The pros and cons of knits and wovens
August 27th, 2008It’s important to distinguish between knits and wovens in your wardrobe. Knits are fabrics like jersey, mesh and knitwear. Wovens are fabrics like denim, twill, tweed, raw silk and satin (refer back to my detailed post if you need to refresh your memory on the differences). Each fabric has a set of good and bad properties and there is room for both in your wardrobe.
The pros of knits:
- Predominantly casual
- Comfortable to wear and always stretchy
- Easy to launder
- Relatively inexpensive
- Often wrinkle-resistant (e.g. mesh)
The cons of knits:
- Lack a certain “crispness”
- Never as dressy as a woven
- Shrink and stretch-out
- Look shabby fast (less stable fabric composition)
- Can cling in the wrong places thereby spotlighting muffin top
The pros of wovens:
- Tend to look “crisp”
- Offer a smarter appearance and luxurious integrity
- Add structure to an outfit
- Look pristine for longer, seldom shrinking and losing shape
- Have a rigid fabric composition that combats muffin top
The cons of wovens:
- Not as soft as knits
- Don’t always stretch and sometimes feel restrictive
- Can be laborious to launder (dry clean and press)
- Wrinkle quite easily
- Relatively more expensive
Knitted tops are ideal for busty gals because they stretch comfortably over the bosom (no woven gaping). They also tailor the waistline in ways wovens won’t unless they’re altered, or contain a stretch component. Wovens are a must for all bottoms because they create structure. Knitted bottoms are for lounging and gear only.
I have a strong preference for wovens. I love the way they look and last. I’m usually sporting woven tops, jackets, dresses and skirts. I often wear knitwear and sometimes knitted tops, but I always wear woven bottoms. I seem to be in the minority with my woven preference here in the US. Do you prefer wearing knits, and if so, why?
August 27th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Well I would love woven tops if I could ever find one that fits. As I’ve mentioned before, I have a 36 D bust but narrower shoulders and an hourglass figure. If it fits in the shoulders it’s too tight in the bust. If it fits the bust, then the shoulders and waist are huge. No amount of alteration can fix that, because while I could have the waist taken in, a shirt or jacket either fits your shoulders or it doesn’t. I am experimenting with some wrap style woven blouses when I see them, but still no success.
So it’s knits for me on top most of the time. I think if you get the right fabrics and use the right accessories they can look dressy enough for a business casual office and most situations.
When I get to goal weight I am going to look into having some woven blouses custom made! I have lost 20 lbs so far but nothing in my bust. It is so hard for me to find tops that fit and are not too revealing. Right now I have a lot of wrap tops. I usually have to pin them or wear a cami underneath (not an option for a perimenupausal midwesterner even during our unseasonably cool summer this year.
I do not care for knit pants or skirts.
Cheers!
Shari
August 27th, 2008 at 7:32 am
I find that woven tops don’t fit right on me - either they’re not fitted, in which case they gape and pouch out at the sides around the armpits, or they are fitted and the darts are too small and the waist is too long. Sigh.
August 27th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Well, for bottoms, it’s wovens only
For tops though, I am more of a knit girl, mostly because of my relatively casual lifestyle, they just fit in better. But since joining YLF, I am starting to like wovens too, and am currently partial to layered look when one item is knitted and one woven. Before YLS, I used to be 90%:10% in knitted versus woven tops, now I am more of 70:30.
I am on a hunt for more blouses/shirts and maybe some jackets ( I used to have more jackets to begin with). However, I find them not so easy to fit - I have disproportionally smaller waist then the rest of my body, which creates all sorts of issues with the fit, particularly if there’s no stretch in the woven, and most obviously with button-down type shirts. Yes, I know that tailors can fix this, and I don’t mind doing it occasionally, but not for every single item I buy. For some reason I have less of this issue with jackets and coats. One of my solutions is to get woven wrap shirts
Anyway, I’ll be trying to find a couple of new blouses and a jacket this season, and if they are really perfect I won’t mind tailoring them.
August 27th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Being I’m a busty gal (my bra size is a 30E), I prefer knits on top. I’d love for you to give tips on how busty women can pull off woven tops, because I love the look of a crisp button down shirt, I just have a hard time finding one that fits properly or works with my hourglass figure.
August 27th, 2008 at 7:43 am
I find myself drawn to knits more than woven tops. To me it’s more feminine and goes better with my round face and 34C bust. I would love to learn how to wear a woven look that fits my body type though.
August 27th, 2008 at 7:44 am
i love the crispness of wovens too and never wore knits till i became curvy. Now I rarely find wovens that fit well and are comfortable at the same time. I have better luck finding woven tops that fit than pants though. And i actually prefer knit skirts than woven ones since they drape better. I agree though with the fact that knits dont have a long life and start looking shabby soon.
