Colors in denim have been quite strong in the last few seasons with all kinds of shades from pastel to very bright and neon colors. While some of the these fabrics have been yarn dyed , most of the colors have been achieved with overdyeing of ecru fabric. The process of garment overdyeing provides the flexilibity of achieving any kind of color in the garment with smaller lots. The manufacturer does not have to depend on the limited fabric colors provided by the fabric supplier.
However, one of the important requirement for such overdyed garments is that the cotton threads be used so that they can be overdyed along with the garment and achieve similar color . Many times these garments go through complex dyeing and finishing processes which tend to degrade or destroy the 100% cotton sewing threads which are typically used.
A & E (American & Efird) brings out a core spun thread – D:Core RFD – specially for the purpose of garment overdyeing by the garment manufacturer. This thread has a core polyester with cotton wrapped outside.
As per the A & E team
“To assist our customers with enhancing the quality of their garment dyed products, we developed D-Core RFD which is a Cotton Wrapped Polyester Core thread, with an enhanced cotton wrapper which is prepared for dyeing. Traditional Cotton Wrapped Polyester core threads do not have sufficient cotton content to cover the filament polyester core, which does not take the dye during the garment dyeing process. This leads to a speckled seam appearance.
Our D-Core RFD is available in light and dark versions, which allow our customers to select a version which will best blend with the final garment color. We always encourage our customers to sample both Light and Dark versions, as often the dark version looks good in light colors.” In many cases D-Core RFD is used in both the needle and the looper position. In some cases, where a customer may dye and finish a garment "inside-out", they will use our 100% Cotton Anecot Plus RFD (A&E’s 100% Cotton thread offered especially for garment dyeing) in the needle, and use D-Core RFD in the looper (the inside of the jean sees the most abrasion during the dyeing and finishing process when the garment is processed inside out. Both combinations have helped customer reduce or even eliminate repairs, increase the range of dyeing and finishing options, and offered customers an improved experience.
