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Where Do Fibers Come From?
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Fibers used to make
industrial sewing threads come from two major sources:
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Natural Fibers:
Come from plants and animals and are spun or twisted into yarns. Cotton
is the most common natural fiber used to make thread. Other natural
fibers include silk, wool, jute, ramie, hemp, and linen. Natural fibers
are generally not as uniform as synthetic fibers and are affected by
climatic changes. At A&E, we use cotton as a fiber source for some of
our thread. We select our cotton fibers from the best available crops,
classifying them depending on the geographic location and climate, seed
and type of plant, and the cotton grower's reputation. The two classes
of cotton fibers that we use at A&E are SAK (or Supima) cotton that
comes from Arizona and CP (or Peeler) that comes from the San Juaquin
Valley in California. SAK quality cotton produces stronger spun cotton
threads than CP fibers.
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Synthetic Fibers:
Are made from various chemicals or regenerated from cellulose such as
wood pulp and cotton waste. We select our synthetic fibers based on
their sewability characteristics, seam performance, ease of dying,
colorfastness, and pricing. At A&E, the synthetic fibers that we use
as a source to make thread are polyester, nylon,
DuPont™ Kevlar®,
and
DuPont™ Nomex®.
Fibers Come in What
Forms? When
we receive bales of cotton, polyester, nylon,
DuPont™
Kevlar®, and
DuPont™
Nomex®, the fiber contained in the bales comes in one of the following
forms:
- Staple: Refers to natural
fibers that vary in length or to synthetic fibers with filaments
that are cut to a definite length during the manufacturing process.
- Continuous
Filament: Refers to synthetic
fibers of an indefinite length.
(DuPont™, Kevlar®,
and Nomex® are registered Trademarks of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and
Company and are used under license to A&E®.)
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