August 27th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Ah ha! Definitely a preference for knits so far. I am still in the minority. It helps that I am not busty though and that I find fabulous wovens that fit straight off the rack.
This is a common challenge Shari, Vanessa, Mirah and Rachel. Custom made woven tops are definitely an answer. I have a client who wears a 38 DDD bra size and she had a whole slew of woven tops custom made in Shanghai this year. They are fabulous. Camisoles and leaving buttons undone, woven fabrics WITH stretch and the best fit from the start, are other ways to get woven tops to work on bustier gals. Nicole, a YLF forum member, is a busty lass and she found a superb white button down shirt at Ann Taylor I think? Perhaps she’ll chime in. She looks beautiful in that white WOVEN shirt.
Tanya, you have your wrap solution! Also, the woven tops and jackets I’ve seen you in are GREAT. You are doing really well for someone who is seemingly hard to fit. Well done.
Julia, you’re looking for wovens in drapey fabrics like silk and rayon blends,. They are soft like knits and uber feminine. Trust me!
August 27th, 2008 at 8:14 am
I wish I could find more wovens for tops. I am one of those inverted triangle people. And in general most clothing is not made for shoulder people so its tough to find in the first place tops that fit correctly there without pinching my underarms. I generally live pretty casually and wear a lot of knits in the summer on top and sweaters in the winter. On bottom I live in jeans, I am trying to get away from them from time to time. Its just that when you live in fear of little sticky fingers grabbing your clothing you stick with the easy to wash clothing.
August 27th, 2008 at 8:32 am
I agree with your post and also wear more wovens on the bottom. But I do feel that Jersey knit shirts and wrap dresses can look more dressy than woven at times. But when I wear knits on top I find I have to layer tanks or camis under to help with my tummy area that I am not proud of lately
August 27th, 2008 at 9:09 am
In the past year I really started paying attention to how I dress (thank you Angie!) and knit tops have been at the core of my new wardrobe. For some reason I’ve stuck to Ann Taylor for my knit tops lately - I love their wrap tops and they seems to have a good mix of casual yet grown-up looks. I love to wear a nice knit top with jeans - I think it elevates the look of the jeans.
I have the same problem with woven shirts, although I recently found an excellent tailor and I may take her a woven shirt this winter to see if she can work some magic. The one drawback is I have to make sure I buy things on sale to make up for the cost of the tailoring. I have short arms and every single jacket I buy needs to be tailored. However, it makes a huge difference in how things look on me and I’m an absolute convert to tailoring now.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Thanks Angie. This has been an Ah Ha moment for me. I am a victim of habit and keep buying the knit tops. Now a days with the wovens having stretch to them, they are not so binding as they used to be.
I have a handful of knits I bought at the NAS that I tried on yesterday and felt I needed to cover with a jacket to feel dressed. Now I realize if they were woven, more tailored, and not so clingy, I wouldn’t feel the need to cover them up. I will exchange them.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:05 am
I like both. Knits are more comfortable and easier to fit, as you say. But it is true they wear out faster.
Wovens (particularly silky/silk-like blouses) definetly kick things up a notch, and make me feel a lot more put together.
For summer I am much more apt to wear knits simply because they are easier to clean and I don’t worry about sweating in them. But I’m excited to have fall weather coming back around so I can get back to wearing my blouses.
I would love to find a perfect fitting woven crisp white collared, buttoned blouse (I have one already - but I want one with some unique detailing). This style is tricky to fit for me (bust and love handles and stuff).
I do have much better luck with blouses that are meant to be loose. Just pop on a jacket or cardi, and I have a waist - no tailoring required!
August 27th, 2008 at 11:08 am
I think you might be in the minority on this because you’re in the minority in terms of body type/size, Angie. You’re very slim, and I can see why wovens are your preference. Also your lifestyle is definitely an issue. Obviously you want to look as crisp and polished as possible.
I obviously prefer knits for all the reasons you mentioned: no discrepancies between bust and waist, they’re easy to maintain and launder, and they’re budget friendly. I also find that in order to be interesting, woven tops usually require some kind of detailing like ruffles, bibs, ties, yokes, gathers, or pockets that just won’t work on my curvy upper half. It’s also just impractical to have such laundry-intensive items in my wardrobe as a student, and even in my field of work, the dress code never seems to escalate above smart casual. Of course, my budget also just wouldn’t allow for it. Even if I found a great woven top on sale, all the drycleaning bills just aren’t worth it.
Also, somehow even though wovens are more tailored, knits still give me more shape. Their clingyness is actually a good thing in my case. I have a few woven tops, but I almost always wear them as layering pieces under a knit.
