coats.com

Abrasion -- The act or result of rubbing during laundering or normal
wear. Synthetic threads generally have superior abrasion resistance
to cellulose threads.

Air-entangled (or Locked Filament) Thread -- A type of continuous filament thread with fibers entangled by high-pressure air from an air jet, rather than twisted by machine. Air-entangled thread can be manufactured by either parallel-interlace, or the core-and-effect method, which produces better sewing thread. (Ultimax is processed by the core-and-effect method.)

Anti-wicking -- A thread finish that prevents a liquid from migrating
through the needle hole. It is commonly applied to threads used in
tents, awnings, tea bags, and boots.

Aramids -- Synthetic threads that exhibit low flammability and do not
melt

Article -- Product identification for final finished goods.

Balling -- Winding thread into the form of balls from thread on
cheeses.

Bleaching -- Improving the whiteness of thread by decolourising it
from the grey state.

Bleeding -- Loss of dye from coloured thread when immersed in water
or solvent leading to an obvious colouration of the liquor or of
adjacent material.

Bobbin -- A thread supply for the bottom thread in a lockstitch
machine. Pre-wound bobbins, manufactured to maximize yardage on the
bobbins, can be bought from Coats.

Bonding -- A continuous filament finishing process which coats fibers
with resin, giving thread better ply security, abrasion resistance,
and heat resistance.

Box Content -- No. of makeup units of the final product contained in
one primary carton.

Bulked Yarns -- Yarn that has been treated physically or chemically
so as to have a notably greater "Apparent Volume".

Bundle Thread -- Thread sold in the form of hanks made into bundles..

Cable -- The fullness of handicraft thread is normally refered to as
its cable.

Carding -- The reduction of an entangled or matted mass of fibres
into a web by working between two closely spaced moving surface with
sharp points.

Carded Yarn -- Yarn produced from fibres that have been carded only
(ie. not combed).

Carton Content -- No. of selling units packed in a master carton and
is fixed for a given Article/Ticket.

Cellulosic Fiber -- A fiber made from plant material (e.g., cotton or
rayon).

Chainstitch -- A stitch that interloops the needle thread(s) with a
bottom looper thread on the underside of the seam. Most main seams
sewn in woven apparel are sewn with this stitch formation.

Cheese -- A large cylindrical package of yarn wound on to a flangless
support.

Colorfastness - The ability of thread to retain its color during
normal wear, laundering and exposure to sunlight. A dye may be
colorfast when exposed to one agent, but less so when exposed to
another. Polyester and nylon threads generally exhibit the best
colorfastness; vat-dyed cotton threads have reasonable colorfastness.
Thread used for contrast stitching should possess an "AA"
colorfastness rating.

ColourTalk -- Coats' computerized color evaluation and transmission
process that permits swatch input in one location and immediate dye
recipe formulation in another location.

Combing -- The straightening and parallellising of fibres and
removing of short fibres and impurities using a comb assisted by
knives, brushes and rollers.

Cone -- A package of thread, usually a plastic tube, capable of
holding thousands of yards of thread for industrial sewing. Thread is
wound onto cones in an x-shaped pattern for easy release.

Cone Winding -- Winding thread on to paper/plastic cones from thread
on cheeses.

Continuous Filament -- A fiber of indefinite or extreme length.

Cord -- The product formed by twisting together two or more plied
threads.

Corespun or Core Thread -- A thread manufactured by wrapping a cotton
or polyester staple cover around a bundle of continuous filament
polyester fibers. Two or more of these strands are then plied
together to make a sewing thread. Core threads of varying sizes are
used in everything from fine blouses to heavy coveralls, and are
recommended for automatic sewing machines. Cotton-wrapped core thread
has good needle-heat resistance. (Dual Duty® is Coats cotton-wrapped
core thread; Epic® is our polyester-wrapped core thread.)

Count -- A number indicating the mass per unit length or length per
unit mass of a yarn ( ie. a measure of the fineness or coarseness of
a yarn.

Coverstitch -- A stitch, often used to seam knitwear, which consists
of at least two needle threads, a looper thread and a top thread
passing over the edge of the material. Spun or textured polyester
thread is generally used to form these stitches.

Crock Fastness -- Resistance to color migration from the thread to
the fabric due to rubbing. This is particularly important in contrast
stitching applications.

Denier -- A thread numbering system used primarily for continuous
filament threads. The gram weight of 9,000 meters of thread. The
lower the denier, the finer the thread.


Depots -- Locations identified as selling points.

Denier -- The weight in grams of 9000 meters of filament of yarn.

Direct Dyes -- Dyestuffs that can be applied directly to fibers in a
neutral or alkaline bath without preliminary treatment.

Doubling -- The twisting of two or more yarns to form a thread ( also
called twisting ).


Drawning -- Operations by which slivers are blended levelled and by
drafting reduced to the stage of roving.


Drug Line -- Actual quantity of dyes and chemicals required for each
requisition.



Dyeing -- Introducing colour into thread.


Dye Lot -- Minimum quantity for dyeing and is fixed for each type of
dyeing ( ie. hank/cheese ) .

Dye Penetration -- The degree to which dye is absorbed into fibers.
Dye penetration affects wash down characteristics.

Dye Stuff Enquiry -- Request issued to wet process for formulating
recipe.

Fastness -- The property of resistance to washing, light, rubbing
etc.

Feedback -- A computerized shade-matching tool. It uses information
from one dye batch to calculate the dye recipe for a new shade.

Finish -- A type of treatment (e.g., lubrication) applied to thread
to protect it from needle heat and to give it good sewing
characteristics.

