Banaras brocade saris vary tremendously because weavers create different products to suit different regional markets and changing fashions, but several weaving and design characteristics distinguish them from other Indian brocades. The supplementary thread designs, including dense border patterns, are almost always woven as discontinuous supplementary-weft with the highly decorated endpiece usually ending abruptly in a strip of unembellished cloth 15 to 40 centimetres (6 to nearly 16 inches) long. The designs, and consequently the threads, are usually extremely fine, with thread sizes ranging from medium to the finest on the market. There are exceptions, but most brocades usually have strong Mughal design influences, such as intricate interwining floral and foliate motifs, kalga and bel. A characteristic motif found along the inner and sometimes outer edges of borders is a narrow fringe-like pattern that often looks like a string of upright leaves, called a jhaalar(frill). This is almost a signature of a Banaras brocade, for other weaving centres rarely depict it as finely as do Varanasi looms. Most Banaras brocade motifs are densely patterned and look three dimensional, quite unlike the static, two-dimensional quality of Deccan and south Indian brocades. Traditional Banaras brocade saris usually have subtle colors which may be quite pale compared to western and southern Indian silks.

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