tissage

Tissage, from the French verb tisser (to weave), is a general term in French for the process of weaving and the resulting fabric. In textile practice, tissage encompasses the interlacing of warp yarns, held taut on a loom, with weft yarns that are passed over and under the warp to form cloth. The word also denotes the fabric produced by this process. In English, weaving is the closest equivalent, though tissage is commonly used in French-speaking contexts and in historical and technical textile literature.

Weaving is performed on various loom types, from simple hand looms to industrial rapier, air-jet, and projectile looms. Basic structures include plain weave, twill, and satin; more complex patterns are achieved with dobby and Jacquard looms, or with supplementary weft techniques. Materials vary from natural fibers such as cotton, wool, silk to synthetics like nylon and polyester. The choice of fiber, thread count, and weave structure determines the fabric’s properties— strength, weight, drape, texture, and translucency.

Historically, tissage has been central to textile economies across civilizations, including ancient Mesopotamia, China, India, and later Europe and the Islamic world. Techniques and looms evolved through the medieval period into modern industrial weaving, enabling mass production while preserving hand-weaving traditions in crafts and specialized applications.

In contemporary contexts, tissage informs design, fashion, interior textiles, and technical fabrics used in engineering, aviation, and medicine. The term remains a cornerstone of textile education, documentation, and museum cataloging in Francophone sources.