GSM is the most useful number on a garment label. It is also the least explained.
It stands for grams per square metre — the weight of one square metre of the fabric. That is all. But it tells you more about how a garment will wear than the fibre content does.
The rough map
120–160 GSM — light. Summer tees, the kind that go translucent against a window and lose their shape at the collar within a season.
180–220 GSM — mid-weight jersey. The honest range for a tee you want to keep. It holds a shoulder line, takes a print without puckering, and survives washing.
240–280 GSM — heavy. Sweatshirts, structured shorts, fleece bottoms. It hangs rather than clings, and it is where a garment starts to feel like an object.
300 GSM and up — outerwear weight. Substantial enough that the cut has to be right, because the cloth will not drape its way out of a bad pattern.
Why heavier is not automatically better
Weight is not quality. A 300 GSM garment made from coarse, loosely spun cotton will pill faster than a 200 GSM one made from long-staple combed yarn. GSM tells you the mass of the cloth, not the quality of the fibre or the tightness of the knit.
What heavier weight does reliably give you is structure — the garment holds its own shape instead of taking yours — and opacity, which matters more than people admit on light colours.
It also gives you a garment that takes hand-work. Embroidery and set patches need a ground heavy enough to carry them without distorting. Put a dense embroidered patch on 140 GSM jersey and the fabric puckers around it permanently. That is the real reason heritage techniques live on heavy cloth.
What to actually ask
Most brands do not publish GSM. When a brand does, it is usually because the number flatters them — which is fine, that is what specifications are for. The useful follow-ups are what the yarn is (combed or carded), whether it is garment-dyed, and whether the weight is pre- or post-wash.
Where the collection sits
- 200 GSM combed cotton — Grove Tank, Crescent Tank. Relaxed cut, opaque, holds a print.
- 220 GSM jersey — the tees: Quiet Tee, Patchwork Tee, Indigo Sleeve Tee, Ornament Patch Tee, Patch Tee. Heavy enough to carry woven patches without pulling.
- 240–260 GSM fleece — Ornament Shorts, Compass Short, Geometry Joggers, and the Heritage Hoodie at 260 GSM brushed fleece.
- 300 GSM brushed fleece — the Heritage Trouser, the heaviest thing in the house, because hand-set ajrak panels need a ground that will not move under them.
Weight and care
Heavy cloth holds water. A 300 GSM trouser takes far longer to dry than a 200 GSM tank, and hanging it wet will pull the shoulders or waistband out of shape. Lay heavy pieces flat. The full method is in our washing guide.
Measurements for every piece — real production numbers, not converted estimates — are on the size guide. See the collection: FUKRA — Collection I.