swatch label?
- How do you choose a fabric from a bunch?
- The tailor's view
- Questions people ask
At a made-to-measure or bespoke tailor, choosing the fabric means working through swatch books, often several of them, each holding dozens of small samples. The tailor calls them bunches. Most people choose by color and feel, and both matter, but each swatch also carries a short label that tells you what the fabric is made of, how heavy it is, how fine the wool is and how to order it. Read that label and you can narrow a book of fifty swatches to three in a few minutes.
Fabric bunch
A fabric bunch is a book or set of fabric swatches issued by a mill or a fabric merchant, usually grouping one family of fabrics, from which a tailor orders the length needed for a garment.
Reading a swatch label at a glance
- Reference code
- Quality or article number, often with a design or color number
- Composition
- The fibers and their percentages, largest first
- Weight
- Grams per running meter (Italian) or ounces per running yard (English); 1 oz is about 31 g
- Super number
- Maximum mean wool fiber diameter; pure wool or rare-fiber blends only
- Width
- Usually about 150 cm (59 in)
- Not on the label
- How it drapes, presses, creases and wears
What is a fabric bunch?
A bunch is a sales tool. Mills, which spin and weave the fabric, and merchants, which buy, stock and sell fabric to tailors and often commission their own designs, issue bunches so tailors can show customers what is available. Italian mills such as Vitale Barberis Canonico and Reda, English mills such as Fox Brothers, and merchants such as Holland & Sherry and Harrisons of Edinburgh all publish them. Our guide to suit fabric mills explains who makes what.
Each bunch usually groups one family: a year-round worsted bunch, a summer bunch, a flannel bunch, a tweed bunch. The tailor does not keep rolls of every fabric. When you choose, the tailor orders a cut length, a piece cut from the full roll for your garment alone, which is one reason fabric choice adds time to an order. Bunches are reissued every few seasons, and an old bunch may still show fabrics that have since sold out, so a swatch is a promise that needs checking.
English bunches
Mills and merchants in England and Scotland
- Weight usually in ounces per running yard
- Sometimes a range, such as 11/12 oz
- As a broad tendency, firmer and drier fabrics
- Strong in worsteds, flannels and tweeds
Italian bunches
Mills mainly around Biella
- Weight usually in grams per running meter
- Occasionally in grams per square meter
- As a broad tendency, softer and more lustrous
- Strong in fine worsteds and lightweight fabrics
What does a swatch label tell you?
Labels vary by mill and merchant, but most show the same core facts. Some print them on a strip above each swatch; others print the shared facts on the cover and only the codes on each swatch.
| Field | How it appears | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Quality or article number | A number, sometimes with a letter prefix | Which fabric quality this is: its yarn, weave and weight |
| Design, pattern or color number | A second number, or a suffix on the first | Which color or pattern within that quality |
| Composition | 100% wool; 80% wool, 20% mohair | The fibers, largest share first |
| Weight | 280 g, 10 oz, or a range such as 11/12 oz | How heavy the fabric is per running length, and so which season it suits |
| Super number | Super 120s | How fine the wool fibers are |
| Width | 150 cm, or 58/60 in | How wide the full roll is; it affects how much length a suit needs |
| Weave or finish (sometimes) | Twill, high twist, two-ply, fresco | How the yarn is spun and woven |
| Price group or stock mark (sometimes) | A letter, a number or a symbol | A price band or stock status set by the merchant or the tailor |
How do you read fabric weight in a bunch?
Suit fabric weight is quoted per running length of fabric at its full width, not per square. English mills give ounces per running yard; Italian mills give grams per running meter, often written g/m or gr/mt. One ounce per yard is about 31 grams per meter, so divide grams by 31 to get ounces, or multiply ounces by 31 to get grams. A 310 g Italian fabric and a 10 oz English one weigh about the same.
| Ounces per yard | Grams per meter | Grams per square meter (approx., at 150 cm) | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 oz | 220 g | 145 | Tropical weight, very hot climates |
| 8 oz | 250 g | 165 | Summer |
| 9 oz | 280 g | 185 | Light year-round; warm climates |
| 10 oz | 310 g | 205 | Year-round |
| 11 oz | 340 g | 225 | Year-round in cooler climates |
| 12 to 13 oz | 370 to 400 g | 245 to 270 | Autumn and winter |
| 14 oz and up | 430 g and up | 290 and up | Heavy flannel, tweed and coating |
Figures rounded. Weave matters too: an open weave feels cooler than a dense one of the same weight.
