Every week, someone lands on this page looking for something we don't sell. Tires. Revolutionary War uniforms. Sometimes a specific Continental Tire location in Fort Mill, SC. I get it. 'Continental' is a busy name. (That's the downside of sharing a name with a tire company.) But if you're here for fabric, these are the questions I actually get asked when people need cotton and linen, knit fabric, or a Christmas knit run done on a deadline.
I coordinate fabric procurement for Continental's B2B clients. In eight years, I've handled 300+ rush orders, including same-day turnarounds for bedding brands, apparel manufacturers, and hospitality buyers. So this FAQ is practical, not official PR. Here's the short version:
- Why does 'Continental Tire Fort Mill SC' show up on a fabric site?
- What's the difference between cotton and linen?
- Where do you buy knit fabric in bulk?
- When should I order Christmas knit fabric?
- What did a Continental Army uniform actually use?
- How fast can Continental deliver a rush fabric order?
Why does 'Continental Tire Fort Mill SC' show up here?
Because Continental Tire, the tire and automotive technology company, has its Americas headquarters in Fort Mill, South Carolina. We are Continental, a fabric supplier. Different company, different building, no affiliate relationship. If you typed that phrase looking for tire service, you need a tire dealer, not a textile manufacturer. No hard feelings.
The confusion reaches our sales desk too. I've taken calls asking if we supply fabric for tires. We don't. We supply home textiles, apparel fabrics, and technical textiles like upholstery and automotive microfiber. If there's a tire connection, it's only that our microfiber is sometimes used in car detailing cloths. (That's not the same as a tire.) So: wrong Continental for tires, right Continental for fabric.
What's the difference between cotton and linen?
Cotton comes from the fluffy boll around cotton seeds. Linen comes from the flax plant's stem. Linen is stronger, more breathable, and dries faster, but it wrinkles and has a stiffer drape. Cotton is softer, more elastic, and less expensive. A cotton-and-linen blend sits in the middle: easier to handle than pure linen, cooler than pure cotton.
Here's the thing: there's no universal 'best' fabric, only the right fabric for your use. For crisp bedding, I'd choose a linen-cotton blend or long-staple cotton. For summer apparel, I'd go higher on linen. But if you need table linens that look perfect after a long event, a high-linen blend will fight you. It's beautiful fabric. It just needs ironing and forgiveness.
Based on wholesale listings we tracked in January 2025, cotton-linen blends in contract quantities run anywhere from $6 to $14 per yard before freight. Treat that as a starting point, not a promise. Prices shift with harvests and exchange rates.
Where do you buy knit fabric in bulk?
For production quantities, skip craft stores. You need a wholesale fabric distributor or a direct mill, depending on volume. At Continental, we sell knit fabric by the roll for apparel, home textiles, and technical uses: cotton knits, recycled polyester knits, microfiber for automotive cloths, and more. But we're not the right fit for everyone.
Look, if you're buying less than 50 yards for a small project, a local fabric shop or online yard store is way cheaper and faster. A surprising number of buyers focus on per-yard price and completely miss minimums, lead time, and freight. That's the blind spot I see all the time. The question isn't 'what's per yard?' It's 'what's the total cost to my door before my deadline?' We'll tell you honestly whether we make sense for your order size.
When should I order Christmas knit fabric?
If you want Christmas knit fabric for a holiday collection, start in May or June. Mills produce seasonal patterns months ahead, and the good ones sell out early. Why does this matter? Because if you call in October wanting Christmas prints, you're competing with every other brand that missed the window. Selection gets thin, and rush premiums get real.
Last September, a client called 10 days before their fall market date needing a holiday-themed knit. Normal lead time was three weeks. We found uncommitted stock at a mill, paid a 25% rush premium on top of the base cost, and delivered with two days to spare. The alternative was missing their market placement. It worked out, but I wouldn't plan on that twice. In this business, it's a fabric trilemma: selection, lead time, and price. Pick two.
What did a Continental Army uniform actually use?
Real talk: 'Continental Army uniform' refers to the Continental Army, not a fabric called Continental. During the Revolutionary War, soldiers typically wore wool broadcloth for coats and wool or linen for waistcoats and shirts. Some uniforms used cotton, and many were homespun. There wasn't one standard fabric. If you're making a reproduction uniform, a wool-linen combination is the closest common match.
Here's where I'll give you a straight 'we're not the right fit.' Continental (the fabric supplier) can source cotton-linen blends, but we are not a historical textile specialist. For museum-grade accuracy, you're better off with a supplier that stocks 18th-century reproduction cloth. Need a modern cotton-linen for a costume with a tighter budget? That we can talk about.
How fast can Continental deliver a rush fabric order?
It depends, and I don't say that to dodge the question. The honest answer: as fast as the mill plus freight allow, with a buffer for things breaking. In March 2024, a bedding client called 36 hours before a photo shoot needing one bolt of cotton-linen in a specific color. Our standard lead time was seven to ten days. We found a mill with uncommitted stock, paid $520 in rush freight on top of a $1,800 base order, and got the fabric to the shoot 11 hours early. Missing that deadline would have bumped their launch and cost the designer a big client.
When I first started in this role, I assumed every rush order meant someone had planned badly. After 300+ of them, I've learned that a good chunk are legit: a launch date moved up, a shipment stuck at customs, an unexpected reorder. But when I compared our Q1 and Q2 rush order data side by side one year, I noticed nearly a third of 'urgent' requests were actually spec changes that could have been avoided. That's when our policy changed: we ask tougher questions upfront, and we give every order a 48-hour buffer before quoting a delivery date.
Last quarter alone, our team processed 47 rush orders with a 95% on-time rate. The other 5%? We said no before we said yes. I've lost a $14,000 contract before because we tried to save on standard fabric instead of rushing it and missed the production window. That taught me something: in fabric, no one remembers 'cheap.' They remember 'late.'