Burnout (Devoré) Velvet: Manufacturing & Sourcing Guide
Introduction
Burnout velvet is one of the most misdescribed fabrics in the export trade. Buyers see a floral motif on a sheer ground and assume it is printed. It is not printed. It is not jacquard either. Burnout — devoré in French, burn-out in older trade catalogues — is a chemical process in which part of the pile is dissolved and washed away, leaving the rest standing. The motif you see is the pile that survived.
That distinction matters commercially, because the failure modes of a chemical process are nothing like the failure modes of a print. A print can be off-register, or crock, or fade. Burnout velvet can have a motif whose edges are soft and hairy instead of crisp, or a ground that has been eaten through in a thin spot, or open areas that fray after the first wash. None of these show up in a photo. All of them show up in your finished garment.
This guide is written from our own production, where burnout velvet is the fabric we run most. The specifications, failure modes and test standards below are the ones we actually work to — not catalogue language.
Three Fabrics Buyers Confuse With Each Other
Before the process, the vocabulary. Three velvet constructions get mixed up constantly in enquiries, and quoting the wrong one wastes a sampling cycle:
| Construction | How the pattern is created | Pile behaviour | Typical weight | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burnout (devoré) | Paste printed, pile dissolved and washed out | Raised motif against open, semi-sheer ground | 170–270 g/m² | Statement dirac, kaftan, evening gowns, bridal overlays |
| Solid-dyed velvet | No pattern; one even colour across the full pile | Uniform full pile, no open areas | ~250 g/m² | Abaya, tailored formalwear, upholstery |
| Crushed velvet | Pile mechanically flattened in irregular directions after dyeing | Light-reflecting crush marks, no open areas | 200–280 g/m² | Eveningwear, cushioning, costume |
The giveaway in a sample: hold burnout velvet up to a window. Light passes through the unprinted areas. Hold up a crushed or solid velvet and it stays opaque. If your sample is translucent in the motif background but the supplier called it “printed velvet”, you are being quoted the wrong construction.
Why the Fibre Blend Is Fixed
Burnout only works when two fibres in the same cloth respond differently to the same chemical. Cellulosic fibre is attacked by devoré paste; polyamide is not. That is the whole mechanism, and it constrains the composition:
- Pile: viscose. Cellulosic, so it can be dissolved. Viscose also gives the lustre and drape that make the surviving motif read as velvet rather than as felt.
- Ground: nylon (polyamide). Resistant to the paste, so the open areas survive as a thin, stable, semi-sheer ground. Nylon also carries the tensile load in the burned-out zones, which is why the fabric does not fall apart where the pile is gone.
The practical standard is 80% viscose / 20% nylon. Push the viscose higher and the pile gets denser and more luxurious, but the ground weakens and thin spots can open up. Push the nylon higher and the cloth becomes stronger but the pile thins and the motif loses body. If a supplier offers you a “100% polyester burnout”, ask what the paste is dissolving — polyester is not cellulosic, so the answer will tell you whether you are being offered a genuine burnout, a print, or an embossed imitation.
The Six-Step Process
Every burnout velvet runs through the same sequence. Knowing where the risk sits in each step is what lets you write a meaningful purchase order.
| # | Step | What happens | Where it goes wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weaving the greige | Viscose pile yarn and nylon ground yarn are woven into a full, uncut-pattern velvet. At this stage the cloth is a plain velvet; the pattern does not exist yet. | Uneven pile height, or a ground woven too open. Both only become visible after burnout, when it is too late to fix. |
| 2 | Printing the devoré paste | The paste is printed onto the pile in the motif pattern, using the negative of the design: paste goes where you want fabric removed. | Registration drift on repeat patterns, or paste penetrating only partway through the pile. Both produce soft, hairy motif edges. |
| 3 | Heat activation | Controlled heat drives the reaction so the paste dissolves viscose pile where it was printed. Nylon ground is unaffected. | Under-activation leaves viscose residue; over-activation attacks the ground and can create pinholes. |
| 4 | Washing out | Dissolved fibre and spent paste are washed away, opening the ground. | Incomplete washing leaves a stiff hand and a greyish cast in the open areas. |
| 5 | Dyeing | Where the colourway is not a stock pattern, the cloth is dyed. Viscose and nylon take dye differently, which is used deliberately: the motif and ground can be tone-on-tone or contrasted. | Batch-to-batch shade variation, and differential shrinkage between the two fibre types. |
| 6 | Finishing and inspection | Softening, stentering to width, optional beading or rhinestone application, then inspection against the approved sample. | Width lost in finishing, or trim applied out of alignment on beaded styles. |
The single most useful thing a buyer can do is approve a physical standard, not a digital one. Burnout velvet changes character with light and pile direction. A photo on a screen cannot show you whether the motif edges are crisp, whether the ground is evenly open, or whether the hand is soft or papery. Every step above can be executed perfectly and still produce a cloth you do not want, if the standard you approved was a JPEG.