Muffin top is sometimes a problem, but it’s a problem with the pants and not the tops. I look fine in my knit lounge pants because they don’t squeeze and push the fat from my hips upwards the way lowrise wovens do. I try to minimize the effects by scrunching and, as you know very well, searching for higher rises on my jeans. It’s really too bad knit pants can’t be more structured and polished. Sometimes I really think I look better in my lounge pants than I do in my going-out pants.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:21 am
I have the same problem as Emily- it is very difficult for me to find woven shirts that are not tight in the shoulders. Before reading YLF regularly, I had been wearing almost exclusively knit tops to avoid the problem (and I like the fact that they don’t need pressing). But lately I have been trying to add in more woven tops. I lucked out last weekend at Kohl’s and found a style of button down shirt with elastic smocking across the shoulders. Just the right amount of stretch in the right place! I bought it in 3 colors (good thing it was on sale) and I love how they look!
I agree that knit pants are only good for loungewear and working out, but I do like the look of knit skirts and wear them frequently. I love to wear knit dresses as well.
August 27th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
I was just thinking about this very thing a few days ago. I much prefer wovens, because knits start to look so scraggly and worn out almost instantly (I feel like I want to throw all my knit tops out and never buy any again). And I’m very careful with my knit tops (I dry clean them). I don’t mind knit sweaters because those can be shaved and look new again, but the knit tops, even ones from BR, AT, and J. Crew just don’t last that long. I spent 30 minutes shaving my Coral knit dress, but I think it’s seen it’s last Summer, and I only got it in May! Oh well. I don’t think I would buy a knit dress again, though (lesson learned).
August 27th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Knits on top and wovens on bottom (except when I’m hiding at home in my fat pants!). I know woven tops are supposed to look more tailored, but I look very boxy in them. I’m not even busty (I waver between a B anc C cup), but it’s rare for me to find a woven shirt that doesn’t gape at the buttons or pull at the shoulders. I like the cami option, but I can’t really get away with a half unbuttoned shirt at work, no matter how much coverage the cami gives me. I know that every woman is supposed to have the prefect white shirt in her wardrobe, but I find them incredibly uncomfortable. And silk REALLY makes my skin crawl. I’ve no idea why, but the texture drives me crazy. I don’t like the scent of silk either. I won’t even buy silk blend sweaters for that reason.
I, too, love Ann Taylor wrap knit tops. They give me much more shape definition than a woven shirt. If the knits don’t require dry cleaning, I hang all of them to dry. They hold their shape and color much longer than throwing them in the dryer.
August 27th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
I prefer knits on top and it’s all about the maintenance. I agree that they wear out easily and quickly and don’t ever have that crisp, clean look, but anything that I can throw in the washer and dryer has instant appeal.
Never knits on the bottom, though, unless I’m at the gym!
August 27th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I prefer knits too and so am big on layering (ie camis, cardigans) in order to get away from the t-shirt and bottom formula which generally no longer works for me. I have more knitted tops now than I used to. Woven tops are a better choice for the office though and I’ve noticed there are lots of great choices yet none I would wear in my free time unless I needed to look really put together. I don’t ever wear knits on bottom including leggings outside my home. I thought leggings would work for me since they did when I was younger but for now they don’t.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
As you said: knits on top [or woven w/ a bit of spandex for stretch] to avoid gapage. There was a gapage look a few years back to show a titillating bit of lacey bra underneath but mostly it made folks look like they a) didn’t know what size they were or b) like a $2 hooker.
I’ll wear weaves to a job interview but after that’s in the bag, back to sweaters!
August 28th, 2008 at 7:58 am
Whoa ladies. There is more in the woven top world than basic cotton button downs. In fact this look can be extremely severe and masculine in the wrong fabric and shape. This is what I wore to school for 12 years and I’m surprised I haven’t been put off.
Don’t get me wrong, I adore a fab button down in an impeccable fabric that’s superbly tailored – my Ann Fontaine blouses are like that. But the fabrics are soft and feminine. Voiles, organzas, rayons and silk blends are simply delicious (but not for Amy who does not prefer silk). It also depends on how you wear a button down and what you pair it with. J Crew offers impactful visuals of how basic button downs can be fabulous.
Also, think about soft woven blouses and casual cotton blouses alongside button downs. They are collapsible and pretty deluxe. Love them.
Your ah ha moment is adorable, San. You look incredible in woven tops. Your stretch woven Theory shirt tunic is killer. Nice finds Joelle!
My pleasure Tara. I’m happy to hear you’ve accepted altering as a way for pieces to fit perfectly. You raise excellent points Maya. I have the body type and lifestyle that work well with woven tops which partly accounts for my minority preference.
