The failure of woven composites has been examined. This study is presented in two parts: Modelling of failure of woven composites. Part 1: nomenclature defining the interzone concept; Modelling of failure of woven composites. Part 2: experimental and numerical justification of the interzone concept. In the first part, the concepts of the interzone and the geometry of an interzone have been defined in a general way for a large panel of woven composites. In the second part, it has been shown that the failure of woven composites is well described by using the interzone concept. The load transfer between intact interzones and broken interzones has been evaluated for two types of loadings (tensile loading and loading in bending). The analysis of these load transfers explains why in the case of a tensile loading the failure is of a sudden-death type whereas in the case of bending loading the failure is progressive. The concept of failure of an interzone has been also defined.