Kravet Fabric Questions, Answered: Performance Fabrics, Outlet Finds, and Knit Fabric Basics

The questions I hear from designers and contract buyers

I'm a quality/compliance manager at a textile importer. I review upholstery, drapery, and performance fabric before it ships—roughly 1,500 rolls a year. I'm not a Kravet employee, and I wasn't asked to write this. These are the fabric questions that actually show up in my inbox.

If you're short on time: Kravet is not a “cheap” brand, but the breadth of its performance line and the reliability of its materials usually justify the line-item price. The rest of this article is about specific questions I get around Kravet, textile history, and knit fabric handling.

My experience is based on residential and light-commercial projects. If you're doing heavy transit seating or marine applications, your specs will probably need to be tougher.

1. What actually makes Kravet performance fabrics different?

When a fabric is labeled “performance” at Kravet, it's not a single finish. It's a category that includes Crypton (a barrier fabric engineered to resist liquids and stains), Sunbrella (solution-dyed acrylic designed for outdoor use), and Kravet's own branded performance textiles.

In the quality room, I look for three things:

• Test data. Double rubs, pilling, seam slippage, colorfastness. A good residential fabric should have a serious abrasion report, but be careful: no single number tells you how it will behave on a curved sofa cushion.
• Consistency across dye lots. Performance yarns are usually more stable, but shade variation still happens. I've rejected entire batches because a red was 20% off between lots.
• Cleaning behavior. A fabric can be stain-resistant and still not survive professional cleaning. Ask for the care-and-cleaning code before you spec.

I also appreciate that Kravet groups outdoor and contract options under one roof. That doesn't mean every roll is suitable for a hotel lobby—check the specific line. (For a full list of performance collections, Kravet's site is the source, not me.)

2. Does Kravet have a fabric outlet, and is it worth the trip?

Yes—and this is one of those “real, with caveats” situations. Kravet's outlet channel offers discontinued lines, overstock, and odd lots at a discount compared with full-price showroom pricing. It's a fantastic resource for sample libraries, small jobs, or backups when a dye lot has been discontinued.

The catch is the same with any outlet: what's there is what's there. You won't find a full range of colors in every fabric. If you need 120 yards of one roll-dyed linen, an outlet can be a gamble. I've watched designers buy all available rolls of a discontinued pattern and then discover two rolls were from different dye lots. (They matched in the showroom; they did not match under daylight.) I once told a client an outlet buy was a good idea and immediately second-guessed myself when we saw the dye lot mismatch.

My advice: call the outlet first. Ask what arrived this week, and ask whether the yardage is contiguous. If a sales rep says “last 45 yards,” assume it's not all from the same bolt unless they can confirm.

“What's the price?” is the second question. The first is “what's NOT included?”

That quote is how I evaluate outlet purchases too. The discount doesn't help if you have to pay for a special cut, a freight minimum, or a second dye lot match.

3. Why should a designer visit the GW Textile Museum?

The GW Textile Museum (officially part of the George Washington University Museum in Washington, DC) is one of those resources I think every fabric professional should use at least once. It holds more than 19,000 textiles and carpets from around the world—spanning ancient Coptic fragments to weavings from the Andes and Central Asia (Source: museum.gwu.edu, accessed January 2025).

Why does that matter? Because to evaluate modern performance fabrics, you need to understand the baseline of how cloth behaves. At the museum, you can see how a 500-year-old warp-faced weave achieves its structure without a single synthetic yarn. You can study how natural dyes fade in real documented ways. It teaches your eye to separate design from construction.

It's not a trade show. It's a library for your visual memory. If you're ever in DC, set aside two hours. (And if you can't go, the museum's online collection is searchable.)

4. What are rib knit fabric characteristics I should know?

Rib knit comes up more than you'd expect in interior textiles—especially in active seating, slipcovers, and some contract upholstery where stretch is desirable. Here's a quick quality-room view:

• Structure: Rib knit is made by alternating knit and purl stitches in the same row, creating vertical columns (ribs).
• Stretch: It stretches a lot in the width direction and less in the length. That directional difference affects how it cuts and how it recovers.
• Recovery: A well-made rib knit snaps back better than a plain jersey. That's why it's used for cuffs and waistbands.
• Edge behavior: Rib knit edges don't curl as aggressively as jersey edges, but they still need careful handling during sewing.
• Yarn counts: 1x1 and 2x2 rib are common; a 2x2 usually has more body and structure. If you're specifying, ask for the rib ratio and stretch/recovery test data.

A common mistake is treating rib knit like woven cloth. Woven upholstery is dimensionally stable; knit fabric isn't. If you cut it, let it rest before sewing. Otherwise the panels can grow or shrink overnight.

5. How do you hem knit fabric by hand—without stretching it out?

Hand-hemming knit fabric is a real skill, especially for drapery or sample pieces where a machine stitch would pucker. The main enemy is tension. If the thread is too tight or the needle splits the yarns, the hem will ripple.

Here's my go-to hand method:

1. Use a ballpoint hand needle. A sharp pointed needle can cut knit yarns; a rounded tip slides between them.
2. Thread with polyester or stretch thread. Cotton embroidery thread may not have enough give.
3. Press the hem lightly. Use steam and let it cool completely before stitching.
4. Use a catch stitch (herringbone stitch), not a running stitch. Catch stitch allows the fabric to move while the hem stays in place.
5. Keep the thread loose. Create gentle, even loops. If the hem puckers after stitching, the thread is too tight.

I've had designers send me swatches of hand-hemmed knit fabric where the stitch line looks perfect but the hem won't lie flat. Usually, it's because they used a standard forward running stitch and pulled it tight. A catch stitch, with a bit of slack, is much more tolerant of daily wear.

One thing to remember: hand-hemming is fine for repairs, luxury details, and sample work. For production, a good coverstitch or stretch stitch is faster and more consistent.

6. Is Kravet fabric worth the price? A transparent answer.

I'll start with a disclaimer: I do not think price alone guarantees quality. Price alone doesn't. That said, Kravet usually earns its premium because of three things: breadth of range, performance testing, and outlet transparency.

But “worth it” depends on your project. For a one-off sample or a small run, the difference in fabric cost might be a few hundred dollars. For a 1,000-yard contract order, the difference is significant. You need to compare what you're actually buying.

When I audit a supplier, I do a total-cost check:

• Base price per yard/meter
• Cutting charges or minimum order fees
• Freight and handling (especially for heavy upholstery)
• Sample fees
• Rush charges
• Cost of potential re-run if the shade doesn't match

A fabric's list price is the beginning, not the end. A “less expensive” fabric that arrives late, has a mismatched dye lot, or fails durability testing can cost more than a premium fabric that ships correctly.

So: is Kravet worth it? For most residential and light-commercial projects where you need performance, a wide design range, and a supplier who can answer technical questions, yes. For a budget-only project with no technical requirements, maybe not. That's a decision you make after asking the right questions—not based on the price tag alone.