Stands thousands of cut threads upright, which is where color depth comes from.
Also called: polyester velvet, performance velvet
Measurement
Upholstery pile usually stands about 1 to 3 millimeters high
The basics
What to know about velvet
Velvet is a construction, not a fiber. Short threads stand upright from a woven backing. Light strikes the ends of those threads rather than a flat surface. That is what makes the color look so deep and shift as you walk past. It can be made from polyester, cotton, silk, linen or a blend, and the fiber decides how it wears.
Polyester velvet is the practical version and now the common one. Its filaments are strong and smooth, so the pile springs back rather than crushing. Many polyester velvets are sold as performance fabrics with solution-dyed fiber underneath. Cotton velvet feels softer and reads richer but marks under pressure. Silk and viscose velvets are the most beautiful and the least suited to seating anyone actually uses.
How velvet lives is what people misjudge. Pile flattens where bodies land and shades lighter or darker depending on which way the threads lean. A used velvet sofa shows where it has been used. Brushing the pile in one direction with a soft brush lifts most of that back out, and it takes two minutes rather than a repair bill.
Debris is the other cost. Standing threads catch pet hair, crumbs and dust in a way a flat weave does not. A velvet sofa wants vacuuming with an upholstery head more often than a linen one. Claws can also pull the pile on looser constructions.
In photos
Velvet on real products
See this option on different products. Open a photo for a larger view, or select the name to read its guide.
Upholstery velvet is usually woven double. Two backing cloths run through the loom face to face, joined by a third set of threads passing between them. A blade slices those threads down the middle as the fabric leaves the machine. The halves separate and the cut ends stand up as pile, which is why velvet shows no visible weave on its face.
The pile is then sheared to an even height, brushed to set its direction, and heat-treated on synthetics so the threads hold that stance. Crushed velvet is pressed under rollers afterward to lay the pile in deliberately random directions. Embossed velvet is stamped with a heated patterned roller. Both effects are permanent, and both explain why a crushed velvet shows sitting marks far less than a plain one. The surface is already meant to look irregular.
Best for
When it works well
Statement pieces in a room where the sofa is meant to be looked at, since nothing holds color this deeply.
Formal rooms with lower daily traffic, because pile marks less where fewer people sit.
Jewel tones and deep neutrals, as pile makes dark colors read rich instead of flat.
Households willing to brush the pile occasionally, which takes two minutes and resets most of the shading.
This entry03VelvetUpholstery pile usually stands about 1 to 3 millimeters highStands thousands of cut threads upright, which is where color depth comes from.
