PUL edges might not be pretty, but that's okay

The look of PUL sometimes surprises people. PUL does not always have tidy selvedge edges like other fabrics, and so they think something must be wrong! This is because PUL is not a regular knit or woven fabric, is a bonded fabric. Let me explain...

PUL starts with a lightweight, stretchy polyester knit fabric. It is married to TPU film (thermoplastic polyurethane) in a shotgun wedding involving heat, adhesive, and pressure. The two separate elements become one fabric.

But we're not done yet. The TPU film is very wide, and if we stopped now, the fabric would have several inches of loose film hanging off the edges. So as the last step, the edges are mechanically trimmed. The fabric runs past the knives at high speed, which means the fabric can shift as it runs past the knife.

Here are some surprising things you might see with perfectly normal, good PUL fabric:

• a rough edge if the trimming blades start to dull
• width that varies by an inch or so throughout the roll of fabric
• loose (unbonded) TPU film along the edge that missed getting trimmed off

We sometimes get emails from people worried that this means something is wrong with their fabric, and it is about to fall apart. Relax: we have never had a case of delamintion with Eco-PUL. It's all good. Just remember, laminated fabrics are much different from woven or knit fabrics where you see a tidy selvedge edge.