Micro stripe
Fabric — one of 56 in the glossary
An extremely fine stripe knitted or woven into the fabric, narrow enough to read as a tone or texture from a few feet away rather than as an obvious stripe. Because the stripe is built from yarn-dyed yarns it runs through the structure and cannot fade off the surface. It appears on performance polos and golf shirts where a solid colour would look plain. The fine repeat is largely irrelevant to embroidery but does show faintly through a light ink deposit, so allow for the stripe reading through any pale screen print.
Fine enough to read as tone
A micro-stripe is narrow enough that from a few feet away the eye stops resolving individual stripes and reads the surface as a tone or a texture.
The stripe is built from yarn-dyed yarns, so it runs through the structure of the fabric rather than sitting on it. It cannot fade off the surface.
It appears on performance polos and golf shirts, where a plain solid would look flat and an obvious stripe would look busy.
Under decoration
Embroidery is essentially unaffected — the repeat is far finer than a stitch, so the stripe disappears under the design.
A pale screen print is a different matter: a thin ink film lets the stripe read through, so a white logo on a micro-stripe shirt picks up the striping.
Where full opacity matters, an underbase solves it. Where it does not, the effect often looks deliberate.
Common questions
- What is a micro-stripe fabric?
- One with a stripe fine enough to read as a tone or texture rather than as a visible stripe from a normal distance. It is made from yarn-dyed yarns, so it runs through the fabric.
- Does a micro-stripe show through a print?
- Through a thin ink film, yes — a pale logo will pick up the striping. An underbase restores full opacity if that is not wanted.
- Can you embroider on micro-stripe?
- Yes, with no real difficulty. The repeat is much finer than a stitch, so the stripe disappears under the design.
See also
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