The eight things that move a yarn price
The count comes first because it is not a detail of the price, it is the price. Everything under it is a mechanism rather than a magnitude. We do not print a waste percentage or a conversion charge against a count, because the honest ones come from a mill and a machine, not from a table, and a number here would be a guess wearing a decimal point.
One line each. Open any of them for the mechanism in full.
- The count
- Dollars per kilogram cannot compare a 20s quotation with a 40s one. Divide the conversion charge by the count first.
Why, in full
A ring frame turns at the speed the yarn will bear, so a finer count makes fewer kilograms an hour on the same spindle, and the same hour of power, labour and depreciation is spread over less weight. That is the whole mechanism, and it is why dollars per kilogram cannot compare a 20s quotation with a 40s one. Divide the conversion charge by the count and they become comparable. It is not flat across the whole range: it climbs at the fine end where the frame slows and the ends start breaking.
- Carded, combed or compact
- Three different products, not three grades of one. A combed price is never a carded price with a premium on it.
Why, in full
Three products, not three grades of one. A carded yarn skips the comber entirely. A combed yarn loses its short fibre as noil and comes out stronger and smoother. A compact yarn adds a condensing zone that takes the hairiness out. Each step adds cost and each one changes what the cloth will look like, so a combed price is never a carded price with a premium on it.
- The spinning system
- Ring, rotor, air jet and vortex are different machines. A quotation that does not say which one is not yet a quotation.
Why, in full
Ring, rotor, air jet and vortex are different machines with different economics. Rotor is faster and cheaper and gives a bulkier, weaker yarn that suits denim and terry; ring is slower and gives the strength and the handle a shirting needs. A quotation that does not say which system it is for is not yet a quotation.
- The fibre grade underneath
- Part of what looks like a spinning premium at 40s is a fibre premium, and it moves with the world cotton market, not with the mill.
Why, in full
A finer count needs a longer staple and a higher strength, which is a different and dearer cotton rather than the same cotton spun thinner. So part of what looks like a spinning premium at 40s is really a fibre premium, and it moves with the world cotton market rather than with the mill.
- Waste and comber noil
- You do not buy one kilogram of fibre to make one kilogram of yarn. Ask the mill for the noil percentage it plans for your count.
Why, in full
You do not buy one kilogram of fibre to make one kilogram of yarn. Blowroom and carding droppings, comber noil and unaccounted loss all sit between the two, and both the waste and the noil rise with the count. Noil is sold on, so a properly built costing subtracts its recovery value. Ask the mill for the noil percentage it plans for your count, not the one it usually runs.
- Twist and ply
- A two ply yarn carries a doubling charge a single does not. Cost the singles first and add the doubling as its own line.
Why, in full
More turns per inch is more time on the frame, so a high twist yarn for a voile costs more than a soft twist for a knit of the same count. A two ply yarn is twisted twice and wound twice and carries a doubling charge the single does not. Cost the singles first and add the doubling as its own line rather than accepting a two ply price whole.
- The blend, and the ratio on the contract
- A polyester cotton yarn is not the average of two fibre prices. State the ratio on the contract.
Why, in full
A polyester cotton yarn is not the average of two fibre prices. The two fibres are settled at different moisture allowances, 1.5 per cent for polyester against 8.5 for cotton, so the ratio changes the weight you are invoiced for as well as the fibre bill. State the ratio on the contract. Where the blend is going next matters too: two fibres mean two dye classes and a processing stage downstream that can outweigh the fibre saving.
- Package, lot and delivery term
- Cone weight, dyed or greige, shades per lot and the delivery term all move the price, and none of them is the count.
Why, in full
Cone weight, dyed against greige yarn, and how many shades share one lot all move the price, and none of them are the count. So does the term. Ex works, FOB and CFR quotations are not comparable until the freight is settled, and yarn is normally settled at a commercial regain, so a fibre price and a yarn price quoted on different regains are not comparable either.
The film that narrates these, the eight things that move a yarn price in under two minutes, plays on the lane overview.
