Measurement is the assignment of a number to a characteristic of an object which can be compared with other objects. Measurement is a cornerstone of trade, science, technology, and quantitative research in many disciplines. It is important to the fashion industry and textile industry for many reasons.
Textile fibers, threads, yarns and fabrics are measured in a multiplicity of units.
A fiber, a single filament of natural material, such as cotton, linen or wool, or artificial material such as nylon, polyester, metal or mineral fiber, or man-made cellulosic fibre like viscose, Modal, Lyocell or other rayon fiber is measured in terms of linear mass density, the weight of a given length of fiber. Various units are used to refer to the measurement of a fiber, such as: the denier and tex (linear mass density of fibers), super S (fineness of wool fiber), worsted count, woolen count, cotton count (or Number English (Ne)), Number metric (Nm) and yield (the reciprocal of denier and tex).
A yarn, a spun agglomeration of fibers used for knitting, weaving or sewing, is measured in terms of cotton count and yarn density.
Thread, usually consisting of multiple yarns plied together producing a long, thin strand used in sewing or weaving, is measured in the same units as yarn.
fabric or cloth typically produced by weaving, knitting or knotting textile fibers, yarns or threads, is measured in units such as the momme, thread count (a measure of the coarseness or fineness of fabric), ends per inch (e.p.i) and picks per inch (p.p.i).
Mommes - regading silk measuremnts.
Thread Count - regarding number of threads per square inch of fabric.
Ends Per Inch - regarding the warp yarn.
Picks Per Inch - regarding the weft yarn.
Learn about fabric weight.
It is important for the apparel industry to understand textile units of measure for a wide variety of reasons. Primarily in regard to the purchasing and manufacturing process. It is important for fabric suppliers to understand raw materials and for garment manufacturers to also understand these units of measure.
Learn about wool grades and standard measurements.
- You may want to also learn about the Bradford System which is a method to measure wool quality.
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