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Before choosing the fabrics for your next shirt, please let us share our professional knowledge with you.
First of all there are four factors that influence all types of shirts. They are:
Otherwise known as the "Yarn Count", this consists of the number of yarns-per-inch. The yarn count will determine whether the cloth is loosely or tightly woven. Higher quality cloths will have yarn counts over 100's and lower quality will have yarn counts below 100's.
For cottons, yarn numbers run from 24's which are the thickest and coarsest to 140's which are the thinnest and finest.
The balance is the proportion of yarn going down the cloth (called the warp yarn) to the yarn going across the cloth (called the weft yarn). The warp140 X weft 70 count of higher quality broadcloths, for example, has twice the amount of warp yarns than weft yarns, which is compensated for by increasing the size of the weft yarn. This balances the cloth by providing a similar amount of cotton fiber in both directions.
For higher quality yarns can be twisted together into a yarn made of two yarns, known as Two-Ply Yarn. The twisted two-ply yarn resists the normal tendency of yarn to shed, or 'pill'. Therefore, fabric woven of this two-ply yarn will have a much greater durability and longevity than fabric woven of single yarn which has not been plied.
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Below are definitions of different kind of cloths available :
Broadcloth and Poplin are exactly the same thing. It is constructed by each weft yarn passing over one warp yarn like a chess board.
This results in a smooth, strong cloth which is durable, shrinkage resistant, and quite dimensionally stable. It will last a long time and tried net to bend as easily. It is the most commonly and widely used shirting over the world.
Pinpoint is a very simple type of Oxford - of which there are dozens - almost a broadcloth in nature. The only usual difference between pinpoint, which is woven of broadcloth type yarns, is that the weft thread passes over two closely-spaced warp yarns before passing under two and then repeating.
The types are all the same. Twill is the weave type; Gabardine, Herringbone are just various manifestations thereof. A Twill is characterized by the weft (crosswise) yarns passing over multiple warp yarns and then under one warp yarn. The succeeding row does the same, but begins one warp yarn later, etc. This creates a pronounced diagonal rib effect as is seen in this weaving diagram:
A popular and common twill is the Herringbone, so named for its likeness to the backbone of the fish of the same name. It also utilizes a regular and equilateral twill construction - but the construction reverses direction every certain number of yarns in order that the diagonal ribs change direction by ninety degrees.
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The variety of available end-on-end cloths is probably immeasurable. In the simplest terms, end-on-end is a plain weave just like a broadcloth. It is characterized by the interspersion of colored yarns with other colored yarns. Though one of the colors is most frequently white, a great diversity of end-on-ends have arisen in recent years. This yields the familiar 'crosshatched' appearance. Most end-on-ends which don't use white as one of the colors use lighter and darker shades of the same color; for example, sky and royal.
We are treating Dobbies and Jacquards together because they are both methods of achieving the same goal - that of creating a design on cloth without using colors to do so. Their most obvious difference lies in the size of the design they can produce. Dobby looms are capable of producing small, uncomplicated designs whereas Jacquard looms can create the most complex designs of any size desired.
The Dobby loom, or technique, is a manner of controlling up to 32 different harnesses. It permits the degree of shedding variation necessary to produce simple designs.
The Jacquard Loom, invented in 1801 by Joseph Marie Jacquard, is a horse of an entirely different color without heddles or harnesses! Instead, it has thousands of fine steel wires suspended from above, the end of each consisting of an eye through which one ... just one ... warp yarn is passed. Then, through the use of an extremely complex series of punch cards, each fine steel wire is individually raised and lowered as the weft thread passes through, resulting in the most complex of repeating designs.
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Though you now know the basics of constructing the cloth, cloth is not ready for the needle until it is "finished". After weaving, fabric then goes through one or all of a variety of 'finishing' processes. These include dying, sizing, sanforization and pre-shrinking, to name just a few common ones. Each of these processes has a direct effect not only on the appearance of the cloth, but also on its performance characteristics.
Better shirtings are made on looms running from 1000 to 3000 meters daily. The faster the loom, the greater the inherent tension in the yarns of the resulting fabric. On today's super high-speed looms, microscopic breaks in the yarns are caused. These do not become evident until the tension begins to really relax and happens when the fabric is wet (in the laundry). As the number of launderings increases, these fabrics begin to degrade rapidly. Fabrics woven on the slower looms - without the high-tension breakage - do not begin to degrade anywhere near as rapidly.
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