Specification Sheet: What Belongs in Your PO
This is our own burnout velvet specification, published so you can see the level of detail a real order needs. Any line left blank on your PO becomes a decision the mill makes for you.
| Composition | 80% viscose (pile) / 20% nylon (ground) |
| Fabric weight | 170–270 g/m² depending on pattern openness |
| Usable width | ~140 cm |
| Pattern source | In-house pattern library (paisley, damask, floral and geometric families), re-colourable; custom designs developed on request |
| Finishes available | Plain, beaded, rhinestone |
| Colour matching | Pantone reference or physical standard; lab dip approved before bulk |
| MOQ | 300 metres per colour or per pattern |
| Lead time | ~15 working days after lab-dip approval (greige held in stock) |
| Trade terms | FOB Ningbo / Shanghai; T/T or L/C |
| Reference price | From US$3.10/m FOB for standard patterns; beaded and rhinestone styles quoted on request |
| Primary end uses | Dirac, toub, abaya, kaftan, eveningwear, bridal overlay |
Two lines deserve emphasis. Weight range, not weight: a more open pattern removes more pile, so the same greige yields a lighter finished cloth. Quoting a single GSM across a pattern range is how disputes start. MOQ per colour or per pattern, not per order: if you need three colourways, plan for three minimums, or ask explicitly whether the mill will aggregate them.
Five Failure Modes and How to Catch Them
These are the five defects we screen for on every burnout lot. They are listed in the order they typically appear in a buyer complaint, which is roughly the reverse order of how cheap they are to prevent.
| Defect | What you see | Root cause | How to catch it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soft motif edges | Pattern outline is fuzzy or hairy rather than clean | Paste did not penetrate the full pile depth, or registration drifted on repeat | Examine the motif edge under oblique light at 3× magnification; compare against the approved standard, not against a photo |
| Ground pinholes | Small holes or thin bright spots in the open areas | Over-activation, or ground woven too open for the paste load | Hold against a light box across the full width, not just at the selvedge |
| Residue haze | Grey or chalky film in the open areas; stiff hand | Incomplete washing after activation | Compare the hand of an open area against a known-good reference; residue also shows as a duller transmitted light |
| Pile shedding | Loose viscose fibre on the surface, on your cutting table, on the garment | Pile not sufficiently consolidated before burnout | Tape-lift test on a 20 cm square of the motif area, straight off the roll |
| Shade variation | Visible tone difference between rolls of the same colour | Dyeing split across batches, aggravated by the two-fibre blend | Lay all rolls of one colour side by side under D65 and check before cutting |
Note what is not on this list: pattern design. Design disagreements are a commercial conversation, settled by approving a standard. The five items above are manufacturing failures, and they are the ones a mill controls. If a supplier responds to a soft-edge complaint by discussing the design, they have not understood the problem.
Tests to Write Into the Contract
For burnout velvet, shrinkage alone is an inadequate test. The open areas are the weak point, and they fail mechanically before they fail dimensionally. Specify both.
| Property | Method | Why it matters for burnout specifically |
|---|---|---|
| Mass per unit area | ISO 3801 | Confirms the GSM you were quoted; open patterns make visual weight judgement unreliable |
| Dimensional change after washing | AATCC TM135 / ISO 6330 | Viscose is hydrophilic; the pile and the open ground shrink differently |
| Colour fastness to rubbing | ISO 105-X12 | Pile loss shows up as crocking transfer — the most common velvet complaint after washing |
| Colour fastness to washing | ISO 105-C06 | Two fibres, two dye uptakes; bleeding is a real risk on contrasted colourways |
| Pilling and surface change | ISO 12945-2 (Martindale) | Predicts whether the motif will fuzz in wear |
| Tensile strength | ISO 13934-1 | The only objective check on whether the burned-out ground can carry the garment |
| Formaldehyde content | ISO 14184-1 | Required for most destination markets; ask for the report, not an assurance |
A practical note on the wash test: inspect the motif edges after the cycle, not just the measurement figures. A fabric can pass a 3% shrinkage threshold and still come out with frayed open areas, which is a fail in the garment even though it is a pass on the report. Write the visual criterion into the test specification.
What Actually Drives Cost at 300 m and at 3,000 m
Buyers often assume price scales linearly with quantity. On burnout velvet it does not, because the cost is dominated by fixed setup rather than by fibre. The pattern has to be printed, the paste made up, the line run and cleaned, and a lab dip approved — and almost none of that changes when the order gets ten times bigger.
| Cost element | At 300 m | At 3,000 m | Behaviour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pattern and screen setup | Spread across a small run | Spread across a large run | Fixed — the dominant difference |
| Lab dip and approval | One cycle either way | One cycle either way | Fixed |
| Greige velvet | Proportional | Proportional | Variable, small share |
| Burnout printing and washing | Proportional, plus line cleaning | Proportional, cleaning amortised | Mixed |
| Dyeing | Small-batch surcharge common | Full-batch rate | Steps down above a batch threshold |
| Inspection and packing | Proportional | Proportional | Variable |
The consequence is worth stating plainly: the per-metre penalty for a small order is mostly setup, not material. That means a buyer with three colourways is usually better off consolidating into one larger burnout run per pattern and dyeing separately afterwards, than splitting the same total meterage across three small printing runs. Ask your supplier which of these two structures their line actually prefers — a mill that answers precisely is a mill that runs the process in-house.
