What GSM Should a T-Shirt Be? Fabric Weight for T-Shirts, Hoodies and Joggers

T-shirt, hoodie and jogger GSM: summary table

The table puts side by side the ranges published by Turkish knitted-fabric mills and suppliers, which is what you will meet on quotations from Turkey, and the T-shirt classes of an international print-on-demand company. All of them are declared figures; there is no official classification.

The ranges are compiled from Printful’s guide (May 7, 2026) and the pages of four Turkish knitted-fabric mills or suppliers (published or updated between 2024 and 2026, one undated; see the source list, accessed October 8, 2026). The oz/yd² column is our conversion at 33.91 (explained below). For the same garment, pages can differ from each other by 100 g/m² or more; the reasons follow.

What GSM should a T-shirt be?

In a T-shirt, GSM affects lightness, opacity, drape and cost together. Three classes are common in guides. The limits are not defined in any standard; they are trade habit.

Light, mid and heavyweight T-shirts

• Light, roughly 120–150 g/m². Printful treats this class as the default for summer, sport and layering, says it works well with digital printing and warns that embroidery can pucker the fabric. A mill page describes this band as cool and fluid, but notes that its thinness can make it see-through and less durable. For light colours and white, check opacity on the sample.
• Mid, roughly 150–180 g/m². According to Printful it suits most print methods and everyday wear across the seasons. The same page finds 160–180 fuller, more opaque and longer-lasting.
• Heavy, 180 g/m² and above. Printful gives the heavy class as 180–254 g/m²: a dense fabric carries large prints, resists wear, keeps its shape in washing, and suits cooler climates and premium products. Because the three Turkish supplier pages reviewed end their T-shirt band at around 180 g/m², anything above that is in practice treated as heavy; still, there is no common definition of “heavy”.

Different structures carry the same GSM differently. For the differences between single jersey, piqué, interlock and rib, see our T-shirt fabric types guide.

GSM for printed T-shirts

Printful’s guide recommends 119–180 g/m² for direct-to-garment (DTG) printing and 170–220 g/m² for screen printing, and asks for at least 170 g/m² for embroidery. These are practical recommendations based on one print supplier’s product range, not standards, and they can change with your printer’s machine and ink. For a comparison of methods see textile printing methods, and test the target print on the fabric itself before production.

When “how many grams” asks about the garment’s weight

The question can also mean the weight of the finished T-shirt rather than the fabric. According to Printful, a medium cotton T-shirt weighs 128–156 g. For one model in 142 g/m² fabric the garment weighs 99 g in XS, 125 g in M, 150 g in XL and 201 g in 5XL. Garment weight depends on size and pattern as well as GSM, so in a tech pack and in freight calculations, write fabric GSM and garment weight separately.

Hoodie and sweatshirt GSM

Sweatshirt fabrics are knitted as two-thread or three-thread structures (Turkish: iki iplik, üç iplik). According to Cotton Incorporated’s CottonWorks learning page, a two-end knit whose reverse is not raised is called French terry; the page describes it as suitable for sweatpants and sweatshirts and for all seasons. If the reverse is brushed (raised into a pile), the fabric becomes fleece, which is heavier and considered suitable for cold weather. Three-end fleece has a face yarn, a binding yarn and a fleece yarn that is raised, gives the fullest and most stable fleece, and is used where extra warmth is needed.

Naming is not consistent. CottonWorks and academic papers describe brushed two-thread fabric, while one supplier page says two-thread cannot be brushed. A quotation that says only “two-thread” or “three-thread” is therefore not enough: state separately whether the reverse is brushed.

On weight, the ranges are wide (see the table). Even French terry does not mean one GSM. One supplier page lists pure-cotton French terry at 420–440 g/m²; another page from the same supplier lists French terry and diagonal three-thread for summer sweatshirts at 280–320 g/m²; and a polyester knitting mill gives two-thread (French terry) as 150–320 g/m². Season matching is also declared rather than measured: one supplier page recommends two-thread for spring, summer and early autumn and brushed three-thread for autumn and winter.