Hank -- A large skein of thread ( usually 90 inch or 54 inch in
circumference ).

Hank Winding -- Converting hanks into the form of cheese for
subsequent process.

Hydroextraction -- To remove water by centrifugal extraction.

Hue -- The characteristic of color described by the terms red, blue,
yellow and green, etc. (White, grey, and black have no hues and are
referred to as neutrals.)

ISO-9000, ISO-9002 -- A internationally recognized system that
specifies the operating parameters that a good quality control system
will employ.

Kier Boiling -- The process of pressure boiling of cotton with
alkaline liquors to remove any pectic ( vegitable ) matter.  This
process is also called scouring.

King Tube -- A large plastic tube with a flanged bottom used to
control spillage of smooth threads (e.g., continuous filaments).

Lockstitch -- A stitch formed by interlocking needle threads with a
bobbin thread. This is the most common stitch formed on industrial
sewing machines.

Looper -- A stitch forming device used to interloop the bottom thread
with the needle thread on a chainstitch, overedge, or coverstitch
machine.

Lubrication -- Process of giving a wax/emulsion coating on thread to
insulate the thread passing through the needle against high needle
heat.

Luster -- The display of different intensities of light reflected
from the surface exposed to incident light.

Make-up -- Labelling, Wrapping and Packing.


Mercerizing -- A finishing process that applies caustic soda to
cotton thread to improve luster, and increase strength and
receptivity to dyes.

Monocord -- A bonded continuous filament nylon or polyester thread
with a small amount of twist. Monocord threads are used on furniture,
shoes, and heavy-duty applications because of their strength and
abrasion resistance. Fine sizes of monocord threads are used for
blindstitch operations on tailored garments.

Monofilament -- A single filament thread resembling fishing line. It
is extruded with a specific diameter. Monofilaments are typically
used in blindstitch operations because the thread is translucent and
blends in with many colors.

Multifilament -- A type of thread made from several plies of
continuous filament that have been twisted together.

Nep -- Small knot of entangled fibres ( in the case of cotton dead or
immature cotton hairs ).

Nylon -- A synthetic fiber formed into a filament for use in thread
making and other applications. It has good strength and excellent
abrasion resistance.

Package Dyeing -- A process for dyeing thread wound on packages. Dye
solution is forced under pressure from the outside of the package
inward, and then from the inside out.

Peeler -- A high quality extra-long staple upland cotton with a
staple 1-1/8 inches in length or more.

Ply/Plies -- The number of strands that have been twisted together to
form a sewing thread. Most core and spun polyester threads have two
or three plies.

Polyester -- A synthetic resin used in thread making. It can be in
either staple or filament form.

Pre-wound Bobbins (Ready-wound Bobbins) -- Bobbins that are
manufactured to specific length and size specifications that maximize
the yardage on the bobbin and are ready for the operator to put in a
lockstitch machine.

Quarpel Finish -- A water-repellent finish used on fabric or thread
which causes the moisture to bead up and run off rather than to
permeate the fabric.

Rayon -- A regenerated cellulose fiber, physically similar to cotton,
and primarily used for embroidery applications.

Reeling -- Reeling into crossed reel hanks for further processing
like bleaching and dyeing.

Requisition -- Production Request issued to wet process or finishing.

SAK (or Supima) -- An Extra Long Staple (ELS) cotton grown in
Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and California, with fiber lengths varying
in length from 1 1/4 to 1 9/16 inches.

Safety Stitch -- A stitch formation that incorporates both
chainstitch and overedge.

Serging -- The overedging of fabric to prevent raveling.

Sewability -- The performance of thread on a sewing machine. Good
sewability means that the thread seldom breaks or skips stitches.

Single-end Strength - The breaking point of thread.

Soft Finish -- A thread finish that does not change the physical
characteristics of the thread. A soft finish utilizes no special
treatment other than bleaching, dyeing and/or lubricating.

Sourcing Units -- Production locations executing conversion jobs.

Spectrophotometer -- A color-testing instrument used to measure the
reflectance of light as a function of wave length.

Spun Polyester -- A thread made from staple polyester fibers which
are spun into single strands and then plied into a thread. (Astra® is
Coats' brand of spun polyester sewing thread.)

Staple -- Short lengths of natural or synthetic fiber. These lengths
are spun and twisted into thread.

Tenacity - The relative strength of a thread, calculated by dividing
the tensile strength by the thickness of the thread.

Tencel -- A cellulosic fiber physically similar to cotton.

Tensile Strength -- The tension at which a thread breaks.

Tension -- The stress a sewing machine applies to the thread during
stitching to regulate the balance between the top and bottom threads.
Generally, a looser tension is desirable to minimize sewing problems
and enhance sewing performance.

Tex Size -- A thread numbering system in which size is equal to the
weight in grams of 1,000 meters of greige thread. The larger the tex
size, the coarser the thread.

Textured Threads -- Threads that have been false-twist textured to
entangle the parallel continuous filament.


Ticket -- An attribute of the finished product denoting thickness of
thread.


Twisting -- The process of combining two or more parallel single
strands into a plied thread and then winding this twisted thread onto
a dye tube. Twist of a single strand (which is generally to the
right, or the "S" direction) is balanced by applying reverse twist
(generally to the left, or the "Z" direction). This helps to achieve
a balanced twist and eliminate any tendency to kink from excessive
torque. Thread twist direction is always denoted by capital letters
and yarn twist by small letters.

Vat Dyes -- Dyestuffs with a high degree of fastness to light and
washing.

Wash Fastness -- The ability to resist color change after three to
five home washings.