Needle punch fabric is made by driving barbed needles through layers of fibre so that the fibres tangle and lock together. Rather than weaving threads over and under each other, the process binds fibres mechanically. Used creatively, it can push coloured yarns into a base cloth to create textured, one-of-a-kind patterns.

It is the technique behind our Celestial Collection. This guide explains how needle punching works, what makes the resulting fabric distinctive and how we developed it.

How does needle punching work?

A needle punch machine holds a bed of fine needles, each with tiny barbs along its shaft. As the needles move up and down through a layer of fibres, the barbs catch individual fibres and drag them through the material. Repeated thousands of times, this action entangles the fibres so tightly that they hold together without any weaving or glue.

The same principle underlies hand needle felting, where artists use a single barbed needle to sculpt wool. Industrial machines simply repeat the movement at scale and with far greater precision.

From non-woven to decorative

Needle punching is widely used to make non-woven materials such as felts. It can also be used decoratively: by punching coloured yarns or fibres into an existing fabric, a maker can create raised patterns that become part of the cloth itself rather than sitting on its surface like a print.

What makes needle punch fabric distinctive?

• Texture. The punched fibres create a soft, tactile surface with depth.
• Integrated pattern. Because the pattern is driven into the fabric, it does not wash off or crack like a printed design.
• Uniqueness. When the placement of yarns varies, no two lengths of fabric look exactly the same.

Developing the Celestial fabric

Our Celestial Collection took almost a year of fabric development on very complex needle punch machinery. The result is a special Italian wool blend with yarns needle punched in patterns randomly generated across the fabric, evoking a night sky.

Because the pattern is random, each piece is completely unique in the shape and placement of its pattern. For our overcoat, the process goes further: each tuft is individually hand-placed before being interwoven using a specialised needle punching machine. We tell the full story in a year in the making: inside the Celestial Collection.

The Celestial pieces

The fabric appears across a small, highly limited collection, every piece crafted in London.

• The Celestial Hoodie, adorned with a 100% silk lining throughout.
• The Celestial Sweatshirt, also fully silk-lined.
• The Celestial Bottoms, which pair with the hoodie or sweatshirt as a matching set.
• The Celestial Overshirt, in hand-tufted Italian needle punch wool, fully lined with silk and finished with Corozo buttons made from natural vegetable ivory.
• The Celestial Overcoat, which pairs the fabric with traditional British tailoring.

Browse them together in the Celestial Collection, and check the Celestial size guide before you order.

Needle punch versus other textured fabrics

Versus embroidery

Embroidery stitches thread onto the surface of a fabric following a defined design. Our Wild Window pieces, for example, carry an embroidered landscape of 227,000 threads. Needle punching instead drives fibre into the cloth, creating a softer, more diffuse texture with less defined edges.

Versus jacquard

A jacquard pattern is woven into the fabric as it is made, using different threads to form the design. Our Minoan Jumper is a jacquard weave in 100% Italian wool. Jacquard is precise and repeatable; needle punching, as we use it, is random and unique.

Versus printing

A print sits on the surface. A needle punched pattern is part of the structure of the fabric and adds texture as well as colour.

Caring for needle punch wool

Needle punched wool rewards gentle care. Always follow the care label first. As a general rule, avoid hot water and agitation, which can cause wool fibres to felt further, and never tumble dry. Let pieces air between wears and store them folded rather than hanging heavy items for long periods. Our guide on how to wash and care for wool and cashmere covers the essentials.

Why we invest in fabric development

Spending close to a year developing one fabric is not the fast way to make clothes. It is, however, the way to make something genuinely different. Many of our pieces begin with the discovery of a fabric, and the design follows from what the cloth can do. Read more about how we work with mills in why we source our fabrics from Italian mills and about our process on the craftsmanship page.

In short

Needle punch fabric is made by driving barbed needles through fibres so that they lock together, a process that can also push coloured yarns into a base cloth to form textured patterns. Unlike prints or jacquards, the pattern becomes part of the fabric and, when randomly placed, makes every piece unique. Our Celestial Collection uses an Italian wool blend developed over almost a year, with silk linings on the hoodie, sweatshirt and bottoms. Explore the Celestial Collection.