About Kinnaird Chenille
Chenille is made from the manufacture of a special type of cloth often known as candlewick. Which through our special manufacturing process was transformed into a much finer cloth known as chenille. The chenille is then used by us to manufacture robes, bedding and home textiles. To ensure the quality of these products they were all stitched first and then the product is dyed the desired colour. This gives the finished item a very soft feel, as well as colour which still cannot be matched by mass manufacturing.
Chenille is a tufted cloth and has a base cloth with a textured pile. This basically means that the underside of the cloth is flat soft cotton, whereas the topside has a soft cotton pile which when touched your fingers sink into. This is acheived through are specialist machinery, which is exclusive to us. The fact that we dye stitched products and not cloth also helps. This process produces the superlux chenille, which is unique to us.
Genuine chenille is made from 100% cotton and can be worn straight from the shower, it will not leave moisture on the wearer skin as polyester does. Also being a cotton, chenille is breathable which helps prevent perspiration, unlike polyester which is not breathable and often causes perspiration.
Kinnaird are the only genuine chenille manufacturer still operating today. Many other producers of genuine chenille such as Andrew Russell have joined forces with us and others have simply closed. There are new polyester based products on the market which have been developed by the Chinese, these are not chenille, but poor imitations of the real article.
Chenille
This most basic type of genuine chenille, it is made from candlewick and is tufted. The cloth is made on standard machinery and then the cloth is processed and dyed. Though this has a much better feel than the polyester imitation chenille, the pile is not particularly plush. This is because when dying and processing on the roll the pile gets flattened.
On this type of chenille the pile tends to fall out as the cloth has not been allowed to be find its natural width but has been stretched to fixed dimensions.
This chenille is mostly made in Turkey and Pakistan.
Poodle Chenille
Poodle chenille is perhaps the most popular and versatile type of chenille. It makes garments that are light yet warm, which have a great hand feel. The plush pile is retained and the cloth does not fall out the way it does on the more basic chenille.
Poodle chenille is made on specialist machinery and is then converted into garments in the undyed form. The garments are then dyed and processed which allowes them to find their own natural dimensions. As there is no pressue on the pile, it does not get flattened and a lush textured pile is retained.
Superluxe Chenille
Some time between the 1930's and the 1970's, the largest European chenille manufacturers, Andrew Russell, Everwear leisurewear and Kinnaird Ireland began developing ‘Superluxe’ chenille.
To make 'Superluxe' chenille specialist machinery was developed and a new processing technique was pioneered. This highly intensive manufacturing technique is something that would never be developed today and is out of step with the current ethos of low cost throw away fashion.
'Superluxe' chenille has a much heavier and plush pile. When you touch 'Superluxe' chenille your hand sinks in and you can feel the quality. Part of the manufacturing technique is dyeing and processing the garments after they have been made, this ensures that the pile does not flatten but stays fluffy.
Today only Andrew Russel and Kinnaird Ireland still have the ability to manufacture 'Superluxe' chenille. Which makes 'Superluxe' dressing gowns far more exclusive than the ranges by most top designers.
Cotton Blend Superluxe Chenille
In the late 1970's early 1980's Kinnaird developed a cotton blend chenille, which had a small percentage of polyester in it. This variety of 'Superluxe' chenille is again exclusive to Kinnaird and is sold throughout the USA and Canada.Today our cotton blend 'Superluxe' chenille is manufactured by us, then shipped overseas to be stitched and then imported into the USA for final processing. This has enabled us to offer the 'Superluxe' blended chenille at a more affordable cost without compromosing on quality.
Plush Chenille & Others
Plush chenille, micro chenille, brushed fleece and fluffy are just a few of the names given to imitation chenille. These are not chenille.
These are basically different types of mass produces man made fibres which are then brushed to look like chenille. They are usually knitted, so tend to stretch and loose their shape easily, which in turn means they have a shorter life span. Which is reflected in their
Chenille is made with a high cotton content and the better qualities are 100% cotton, this helps absorb moisture and lets the garment breath keeping the wearer comfortable. Man made fibres do not absorb moisture and do not let the body breath, hence the wearer can sometimes feel as if they are wrapped in plastic.
Chenille has a pile which helps keeps the wearer warm and a soft cotton underside to keep the wearer comfortable. The imitiation chenille is just bascially a standard polyester or micro fibre cloth brushed to look warmer.
The imitation chenille is mostly made in Turkey, Pakistan and China.