Nice to know I have a woven top mate, Ana.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:12 am
I suspect that knitted wear is especially popular because it doesn’t need to be ironed. Unfortunately it usually clings and shows figure flaws.
Since reading this forum and experimenting, I find that more structure in clothing, especially in the shoulders, is more polished and often more slimming. This is easier to find in a woven fabric, I think. Trying to find flattering cardis (knit) this spring/summer was an eye-opener for me. If knits were to work, they needed to fit more like jackets even to the point of being lined with woven fabric. I especially like woven fabrics with stretch to get the best of both worlds whe it comes to fit.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Hi!
I am so happy to have found this group of wonderful women! I am hoping to learn much from all of you. I will post my profile soon.
I am confused by what woven tops might look like? Can anyone post a picture of what a woven top would be. I certainly know what a cotton top would look like but another example would be great.
I read Angie’s previous posts about this type top and am still not clear!
I am at the age where t-shirts don’t cut it for me anymore. I want more polish so this subject is really exciting for me.
Thank you!
August 28th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I’m the busty lass Angie referred to with the white blouse. I beleive I got the blouse at New York and Company though–not Ann Taylor. It does have some stretch in it, and it has rouching at the bust, and a very interesting horizontal pleating just under the bust. This creates a more defined waist for me. When I get home, I’ll try it on and post a photo. (I’m at work–shame on me!)
One thing though, I think the shirt is too long, even for pants. So I may have it shortened. As much as I like the look of a tucked in shirt with a pair of dress slacks, being busty just does not lend itself well to tucking.
I have another stretchy woven top that I got at EspritShop.Com. If it hadn’t been listed in their “woven shirts” category, I probably wouldn’t have realized it was woven. It feels more like a knit.
So for all you busty gals, I think the key is to look for woven shirts that have some stetch to them. A little stretch can go a long way.
And if you find something you absolutely love, but the only way it will fit over your bust is it’s too big in the shoulders–that is an alterable problem. Depending on the construction of the shoulder, an experienced tailor can take in the shoulders.
August 28th, 2008 at 11:14 am
I have a few woven tops, all with stretch to them. It helps, some. Mostly, though, I — like other busty gals — stick with knits when possible. If I need structure, well, that’s what I have a collection of jackets for. Today, for example, I’m wearing a knit shell under a structured herringbone jacket; it kicks the polish and formality level up.
(Though I’ve lost weight recently, and the jacket is getting too big; I’ll have to retire it soon. Bah. I love this jacket.)
August 28th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Like many others, I prefer knit tops because wovens don’t fit me. In my closet, I think I have three or four woven tops, and one of those is a wrap. I’m not busty though. I am a rather odd shape, a slim hour-glass with a small chest and avarage waist and hips, tending toward interted triangle. Wovens tend to be boxy on me, but fit in the shoulders. They look good tucked in, and that is it. But even then, most of them have darts a couple inches too low for my bust, because I am also petite on top (and bordering petite on bottom). Lately, I’ve had my mom try to tailor two woven tops, and ended up taking out the new seams and giving them away, because we just couldn’t make them fit.
I think some knits can be dressy or casual. And some are defintely dressy. They are comfortable and don’t require ironing. They definitly cost less than wovens, and to me wearing out faster is not a problem; it means that I can get new clothes more often.
So knits work for me and I will continue to love them along with my few woven tops.
August 28th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Looks down at Ann Taylor wrap knit top . . .
August 29th, 2008 at 7:22 am
I have been wearing more knit tops lately. One reason is that my shape is subtle, so if I don’t have something somewhat clingy, I just look like a stick. I totally agree about the fabulous drape of rayon, though; it’s my favorite.
The other reason I wear knit tops is that I have decided to wear mostly solids to work: solid color pants, solid color top, solid color or patterned blazer, and interesting necklace. Solid tops are easier to find in knits and they are much cheaper.
I like skirts that are tight at the waist and then flair out a lot. This style works in any fabric, so I do actually have a few knit ones.
My pants and blazers are all woven, though I will sometimes wear a (knit) sweater instead of a blazer. My socks and tights are all knit, of course. My hair scrunchies are mostly knit.
August 29th, 2008 at 7:23 am
P.S. Some knits last better than others. My LLBean knit tops are my favorite, and the neck always keeps its shape nicely.
August 29th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Debbie, I love your phrasing “…my shape is ery subtle….”
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I prefer wovens. Even my pajamas has to be woven, because knits sometimes get into the wrong places and make me feel uncomfortable in them.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:11 am
[…] woven shirts weren’t popular in the comments on the knits vs. wovens post a few days ago. Lack of comfort, tricky fit, severe look and overly formal appearance were the […]