Denim is a sturdy cotton fabric woven in a diagonal pattern, best known as the material jeans are made from. Canvas is a heavier, coarser fabric, traditionally woven from hemp or cotton, used for things like sails, tents and the surfaces artists paint on.
The core difference
Denim is a diagonally woven cotton fabric for garments, while canvas is a heavier, plain-woven fabric used mainly for sturdy, non-clothing purposes.
- denim — a sturdy cotton fabric woven with a diagonal pattern, commonly used for jeans: she wore a denim jacket over her t-shirt.
- canvas — a heavy, coarse woven fabric traditionally made from hemp or cotton, used for sails, tents and painting surfaces: the artist stretched a fresh canvas before starting the portrait.
How to tell them apart
The weave is the giveaway: denim has a diagonal, or twill, weave, which is why one side often looks slightly different from the other, while canvas is woven in a plain, flat pattern, which makes it feel flatter and generally heavier and stiffer.
They also tend to show up in different places. Denim is a clothing fabric through and through, while canvas turns up far beyond clothing, from artists' canvases to tents, sails and heavy-duty bags.
