A lightweight fabric with a subtle crepe texture and a soft drape, often made from silk or polyester.
Crêpe de Chine is a fine plain-weave crepe, usually of silk and also made from artificial fibers. Its warp is ordinary; its weft is crepe yarn, overtwisted, laid in alternating pairs of opposite twist, two to the right and two to the left. That weft gives the cloth a fine crepe effect. It is used for dresses and blouses.
A newcomer often treats crepe as a single fabric. The Getty vocabulary lists four ways to give cloth its crinkle: hard-twisted yarn, printing with caustic soda, weaving at varied tensions or embossing; CottonWorks adds the crepe weave, which interlaces warp and weft in a random order. Crêpe de Chine takes its texture from twisted yarn in the weft alone. Georgette twists both warp and weft and is semi-transparent, and charmeuse is a satin weave with a lustrous face.
In job listings
Crêpe de Chine is rarely named in luxury listings. Silk fabrics belong to silk product and purchasing roles, around collections of printed scarves, ties and textile accessories, and to production tailors whose listings ask for experience with silk and other premium fabrics. See current silk roles.
