What Does GSM Mean when you buy Fabrics? A to Z Guide (2020)

Blog By Hannah / April, 19, 2025

Are you looking for a nice fabric to wear in summer or winter? Picking the right material for your fabric is equally important like picking the right GSM with your fabric. Experts in the industry always look for having high GSM in the fabric while selecting the best fabric. Do you do the same? If not, here is a complete guideline that you can follow in order to what GSM for fabric really is and how it can help you to make your clothing comfortable wear.

What Is The Definition Of GSM When Looking For Specific Fabric?

#	Product	Rating	Price
1	NEWTRY 1000g/0.01g Electronic Fabric GSM Scale Digital Textile Weight Balance With a 0-2mm Disc...	31 User Reviews	$199.00	Check Current Price
2	GreaterGoods Digital Food Kitchen Scale, Multifunction Scale Measures in Grams and Ounces (Ash Grey)	120,142 User Reviews	$19.95 $10.94	Check Current Price
3	RENPHO Body Fat Scale Smart BMI Scale Digital Bathroom Wireless Weight Scale, Body Composition...	No ratings yet	$26.99 $22.09	Check Current Price
4	Ozeri ZK14-S Pronto Digital Multifunction Kitchen and Food Scale, Black, 8.25	73,898 User Reviews	$14.95 $9.84	Check Current Price
5	iDOO Bathroom Scale, Highly Accurate Smart Digital Body Weight Scale with Large LED Backlit Display,...	4,519 User Reviews	$32.99	Check Current Price

Last update on 2022-01-05 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

GSM is nothing but basically the weight of one square meter fabric in grams. It stands out for Grams per Square Meter. So in other words, we can say that it is the density of the fabric that you are going to opt for.

When looking for a specific fabric, we come across different terms like 50/50 or 80/20. This specifically means that the product has been manufactured with 50% cotton and 50% polyester or 80% cotton and 20% polyester.

So simply the GSM is the calculation of the density that is also the metric measurement of the weight of a fabric! So it becomes easy to calculate the density and the weight of the fabric used in manufacturing the cloth.

What Is GSM For Cotton?

Since we have all come to know about what the GSM actually means, now let’s come to know more about the GSM for cotton. So basically the GSM for Cotton depends on how thick or thin the fabric.

If you are considering a towel, having a high GSM of cotton means that the towel is thick and heavier! Standard thick towels are almost 450-600 GSM.

If you are opting for a thin towel, you can opt for a low GSM. The standard thin towels contain 400 GSM of cotton which makes the towel much lighter to use.

So if you are willing to pick the right GSM of Cotton for the fabric, you must know why you are buying it. The Light towels are good for workout sessions, while the thick ones are better after a shower.

How To Calculate GSM For Fabric

Since GSM refers to Grams per square meter, it obviously relates to both the weight as well as the area of the fabric. So you need to know the width as well as the length of the fabric you are about to measure.

Once you take the readings, you can now follow up on the few steps mentioned below to find the proper GSM of the fabric.

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Solution:

First, you need to calculate the area of the fabric

Consider the length of the fabric is 20 meters

Consider the width of the fabric is 59 inches or 1.5 meters.

So the fabric area is 20 X 1.5-meter square = 30-meter square.

Now, you need to know the weight of the fabric. Suppose we consider it around 10 Kgs or 10000 grams.

So the weight is 1 square meter becomes 10000/30 = 333.33 grams per square meter.

So the fabric GSM is 333.33

GSM Chart

The GSM chart for fabric depends on the material that is used to manufacture the fabric apart from the weight and the area it has. But considering a standard measurement, we can divide the GSM chart into three different categories including:

a) Low GSM:

The low GSM is roughly around 150-180 GSM which makes the fabric quite thin to use. It is good for towels or cotton scarf which can be light.

b) Medium GSM:

The best part of wearing any comfortable Cotton fabric is to have a GSM around 180-200. It becomes a thumb rule to look for an ideal Cotton based fabric to have a standard GSM measurement.

c) Medium GSM:

Any GSM that becomes higher than 250 for Cotton can be considered as high GSM. The fabric thus becomes heavy and much uncomfortable to wear.

So if you are about to choose any fabric, make sure that you always consider this standard GSM chart while picking up any fabric.

Working Procedure To Measure GSM In Fabric

If you wish to know more about the Working Procedure to Measure GSM in Fabric, you can simply follow up the few steps which will help you to get the results.

Step 1:

Start off by taking a small amount as a sample and condition it for almost 6 hours to make the fabric ready. If you are willing to get the GSM of any particular material in the fabric, make sure that the product is 100% cotton or 100% polyester.

Step 2:

Now, once the fabric is ready, you can take the fabric to test the GSM and place it on the GSM cutter pad. This will make sure that there is no crease or crinkle formed on the piece of cloth.

Step 3:

The next thing that you need to do is to cut the fabric with the GSM cutter. Make sure that the diameter is around 11.2 cm which is the standard size of the measurement.

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Step 4:

Once done, you can now take the weight of the fabric in the balance. Make sure to note down the length and the width of the fabric accordingly. You must then find out the area of the cloth and then divide it by the weight of the piece.

#	Product	Rating	Price
1	NEWTRY 1000g/0.01g Electronic Fabric GSM Scale Digital Textile Weight Balance With a 0-2mm Disc...	31 User Reviews	$199.00	Check Current Price
2	GreaterGoods Digital Food Kitchen Scale, Multifunction Scale Measures in Grams and Ounces (Ash Grey)	120,142 User Reviews	$19.95 $10.94	Check Current Price
3	RENPHO Body Fat Scale Smart BMI Scale Digital Bathroom Wireless Weight Scale, Body Composition...	No ratings yet	$26.99 $22.09	Check Current Price
4	Ozeri ZK14-S Pronto Digital Multifunction Kitchen and Food Scale, Black, 8.25	73,898 User Reviews	$14.95 $9.84	Check Current Price
5	iDOO Bathroom Scale, Highly Accurate Smart Digital Body Weight Scale with Large LED Backlit Display,...	4,519 User Reviews	$32.99	Check Current Price