Independent measurements show why the ranges are so wide:

• Unbrushed two-thread samples in 100% cotton, with Ne 30/1 open-end face yarn and Ne 20/1 open-end backing yarn, knitted on a 28-gauge (E28) machine, measured 188–197 g/m² (TS EN 12127; Uyanık, 2023). GSM and thickness rose as the share of backing yarn rose. These samples fell below some mills’ declared ranges (for example 220–320 g/m²).
• Three-thread polyester-cotton blend fleece samples measured 264–274 g/m² raw and 337–342 g/m² after finishing; the target weight was 300 g/m² (Hossain et al., Heliyon, 2021).

Same GSM, different job: look at the reverse

One supplier lists three of its own fabrics in the same 310–320 g/m² band: brushed three-thread, unbrushed diagonal three-thread and a fabric with an anti-pilling polar-fleece-type structure. The same page assigns the three to different seasons and uses (published July 20, 2024, updated October 4, 2026). GSM alone does not mean “thick” or “warm”. When the sample arrives, turn the fabric over and look at the reverse, and write the brushing status and the composition into the quotation next to the GSM.

Jogger and tracksuit GSM

Jogger bottoms and tracksuit tops are made from the same fabric families as sweatshirts: two-thread or French terry for seasonal models and brushed three-thread for winter ones. Supplier pages give 250–350 and 310–380 g/m² for winter joggers and 280–420 g/m² for a three-thread “sweat, tracksuit” group (see the table). In joggers, two properties cause more trouble than GSM.

1. Length shrinkage. In unbrushed two-thread cotton fabrics (Uyanık, 2023), dimensional change after washing and drying under TS EN ISO 5077 was 1.7–2.3% shrinkage in width and 6.7–7.3% in length; the paper does not state the finishing condition of the samples. These values cannot be generalised, but a worked example shows the effect: on a pair of joggers with a 100 cm inside leg, 7% shrinkage is about 7 cm. Write the post-wash measurement into the spec and leave allowance in the leg length. For the causes of shrinkage, see how fabric shrinkage is prevented.
2. Pilling. Pilling is a common surface defect in polyester-cotton (CVC and PC) fleece fabrics (Hossain et al., 2021). Ask for a pilling test on brushed fabrics: EN ISO 12945-1 (pilling box) or EN ISO 12945-2 (modified Martindale). Hossain and colleagues tested their fleece samples with the pilling box method; agree with the supplier in the contract which method will be used.

Same GSM, different fabric: what sets GSM?

GSM is a result, not a target. In a knit, the weight of one square metre depends on yarn count, machine gauge, loop (stitch) length and stitch density. In Dönmez’s (2008) study of single jersey and single lakost samples, GSM fell as stitch length rose: the same yarn knitted looser gives a lighter fabric. For how to read yarn counts, see the yarn count conversion guide.

The state of measurement matters too. Cotton Incorporated’s bulletin ISP 1009 gives the weight of one 100% cotton single jersey, knitted from Ne 30/1 combed ring-spun yarn on a 28-gauge (E28) machine, in different states. The three-thread fleece values come from Hossain et al.

The raw single jersey gained about 30% in weight on relaxing, from 135 to 176 g/m². In relaxed fabric the loops move closer together, the number of loops per unit area rises and GSM goes up; in the fleece example the fabric also narrowed in the early finishing stages and GSM rose at every stage (ISP 1009; Hossain et al., 2021; Dönmez, 2008). The upshot: when you write a GSM, also write the state in which it was measured (raw, finished, relaxed).

A high GSM does not mean quality either. Printful says quality comes from matching fabric weight to the end use, not from chasing the highest GSM, and a mill page adds that yarn count, knit structure and stitch density together set the handle. According to the same mill’s weight map, single jersey knitted on one needle bed and interlock knitted on two give very different handles even at the same 200 g/m².

