Amidst the challenge of high cotton yarn price, Tirupur’s apparel manufacturers are now focusing more on recycled cotton.
As per a report of New Indian Express, a leading English daily, the demand for recycled cotton has been on the rise since last few months.
The recycled cotton yarn, when mixed with another fibre like polyester,not only provides good quality and comfort, but also increases the use of recycled cotton.
As per the industry estimates, cotton yarn price has been hovering over Rs. 350 per kilogram in all categories, while the price of recycled cotton yarn (open-ended cotton) is between Rs. 230 and Rs. 280 per kilogram. This price difference is a good relief for apparel manufacturers.
It is important to mention here that Tamil Nadu has 600+ open-ended mills.
Recycled cotton is made from waste and leftover garment pieces that are segregated according to their colour and later sent to the crusher.
The crushed elements look similar to the cotton fibre, but are not strong and cannot be spindled to make a yarn. So, polyester elements are added,which makes the fibre spindle into a yarn (recycled yarn).
As the recycled cotton yarn is already dyed, there is no need to dye it once again. Therefore, no extra chemical process or extra water wash is required. Importantly, a lot of time is saved when the recycled cotton yarn is used.
Besides, several top world brands are insisting on recycled cotton yarn, besides getting Global Recycled Standard (GRS) for recycled yarn.
M. Jayapal, President, Open-Ended Spinning Mills Association said, “Increasing price of cotton has affected the trade of cotton yarn. So, yarn mills are offered to increase the price,which has tremendously affected the garment units. This has forced us to find alternatives and recycled cotton is the best option.”
Notably, the recycled cotton yarns have a little colour variation when it comes to primary colours. There is a slight difference in comfort level too. However, many knitting units mix recycled cotton yarn with normal cotton yarn while stitching stripes and checks, and the output becomes good which is much better than cotton yarn.