What is Directional pattern?
A pattern with a clear top-to-bottom orientation. Cannot be rotated 180 degrees without becoming visually upside-down. Affects garment layout and fabric cutting.
In detail
Directional patterns (also called one-way patterns) have an unambiguous up-down axis. Floral prints with stems pointing down, animal prints where the animals face one direction, text prints, and most landscape-style designs are directional. The opposite is a non-directional or two-way pattern that reads correctly when rotated. Directional patterns affect garment cutting: every panel must be oriented the same way, which uses 10-25% more fabric per garment than two-way patterns (where panels can be flipped to nest closer together). Print partners and cut-and-sew operations charge a directional surcharge for this reason.
Example
A floral print with peonies whose stems point downward. When cut into shirt panels, every panel must be oriented stem-down — the cutter cannot flip panels to nest tighter on the marker, so total fabric per shirt is 18% higher than for a two-way version of the same design.