Turkish GSM terms on a quotation

Quotations from Turkish mills and suppliers often use these words. Map them to English in your tech pack:

How GSM is measured and written into a quotation

Test method and standards

For the mass per unit area of knitted fabric, EN 12127 is used: it works with small samples and applies to woven and knitted fabrics. In Turkey it is published as TS EN 12127, and Uyanık’s (2023) paper measured GSM with it. Check the current edition with CEN or your national standards body. ASTM D3776/D3776M applies to most fabrics, with full-piece, full-width, small-sample and narrow-fabric options. ISO 3801, often cited for fabric weight, covers woven fabrics only, so it is the wrong reference for a knitted fabric order.

For a practical check, one supplier page describes this method: cut a 10 cm × 10 cm square, weigh it and multiply the result by 100. Precision decides here: a 10 × 10 cm sample of 160 g/m² fabric weighs only 1.6 g (160 × 0.01). A kitchen scale accurate to 1 g is not enough for this measurement; use a scale accurate to 0.01 g, or weigh a larger sample (a 50 × 50 cm sample is 0.25 m², so multiply the result by 4). The laboratory procedure in Dönmez’s (2008) thesis is similar: a 10 × 10 cm square template, a scale accurate to 1 mg, fabric rested flat for 48 hours, 10 samples from different positions, and 24 hours of conditioning at 20 ± 2 °C and 65 ± 2% relative humidity.

To convert a quotation in imperial units, multiply oz/yd² by 33.91 (Printful): 5.3 oz/yd² is about 180 g/m². To go the other way, divide GSM by 33.91.

From GSM to cost per metre

Wholesale fabric is often sold by the kilogram, while cutting plans are made in metres. Metres per kilogram = 1,000 ÷ (GSM × open width in metres). At 1.80 m open width, 1 kg gives about 3.09 m at 180 g/m² and about 1.85 m at 300 g/m². At the same price per kilogram, a metre of 300 g/m² fabric therefore costs 300 ÷ 180 ≈ 1.67 times as much. For the full calculation see how many metres of fabric a product takes.

Pre-order checklist

1. Write the structure and the reverse. Single jersey, interlock, piqué, two-thread or three-thread; and for two-thread and three-thread, whether the reverse is brushed or unbrushed.
2. Write the composition and the yarn. Fibre composition in percentages, combed or carded, ring-spun or open-end, yarn count (for example Ne 30/1).
3. Write GSM with target, tolerance and state of measurement. Example: “160 g/m², ±5%, finished and relaxed, EN 12127”. A tolerance of ±5% appears on two supplier pages reviewed; it is a contract clause, not a standard. ±5% on 180 g/m² means 171–189 g/m².
4. State whether the width is open or tubular. According to one supplier page, one metre of tubular fabric means two layers of fabric, so a metre calculation can change by up to a factor of two.
5. Ask for dimensional change after washing. Length shrinkage directly affects the finished size of long garments such as jogger bottoms (measured under EN ISO 5077).
6. Ask for a pilling test on brushed fabric. EN ISO 12945-1 or EN ISO 12945-2.
7. Weigh it yourself. If the GSM of the delivered sample or lot deviates, ask the supplier whether the difference comes from the state of measurement or from the fabric.

Send the same spec line to every supplier so the offers can be compared on equal terms, and ask for MOQ and lead time against the exact construction and GSM you have written.

Summary: how to choose GSM

For T-shirts, most sources point to the 120–180 g/m² band, and heavy or premium models go above 180 g/m². Seasonal sweatshirts and joggers use two-thread or French terry, and winter products brushed three-thread fleece. The ranges are declared figures; the real value depends on the state of measurement, the fabric structure and the yarn. Write the GSM together with structure, composition, tolerance and state of measurement, and confirm it on a sample.

If you are looking for a fabric supplier, browse knitted fabric, two-thread and three-thread fabric suppliers in our company directory. If you need a workshop or factory to make the garment, the T-shirt, sweatshirt and hoodie and tracksuit and jogger manufacturer categories will help.