Scale from 200 g to 500 g, with oz below. Tropical and summer: 220 to 280 g. Year-round: 280 to 340 g. Autumn and winter: 370 to 430 g. Heavy flannel and tweed: 430 to 500 g. 8 oz: at 250 g. 10 oz: at 310 g. 13 oz: at 400 g.
Our guides to suit fabric weight and the best year-round suit fabric explain which weight to choose for your climate.
What does the Super number on a swatch mean?
The Super number states how fine the wool fibers are. Under the code of practice of the IWTO, the international wool textile trade body, Super 120s means a mean fiber diameter of 17.75 microns or less, and each step of 10 is half a micron finer. Only pure new wool, or wool blended with rare fibers such as cashmere, mohair or silk, can carry the word Super. Finer is softer, not tougher: for a suit you will wear often, Super 100s to 130s is the sensible range. Many excellent flannels and tweeds carry no Super number at all. See Super numbers explained for the full chart.
How do you read the composition on a swatch?
The composition lists each fiber with its percentage, largest share first. Some bunches spell the fibers out; others use two-letter codes, such as WO for wool, WS for cashmere, WM for mohair, SE for silk, LI for linen, CO for cotton and EL or EA for elastane. What the blend does matters more than the code.
- 100% wool is the default for suits: it breathes, recovers from creases and tailors well. Check whether it is a worsted or a woolen; see worsted vs woolen.
- Wool and mohair adds crispness and crease resistance, mostly in summer fabrics.
- Wool, silk and linen blends add texture and coolness for warm weather; see wool, silk and linen blends.
- Wool and cashmere adds softness and warmth, at some cost to durability.
- A small share of elastane, usually a few percent, adds stretch.
- Polyester or viscose lowers the price and can add crease resistance, but reduces breathability, and the fabric cannot be called Super.
What do the article and design codes mean?
The codes are how the fabric is ordered. Usually one number identifies the quality, meaning the yarn, weave, weight and finish, and a second number, or a suffix, identifies the exact color or pattern. Navy and charcoal versions of the same fabric share a quality number and differ in the design number. Some tailors, especially in made to measure, relabel swatches with their own codes and price groups, so ask for the mill or merchant name as well.
Your written quote should name the mill or merchant, the reference number and the weight, as our guide to choosing a tailor recommends. The code is also what you will need to order extra trousers or a matching waistcoat later, although dye lots vary and mills discontinue fabrics, so a perfect match is not guaranteed. When the length arrives, many fabrics carry the mill or merchant name woven into the selvedge, the finished edge, which helps the tailor confirm it is the fabric you chose.
How do you judge a swatch by eye and hand?
The label tells you what a fabric is; your hands and eyes tell you how it will behave. Work through these checks on your shortlist.
Checking a swatch, step by step
- 1
Hold it to the light
Hold the swatch up to a window. The more light passes through the weave, the more air will pass through the suit, which matters more in heat than the fiber name.
- 2
Crush it
Squeeze a corner in your fist for about ten seconds and let go. Good wool springs back almost flat; linen and cotton hold the creases. That is how the suit will look after a day of sitting.
- 3
Feel both sides
Rub the face between finger and thumb, then the back. Smooth and dry suggests a worsted, soft and slightly fuzzy a woolen or brushed finish.
- 4
Let it hang
Hold the swatch by one corner and watch how it falls. Heavier, denser fabrics hang straight; very light ones flutter and crease more easily.
- 5
Check the color in daylight
Shop lighting can shift navy toward black and brown toward gray. Take the bunch to a window and hold the swatch against your shirt, under your chin.
- 6
Judge the pattern at a distance
Ask the tailor to hold the bunch up across the room. Stripes and checks that look quiet on a small square can look loud across a whole jacket, and fine patterns can blur into a solid.
