Ripstop

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Ripstop fabrics are woven fabrics, often made of nylon, using a reinforcing technique that makes them more resistant to tearing and ripping. During weaving, stronger (and often thicker) reinforcement yarns are interwoven at regular intervals in a crosshatch pattern. The intervals are typically 5 to 8 millimeters (0.2 to 0.3 in). Thin and lightweight ripstop fabrics have a two-dimensional structure due to the thicker yarns being interwoven in thinner cloth. Older lightweight ripstop fabrics display the thicker interlocking thread patterns in the material quite prominently, but more modern weaving techniques make the ripstop threads less obvious. A similar effect can be achieved by weaving two or three fine yarns together at smaller intervals.^[1]

Advantages of ripstop are the favourable strength-to-weight ratio and that small tears can not easily spread. Fibers used to make ripstop include cotton, silk, polyester, and polypropylene, with nylon content often limited to the crosshatched threads that make it tear-resistant.