We continue our AW24 drops with a new fabric option for our BWS-04 SCOUT OVERSHIRT: the 13 oz. stay-blue x black modal BT. Because we have already covered the details of the BWS-04 plenty of times before, we’re solely going to focus on the fabric in this article instead. We will break down the details of the fabric in three different segments and explain them one by one: warp, weft, and construction.

WARP

The warp yarns are indigo-dyed – however, the indigo has been heavily fixated to the yarns in the dyeing process, making them much slower to fade, compared to regular indigo. Therefore we have named this type of indigo-dye ‘stay-blue’.

The garment itself has been pre-washed in the factory already, showing a little bit of fading, for example on the edges of the pockets, but this is very limited and will not develop as quickly as you might expect from an indigo-dyed garment. This BWS-04 can be interesting for anyone looking for an indigo-dyed overshirt that will maintain it’s dark colour for a longer period.

WEFT

We weft yarns are dyed black, which gives the fabric it’s dark appereance. But more importantly, the warp yarns are composed of Modal, specifically Tencel Modal, trademarked by the Lenzing company. Modal is a semi-synthetic fibre made from cellulose, derived from wood. The cellulose pulp is spun into filaments, which is then used to create long and stable yarns.

But why use modal? Because it’s considered a more eco-friendly alternative to cotton, as the production process uses significantly less water. This makes it a bit more sustainable compared to a 100% cotton shirt.

CONSTRUCTION

The fabric is constructed like a broken twill. It lacks a distinctive twill line, but instead goes back and forth every two or three columns of yarns. This creates the interesting pattern you can see when zooming in on the fabric.

Originally, the broken twill construction was invented to prevent leg twists in jeans, and was popularized by Wrangler in the 1960s.