top of page

Definitions

Fibrous

the building blocks 

Fibrous structure 

​

an object containing, consisting of or resembling fibres.  

​

​

Fibre

​

Textile Designers

A textile raw material, generally characterised by flexibility, fineness and high length-to- thickness ratio (meaning that the length of the fibre is many magnitudes of order greater than the width).  

​

​

Material Scientists

The definition for a material scientist would include, in addition to the above, the characteristic high tensile strength (strong when two ends are pulled in opposite directions) and lack of any compressive resistance.  

​

​

Biology

a fibre as a term applied to describe a thin elongated cell, this includes naturally occurring fibres such as cotton but excludes wool (a fibre made of multiple cells) and silk (a protein material extruded by various insects).  

​

According to biologists’ cotton is a fibre but wool and silk are fibrous. Skins/ leathers are also considered fibrous although it is not possible to distinguish individual fibres from these materials. â€‹

​

Textile fibres are a specific length referred to as ‘short’ or ‘staple’ fibres.  Most naturally occurring fibres used in textiles fall within this classification.  

​

Fibres of continuous or undefined long length are called filaments. All man-made fibres are produced in this form while the only naturally occurring filament fibre is silk.

210415144943892_edited.jpg
shutterstock_175907603 (1).jpg
shutterstock_143557237.jpg
bottom of page