Units of textile measurement
Micronaire is a measure of the air permeability of cotton fiber and is an indication of fineness and maturity.
[2] One millionth of a metre, or one thousandth of a millimetre; about one-fourth the width of a strand of spider silk.
For example, in the United States it measures approximately 0.48 cubic metres (17 cu ft) and weighs 226.8 kg (500 lb).
The sliver come off the card, tops come after the comb, rovings come before a yarn, and all have a heavier linear density.
Similar to tex and denier, yield is a term that helps describe the linear density of a roving of fibers.
However, unlike tex and denier, yield is the inverse of linear density and is usually expressed in yards per pound (yd/lb).
Tex is more likely to be used in Canada and Continental Europe, while denier remains more common in the United States.
[6] The following relationship applies to straight, uniform filaments: The denier system of measurement is used on two- and single-filament fibers.
Generally a sample of 900 metres is weighed, and the result is multiplied by ten to obtain the denier weight.
A known length of the fiber (usually 20 mm) is set to vibrate, and its fundamental frequency measured, allowing the calculation of the mass and thus the linear density.
In the metric system, the mass per unit area of all types of textiles is expressed in grams per square metre (g/m2).
[13] The amount of thread that can fit into a square inch of fabric is limited, suggesting that bedding beyond 400 count is likely a marketing strategy.
The Federal Trade Commission in an August 2005 letter to the NTA agreed that consumers "could be deceived or misled" by inflated thread counts.
"[19] In 2017, the Federal Trade Commission issued a General Exclusion Order barring entry of woven textile fabrics and products marked with inflated thread counts.
The inflated thread counts were deemed false advertising under section 43 of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C.
[20] In the context of tartans, thread counts are used not for determining coarseness, but rather for recording and reliably repeating the cross-striped pattern of the cloth.
Such a thread count (which for the typical worsted woollen cloth used for a kilt must in total be divisible by 4) is given as a series of colour-code and thread-count pairs.
The comparatively rare non-symmetrical tartans are given in full setts and are simply repeated without mirroring.
The number of ends per inch in a piece of woven cloth varies depending on the stage of manufacture.
Before the cloth is woven, the warp has a certain number of ends per inch, which is directly related to the size reed being used.
The concept of air permeability is important for the design of active wear[27] and insect netting.