Tip: Many tailors can request a larger sample, called a hanger or cutting, from the merchant.
What is not on a swatch label?
A label leaves out several things that decide how a suit looks and wears. Ask the tailor about these.
- Twist and ply, unless stated. High-twist and two-ply yarns are stronger and more crease-resistant.
- How it tailors. Some fabrics press and shape easily; others are slippery or mark under the iron. Tailors know which ones they like working with.
- How it wears. Fineness, weave and finish together decide durability, and no single number captures it.
- Whether it is in stock. A fabric in an older bunch may have sold out.
- The dye lot. The length you receive may differ very slightly from the swatch.
- The price. Bespoke and made-to-measure prices often depend on the fabric, so ask what each swatch costs as a finished suit.
How do you choose a fabric from a bunch?
Start from how you will wear the suit, not from the prettiest swatch. Use and climate set the weight band and the fabric family; only then does color come in. A good tailor will steer you to the right bunch before you open it.
Choosing from a bunch
- Tell the tailor how often you will wear the suit, where, and in what climate.
- Agree a weight band first, such as 280 to 340 g (9 to 11 oz) for year-round wear.
- Agree the fabric family: worsted, flannel, high-twist, a blend.
- Shortlist three to five swatches and compare them side by side in daylight.
- Read each label: composition, weight, Super number and code.
- Crush, feel and hang your shortlist, and look at patterns from across the room.
- Ask the tailor to check stock and the price of each finalist.
- Note the code of your choice, and consider an extra pair of trousers in the same fabric now.
For a first suit, a mid-weight navy or charcoal worsted is hard to beat. Our guide to suit fabrics compares the main fibers, and the best suit fabric for hot weather covers summer bunches.
The tailor's view
Tailors read a bunch the way you might read a menu in a familiar restaurant: they know which fabrics behave, which ones crease, and which merchants keep reliable stock. Use that knowledge. Tell them how you will wear the suit, ask which fabrics they enjoy working with, and ask what they would choose for themselves at your budget. Then read the label to check that the weight and composition match what you discussed.
Once you can read a label, the rest of a fabric book opens up. For patterns and weaves you will meet in the same bunches, see suit weaves and patterns.
Questions people ask
What is a fabric bunch?
A fabric bunch is a swatch book issued by a mill or fabric merchant, showing a family of fabrics such as year-round worsteds or flannels. Tailors use bunches to show customers what is available, then order a cut length of the chosen fabric for the garment. Each swatch carries a label with the fabric's composition, weight and reference code.
What does 280 g mean on suit fabric?
On suit fabric, 280 g usually means 280 grams per running meter of fabric at its full width, which is about 9 oz per running yard. That is a light year-round weight, suitable for warm climates and most of the year in temperate ones. If the label says g/m², the fabric is heavier than it sounds.
How do you convert suit fabric weight from grams to ounces?
Divide grams per running meter by 31 to get ounces per running yard, or multiply ounces by 31 to get grams. For example, 310 g is about 10 oz and 12 oz is about 370 g. This works for weights quoted per running length, which is how most suit fabric bunches state them.
What does g/m² mean on a fabric swatch?
g/m² means grams per square meter. For a suit fabric about 150 cm wide, the weight per square meter is about two-thirds of the weight per running meter, so 200 g/m² is about 300 g per meter. Check which unit a swatch uses before comparing it with others.
What is the standard width of suit fabric?
Suit fabric is usually woven about 150 cm (59 inches) wide, often written as 150 cm or 58/60 in on a swatch label. Width matters because it decides how much length a tailor needs to cut a suit.
How much fabric do you need for a suit?
A two-piece suit usually needs about 3.5 meters of 150 cm wide fabric, and about 4 meters with a waistcoat. A larger size or a check that must be matched across the seams needs more. Your tailor will order the exact length when you choose the fabric.
Why does the reference number on a swatch matter?
The reference number on a swatch identifies the exact fabric quality and color, so it is the only reliable way to order what you chose. Put it on your written quote, and keep a photo of it if you may want extra trousers later. Dye lots vary, so even the same code may not match perfectly years later.
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