A chef coat fabric decision has three variables: the blend (which fibres, in what ratio), the weight (GSM — grams per square metre), and the weave or construction (twill, birdseye, stretch). Suppliers often quote one and hide the other two. The program documented here fixes all three per tier, which is what makes a quotation comparable across suppliers — and what makes a reorder mean the same coat, not a similar one.
The premium tier: birdseye and cationic
The top of the pyramid is built for chef grades and guest-facing roles — executive chefs, chef de partie at the pass, banqueting chefs who plate in view of guests.
- Birdseye weave, 100 GSM. Birdseye is a fine, textured weave with a subtle dotted pattern woven into the cloth. At 100 GSM it is the lightest cloth in the program, specified for presentation coats where drape and appearance lead.
- Cationic polyester, 160 GSM. A polyester cloth dyed with cationic dyes, giving deep, rich colour at a working weight of 160 GSM — the premium tier's volume cloth, used where colour identity matters (a group's signature coat colour, for example).
Premium fabrics are a minority of most programs by volume: the top grades wear them, the brigade wears the mainline. That is the correct economics — the pyramid exists so you do not pay premium prices for the commis coats, nor dress the executive chef in the value tier.
The mainline: TC in several ratios
TC — polyester/cotton — is the working fabric family of professional kitchens, and the program documents it in enough ratios that "TC" alone is never the specification:
- 65/35 at 135–190 GSM — the broadest mainline band; the weight is chosen within the band by role and wash routine.
- 60/40 at 150 GSM — a cotton-richer step for buyers who want more cotton in the hand-feel at a mid weight.
- TS 94/6 at 170 GSM — a stocked cloth in the program (94% polyester / 6% Elastomultiester), held in stock as a standing fabric option.
- 65% cotton / 32% polyester / 3% spandex at 160 GSM — the stretch mainline option, for coats specified with movement.
- 100% cotton at 155 GSM — for buyers whose specification is cotton, full stop.
Alongside the pyramid, the group's chef series catalogue documents poly cotton 80/20 at 185 GSM and 65/35 at 130 GSM, cotton rich 60/40 including a 180 GSM line, a cotton rich stretch (53% cotton / 45% polyester / 2% Elastomultiester) at 160 GSM, and 100% cotton at 190 GSM. These are the reference cloths the listed coat styles are sampled from.
The value tier: turnover cloth
High-turnover programs — central kitchens, food production, large commis brigades — optimise for replacement cost per wearer per year. The value tier runs 150–175 GSM polyester and blended cloths, including the group's cool cotton line (a polyester-based cloth engineered with a cotton-like hand). The buying logic is honest: where coats are changed twice a shift and replaced on a short cycle, a value cloth at the right weight outperforms a premium cloth bought too rarely. The tier to avoid is the undocumented one — value fabric with no stated blend or weight is not value, it is variance.
Construction options documented in the program
Fabric is only half the specification. Across the program, documented construction options include mesh ventilation panels at the underarm and back — placed where a coat traps heat against the body — and multi-function pocket layouts for thermometers, tweezers and markers. These are construction choices made at sampling and fixed in the approved sample; they belong on the quotation, not in a sales conversation.
How to assign tiers: a working method
- List roles, not people. Executive and senior grades, line cooks, commis and production staff, bakery and pastry — each role gets one tier.
- Fix the wash routine first. In-house laundry, outsourced laundry and rental change what a fabric must survive; state the routine on the inquiry so the tier recommendation answers the real question.
- Sample in the tier you will buy. Approving a premium sample and producing in the mainline is the classic program failure. Sampling lead time for the tier you choose is confirmed per quotation against the original order specification.
- Write the full spec on the order. Blend, weight, weave, colour, construction options — the approved sample plus the written spec is what production and AQL 2.5/4.0 inspection are checked against.
Buyers building a program from this guide usually start at the coat range to see the tiers attached to listed styles, then move to custom coats for embroidery and label work. If you already know your roles and wash routine, send them on the quotation form — the fabric recommendation comes back as part of the per-style quotation.
Reading a fabric line on a quotation
When quotations come back, compare fabric lines in this order. First, is the blend stated as numbers? "Poly cotton" without a ratio is not a specification. Second, is the weight in GSM attached to that blend? The same 65/35 TC is a different cloth at 135 GSM and at 190 GSM. Third, is the weave or stretch component named — birdseye, twill, or a stretch component with its percentage stated? Fourth, does the sample you approved match the line? On this program the approved sample and the written fabric line are the two references production and inspection work from; if a supplier's line and sample disagree, the program has no fixed reference at all. A quotation that survives these four questions is comparable with any other — including ours, which is why the tiers above are published with their numbers attached.
Fabric decisions for the rest of the kit
The coat gets the attention, but the same tier thinking runs through the kit. Pants are usually placed on the working end of the chef-series set — the poly cotton and cotton rich lines — and matched to the coat's blend family so the set responds to the same wash routine (see chef pants). Aprons have their own weight logic entirely, from 120 GSM light cloth to 360 GSM heavy cotton and denim, covered in Apron Materials Compared. Hats in the accessory range are deliberately simple: 100% polyester at 135 and 170 GSM, chosen because headwear is changed daily and costed as a consumable line of the program. One fabric system, four different decisions — that is what a fabric program means in practice.