What loopback actually means

Loopback is a knit structure, not a marketing word. On the face you get a flat jersey. On the reverse you get exposed loops of yarn, uncut, sitting proud of the surface.

Fleece is the same structure with those loops sheared open and brushed. That brushing is what makes fleece feel soft immediately — and it is also what makes it pill, thin out, and lose its shape by the second winter.

We knit loopback because the loops stay closed. The garment starts less soft and ends up better. After roughly twenty wears the loops compact against each other and the inside develops a density that a brushed fleece can never get to, because there is nothing left of it to compact.

The other half of it is speed. Our mill runs the Vault fabric at about a third of the rate a modern circular machine can manage. Slower knitting means less tension on the yarn, which means the finished cloth relaxes instead of shrinking sideways. It costs us roughly four times as much per metre. It is the single biggest line item in the hoodie and the only one we will not move on.