By Werner Bieri
President/CEO
Buhler Quality Yarns
Jefferson, Ga.
No Substitute For Quality
David TrumbullBuhler Quality Yarns Corporation has been using Supima cotton for its production since it started spinning cotton yarns in the United States in 1996. Over the years, the selection process for the fiber purchase has been redefined and become much more selective. We are asked many times why we are so restrictive in fiber purchasing as we only use Supima cotton, which is considered the world’s finest cotton.
However, two critical elements for a modern, high-speed and efficient production are top fiber quality parameters and ginning quality of the bales. Variations in certain quality parameters can greatly influence the various processes in speed/output and have an impact on efficiency of the mill. It further causes yield loss from a pound of cotton to a pound of yarn.
Consistency Is Crucial
The fiber quality has a big impact on yarn parameters. While I did mention earlier the need for high and consistent fiber quality for a mill to remain competitive, certain quality parameters also influence the yarn produced. Today’s yarn customers are keenly aware of the yarn quality factors that impact their ability to produce efficient, 100 percent first-quality fabric at a high production output. In addition, consistency in fiber quality matters a great deal in subsequent wet processing by using fewer chemicals and less production time. Poor fiber quality can lead to losses of entire production batches or degrade them to where they won’t pay for the product’s raw material value.
Cotton fiber quality and consistency matter for both yarn spinning and subsequent production, as well as product quality in intermediate and final product to the consumer. The demand on parameters has over the years increased and will further do so with the development of increasingly faster equipment speed and increased consumer awareness.
In closing, I would like to recognize the important role that branding plays in highlighting and distinguishing the quality of one variety of cotton over another. Supima has been particularly successful in establishing Pima cotton as a unique, superior product in the marketplace.