Mill or Trader: Twenty Minutes Is Enough
Most burnout velvet offered online is not made by the company offering it. That is not automatically a problem — good traders exist — but the price and the accountability are different, so it is worth knowing which you are talking to. Five questions, all answerable in one conversation:
- “What is your paste activation temperature, and how do you control it?” A mill answers in specifics. A trader forwards the question.
- “Show me the greige before burnout.” A mill holds greige in stock and can photograph it today. If everything is “in production”, there is no stock.
- “How many rolls of this pattern did you run last month?” A mill knows its own line loading. A trader knows only what it ordered.
- “Which of the five burnout defects do you screen for, and how?” Anyone who has run the process has a list. Anyone who has not will describe generic quality control.
- “What is your business registration number, and can I verify it?” In China the number is checkable on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System. Verify the legal entity, its registered capital and its operating status yourself.
Our own position: we weave and burn out in-house at our mill in Fengqiao, Zhuji, Zhejiang, and hold greige velvet so that 300-metre orders are viable. Our showroom is in Keqiao, which is where buyers visit, but the cloth is made in Zhuji. If a supplier is vague about which of those two places the production happens in, that vagueness is the answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between burnout velvet and printed velvet?
A print sits on top of the pile; burnout removes it. The motif in burnout velvet is physically raised against a semi-sheer ground, so it changes appearance with light and pile direction. A print looks the same from every angle and has no pile contrast.
Why is burnout velvet always a viscose and nylon blend?
Because the process depends on two fibres reacting differently to the same chemical. Cellulosic fibres such as viscose are attacked by the devoré paste; nylon is not. If the pile were polyester, or the ground were cotton, the paste would either not clear the pile or would eat through the ground. The 80/20 split is the practical standard.
What is the minimum order for burnout velvet?
From our mill, 300 metres per colour or per pattern — lower than the 1,000-metre minimums common on B2B marketplaces, because we hold greige in stock. The real constraint is not the meterage but the lab dip: every colourway or pattern needs an approved dip before bulk starts.
How long does burnout velvet production take?
Around 15 working days after lab-dip approval, because the greige is already woven. Add shipping on top, depending on whether you ship FOB Ningbo or Shanghai. Orders requiring a brand-new pattern to be developed start earlier, at the pattern stage.
Can burnout velvet be washed, and will the pattern survive?
Yes, with care. The burned-out areas are open fabric and therefore mechanically weaker than the pile. Specify a wash test before bulk, and inspect the motif edges for fraying after the cycle rather than only measuring shrinkage. Gentle cold wash, no tumble dry, dry flat.
This guide is written by Mujia Textile, a velvet and cotton fabric manufacturer based in Zhuji, Zhejiang, China. We weave and burn out in-house, hold greige velvet in stock, publish FOB prices, and work from 300 metres per colour. All specifications quoted above are our own production standards.
Need a burnout velvet sample?
Send us your garment spec and target market — we will recommend pattern openness, weight and colourway, and ship a swatch card. Courier at cost.
Request a Quote & Swatch CardRelated Guides
- Fabric Price Calculation & FOB Cost Breakdown
- Fabric Quality Control & Inspection Guide: 4-Point System and AQL
- China Fabric Factory Audit: Verifying Your Supplier's Capability
- How to Read a Fabric Specification Sheet
- Fabric Testing Methods: What Every Buyer Should Request
- Fabric MOQ & Payment Terms from China
- Fabric Shrinkage: Causes, Testing & Prevention
- Velvet Fabric Buying Guide: Burnout vs Solid-Dyed
Standards, Regulations and Data Sources Cited
The figures, test methods and compliance points in this guide follow the published standards and official sources below. Where a test result is quoted, it is reported on the scale defined by the corresponding method.
- ISO 3801:1977 — Mass per unit length and mass per unit area of woven fabrics — the reference method behind every g/m² figure quoted here.
- AATCC TM135 — Dimensional Changes of Fabrics after Home Laundering — the standard method for measuring shrinkage after repeated home washing.
- ISO 6330 — Domestic washing and drying procedures for textile testing — the washing procedure used alongside the dimensional-change method.
- ISO 105-X12 — Colour fastness to rubbing — the crocking test most relevant to pile fabrics, where pile loss appears as rubbing transfer.
- ISO 105-C06 — Colour fastness to domestic and commercial laundering — the laundering fastness method for two-fibre blends.
- ISO 12947 — Determination of abrasion resistance by the Martindale method — the abrasion and surface-change test used to predict pile fuzzing.
- ISO 13934-1 — Tensile properties of fabrics, strip method — the objective check on whether a burned-out ground can carry the garment.
- ISO 14184-1 — Formaldehyde content, free and hydrolysed, water extraction method — the formaldehyde determination required by most destination markets.
- National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System — 国家企业信用信息公示系统 — China's official registry for verifying a supplier's legal entity, registered capital and operating status.