Before you argue about GSM or colour, you're choosing a fabric family — and that one decision quietly sets your hand-feel, your warmth, your durability, the decoration methods available to you, and your price. There are three families worth knowing: knit fleece, woven, and cotton-blend. This is how they differ and where each belongs. (For how heavy to go within a fleece program once you've picked it, see choosing fleece weight.)
1. Knit fleece — the workhorse
Knit polyester fleece is the default for custom blankets, and for good reason: it's soft straight off the machine, warm for its weight, cheap, fast, and it takes vivid sublimation print. "Fleece" is itself a small family:
- Polar fleece — the value baseline. Even, brushed both sides, durable, the standard for promotional and event throws.
- Coral fleece — higher, softer pile with a plusher hand; the retail and hospitality favourite.
- Sherpa — a curly, wool-look pile, almost always used as a second face bonded to a flat fleece front for a premium double-sided throw.
- Micromink / flannel fleece — a dense, silky, very smooth hand that photographs as "luxury"; heavier and pricier.
Strengths: softness per dollar, warmth per gram, lowest MOQ and fastest lead time, brilliant all-over sublimation, machine-washable and quick-drying. Trade-offs: it's 100% synthetic (a sustainability question unless you spec recycled — see recycled sourcing), cheaper grades can pill without an anti-pill finish, and it reads as casual rather than heirloom. Best for: promotional and stadium giveaways, pet and outdoor brands, airline amenity, Airbnb and most retail throw programs.
2. Woven — structure, pattern and a premium read
Woven blankets are built on a loom rather than knitted, so the pattern and border can be built into the cloth instead of printed on top. The headline construction is jacquard, where a multi-colour design or two-tone border is woven in and can't crack, peel or fade. Woven cotton and acrylic throws (including the chunky, fringed, "boucherie"-style retail blankets) also live here.
Strengths: a genuinely premium hand and drape, woven-in patterns and borders that survive commercial laundering, and a durability that suits heirloom and hospitality positioning. Trade-offs: the loom set-up means a higher MOQ (jacquard typically starts around 1,000 pieces) and a longer lead time, and it costs more. Photo-real all-over graphics aren't its strength — that's sublimation's job. Best for: boutique hotel turndown throws, branded house blankets, premium retail and any program where a woven crest or border is the whole point. Our hospitality case study is exactly this: a printed border moved to jacquard so it matches on every reorder.
3. Cotton-blend — natural fibre, calmer feel
Cotton and cotton-blend blankets (often a cotton/poly or cotton/acrylic mix, sometimes woven, sometimes a knit) are the choice when the brand wants a natural-fibre story and a breathable, less-synthetic hand. Organic cotton (GOTS-certifiable) sits at the top of this family.
Strengths: breathable and natural-feeling, a credible "conscious" or wellness positioning, and a matte, earthy aesthetic that synthetics can't quite fake. Trade-offs: heavier and slower-drying, less warm per gram than fleece, more prone to shrink and wrinkle, and more expensive — and the colour is more muted because cotton doesn't take sublimation the way polyester does (decoration leans on embroidery, woven labels or reactive dyeing). Best for: yoga and wellness blankets, sustainability-led DTC brands, and premium gifting where "natural" is part of the pitch. See the yoga & wellness vertical for where this lands.
Decoration depends on the fabric you pick
This catches buyers out, so it's worth stating plainly: the fabric decides which decoration methods are even available. Sublimation needs polyester to bond — it's vivid on fleece, weak-to-impossible on cotton. Jacquard needs a loom, so it's a woven-only option. Embroidery and woven labels work across all three. If your design is a full-bleed photographic print, you're choosing fleece whether you meant to or not; if it's a two-tone woven crest, you're choosing woven. Pick the decoration and the fabric together, not in sequence — the full trade-off is in decoration methods compared.
Quick-reference: which family, which channel
- Lowest cost, fast, vivid print, small MOQ → knit fleece (polar for value, coral for softness).
- Premium hand, woven-in pattern, survives laundering → woven / jacquard (accept the higher MOQ and lead time).
- Natural-fibre story, breathable, wellness aesthetic → cotton-blend or organic cotton (accept the weight, cost and muted colour).
- Double-sided plush retail throw → fleece front bonded to sherpa back.
- Outdoor / promotional / amenity at volume → fleece, almost always.
Not sure which fabric family your product wants? Tell us the channel, the look and the decoration — we'll recommend a fabric, weight and a swatch to feel before you commit.