TEXTILE YARNS - THE SECRET TO FABRIC DEVELOPMENT

New to the fashion world? Welcome :) To help catch you up to speed, virtue + vice is offering free mini-courses. We will be releasing a new chapter bi-monthly. The courses will take you from the very first step in the fashion supply chain, textile fibers, all the way through to the finished product in stores. Our first crash course is TEXTILES 101. The fifth topic of TEXTILES 101 What Are Textile Yarns?Polypropylene yarn uses

Yarns and threads are not the same thing. Threads are for sewing and are what hold pieces of fabric together. Yarns are what make up a fabric.

By definition, yarns are groups of fibers that are twisted together to form one continuous strand. These strands can then be interlaced together to form a woven fabric or looped together to create a knit fabric.Yarns are a textile development specialists secret weapon because they have the biggest impact on the final look of the fabric. It's where we can really get creative.

The inventions of yarn plays a crucial role in human-kinds evolution. The first yarns were made from animal fibers for ropes and nets which made hunting possible. Around this time there was also the discovery of fire and the wheel. These three discoveries helped to propel early humans into an age of modern progress.
Spun yarns are made from staple length fibers. Staple fiber are short fibers only a couple of inches long - like cotton. But, long filament fibers can also be cut up into staple length. To make a spun yarn, first, all of the fibers need to face the same direction (we will get to how that is done in a minute), mechnical twisting then holds the fibers together.