Woolens

Easily differentiated from worsted fabrics, woolen cloth has a fairly fuzzy, naplike surface and does not develop a shine or patina with wear.  Woolen cloth is always made from woolen yarn but does not have to be 100 percent wool in content.  It is usually dyed and holds a crease well.

The woolen system takes "grease wool" (straight from the sheep or lamb), scours it (cleans it) and cards it (a process in which metal rods explode the fibers out of clumps of wool).  The fibers are then spun into strands or "staples" not longer than 2 1/2 inches.  While the yarn is spun, these staples yield a characteristic fuzziness, they are fairly weak because the fibers do not all lay in the same direction.  Woolens do, however, provide exceptional warmth due to their density and ability to trap air.  Woolen fabrics are excellent  for seasonal sportcoats ad topcoats.

Worsteds

The worsted system adds additional steps to those of producing woolens: "combing" (in which short fibers are removed, longer fibers aligned) and "drafting" (fibers are stretched.).  The worsted process produces staples over 3 inches in length that are then spun into very fine yarns--smooth, well-twisted and uniform.

Worsteds include such fabrics as plain-weave worsteds, gabardines, dress goods, crepes, serges and tropical-weight worsteds or wools.  worsted cloth is often yarn-dyed as opposed to piece-dyed.  Termed a "clear surface" material, worsted cloth usually needs little or no finishing.  Favored in the past for summer wear, worsteds are now popular all-year-round fabrics used in the finest suits, sportcoats and trousers.

Merino Wool

Literally, the finest wool in the world, shorn from pure-bred Merino sheep: the wool is superbly silky and soft with a fiber diameter usually 24 microns or less.  Even at this high grade level, merino wools from Botany Bay and Port Phillip Bay, Australia, are considered the best of the best wools in the world.

Super 100's

Refers to the thickness (or "fine-ness") of the fibers as they are sheared directly from the sheep: Super 100's yarn must be under 18 microns in thickness.

Super 100

A term used to indicate the merino qualities of certain wool fabrics that do not fall under the Super 100's classification because the yarn is slightly thicker than 18 microns.

Super 120's

This term does not refer to the yarn but to the fibers of the wool itself, which are sheared form the neck and shoulders of the sheep only (usually Tasmanian sheep) and which must be under 16 microns thick.  The shoulder wool from sheep bred on the Island of Tasmania (off the coast of Australia) is merino quality and is used exclusively for Super 120's, Super 100's and Super 90's cloth.

Shetland Wool

Strictly used, the term applies only to the soft, raised fabrics woven from the wool of sheep from the Shetland Highlands in Scotland.  The Shetland sheep produce a wool "undergrowth" found beneath long, fine, lustrous fibers.  The wool is actually pulled out by hand, instead of being shorn.