Jacquard

Jacquard isn't a fiber or a weight, it's a construction method: a jacquard knitting or weaving machine selectively raises and lowers individual needles or warp threads row by row, building a multi-color pattern into the loop or weave structure instead of stamping it on afterward. A jacquard knitting machine can typically carry anywhere from 2 to 6 yarn colors per course, and the pattern repeats are programmed the same way a digitizer programs an embroidery file — as a grid of stitch instructions.

This is why a jacquard-knit beanie or sweater has a design that looks and feels identical from the outside and the inside, and why jacquard dress socks show the same argyle or logo on both faces. There's no ink, no thread sitting on top, no risk of the pattern cracking or peeling off with wear the way a printed design can.

Jacquard is a manufacturing decision made at the mill, not a decoration method a print shop applies after the fact, so it only comes into play when sourcing pre-made jacquard blanks — beanies, cardigans, socks — for private-label runs, or when a customer wants a logo built into a custom-knit sweater rather than embroidered on afterward. Minimums for custom jacquard knitting runs are typically much higher than for screen printing or embroidery, so it's a fit for large orders, not a five-piece job.

Customers occasionally ask us to "jacquard" a logo onto an existing beanie the way we'd embroider it — that's not how it works. Jacquard has to be knitted in from the start; it can't be added to a finished garment.