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Production of Terry Towel Introduction

Article · March 2008

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 Production of Terry Towel
Prof. Dr. Md Mahbubul Haque,
Dept. of Textile Technology, AUST.
Introduction:
The name "terry" comes from the
ryord "tirer" which means to pull
out, referring to the pulled out by
hand to make absorbent traditional.
Turkish toweling Latin ,,yellus"
. meaning hair has the derivation
"\,elour" which is the toweling with
cut loops (Humphries, 2004).
In research conduced on terry
rveaving by the International Textile
Institute based in Manchester, it was
concluded that probatrly the original
terry towel was the result of
defective weaving and it had
happened in Turkey. Later terry
torvel was produced on commercial
basis. Since terry towel was
originally produced in Turkey and it
rlas used as bath towel, Terry
Tox'els are also known as Turkish
Tog.els.
-\ccording to reports complied in
2005. suggest that the growth of US
home textile is around 2.87o and, the
rolume is US$3.7 billions of which
51-r occounts for terry towel. This
means that only US has consumed
terrr tor..'el worth US$1.8 billion.
The orerall n.orld consumption will
be manifold of this figure. In the
fiscal r ear 2007-8 Bangladesh Govt.
har targeted a plan to export terry
t' 'w rl
0rth LSS 200 million to
\r
Eur,,pe and L-S market. So far
e har-e gathered
inf ri16311,1n \\
Banclade!h is onll erporting
iiiaDrl- pr,rduclr. If $e cOmpare
t ith R\l(;. Ierrr tr]\r el has an
di1-lntr:8,,f little lead-tinte due
-.tt,e,,r n,r making up $ork.
Types & Classes towels
Various types of products are made from
terry fabric, which include babies' nappies
(UK English) or diapers (US English),
towels (bath towels of terrycloth are called
'Turkish towels'), bed linen, and
sweatbands lbr the wrist or head.
Tenycloth is also sometimes used to make
Figure 1: Basic parts of terry towel
sweat jackets.
Terry toweling hats with a shallow brim
were once popular with cricketers (like Fibers used in terry towel
English wicketkeeper Jack Russell) but are
In order to choose fibre for manufacture a
no longer in fashion.
towel the following criterion are
According to the end use towel may be considered irnportant, (i) high absorbency
divided into the following types (i) Bath (ii) high wet strength, (ii) ability to dye
towel, (ii) Hand towel, (iii) Face towel, (iv) well , (iii) good color fastness, (iv) wash
Finger tips, (v) Kitchen towel and (vi) ability, (v) softness , (vi) cost and (vii)
Wash cloth etc. availability. Considering these facts it
seems that in manufacturing terry towel
cotton libre is rhe mosr widely used libre in
Basic Parts of a Terry Towel the world. Apart from this fibres like
Table-1: Classification of terry towel Modal. Lyocel, Bamboo, Flax, Microfibre
according to weight, Production Style, and silk are widely used. In some special
Finishing, weft count per Pile loop and pile cases fibres like soybean and com are also
presence on fabric surface. used widely.
Table-1 ; classification of terry towel according to weight, production styte,
Finishing, weft count per Pile loop and pile presence on fabric surface.
Weight Production Finishing Weft Pick Count Pile Presence on
per Pile Loop Fabrie Sur{aces
Very heavy
Woven Velour Towel Two-pick Terry One side pile
(>5s0 glmzl
Heavy
Weft Knitted Promted Towel Three-pick Terry Both sides pile
(450-550 g/mz)
Medium Towel with
Warp Knitted Four-pick Terry
(350-450 g/mz) Embroidery
Light Towel with
Five-pick Terry
(250-350 s/mz) appliques
Six-pick Terry
to Seven (or more)-
pick Terry
Bangladesh Textile Today
lssue 03/2008
Yarns used in terry towel
There are three types of yarns used (p1 see
section 8.1) in terry towel narnely the
ground warp yam, the weti yam and the
pile ynm. Though the yam parameters vary
depending on the type towel but in rnost
cases the Warp yams are of carded 2012 to
2412 Ne count with 550 tun'rs/metre. A ply
yarn is pref'erred because of the tension
being applied during weaving and
subsequent processes. 20-30 ends/cm. The
Pile warp yarns are either carded or
combed and count range is of 1617 to 20/1
Ne, 240-255 tpi. Some times a ply yarn is
also used. In most cases ring but some
times rotor yam is also used. The Wet yarn
carded 1611 or 2oll Ne counts with 240-
255 turns/metre twist and 15-25 picks/cm.
Both ring and rotor yalns are used. The
towel border is woven with better quality
yarn as these yarns remains exposed most
of the time while the weft in the pile area
remains covered with the pile yarns.

Production of terry towel

Flow Chart of t'erry towel production

Flow Chart of Terry weaving
Mechanism of pile formation
The basic mechanism of terry towel lies in
the formation of a loop or uncut pi1e. The
pile is a always a warp yarn and distributed
evenly between the ground warp yarns.
There can be pile either in one side or in
both sides. The following figure (figure -2)
shows the cross section of a terry towel
along warp i.e. across the weft yarns. In the
figure green and the yellow yarns represent
Bangladesh Textile Today
lssue 03/2008
the top and bottom piles respectively. The
red and the blue yarns represent two
ground warps of plain weave construction.
Off course the ground weave can be twill
as well. The small circles represent the
weft yams.
The way the pile is produced is that a gap
(equal to loop height) is created between
fell of the cloth and a group of three picks.
This is done in such a way so that after
cornpletion ol a beat up two successive
picks are inserted but are not beaten
up. After insertion of the third pick
the group of three picks is beaten up
at a time. The three picks we can call
a set or group of three picks and these
are shor,, n by vertical dotted lines in
figure 2. in benveen trvo dotted lines
there are three picks. The first two
picks are ca1led loose picks and the
third or last pick is called fast pick.
The weave is chosen in such a way
that during beat up of the group of
three picks can easily slide through
the ground warps but the pile yarn is
Iocked so that after completion of the
beat up a loop is produced. A group
of three picks weave of ground warp
and pile warp is shown in figure 3.
Two loose picks and one fast pick are
the simplest form of terry weave and
minimum requirements of terry
formation. Figure 4,{ and 48 shows
weave structure of 3-picks terry
structure. In weave A the ground
warp (Red & Blue) and pile warps
(Green & Black) are shown
alternatively while in weave B the
ground warps and the pile warps are
shown together. Both the repeats will
result same towel. In the two repeats
the red and blue are the ground warp
while the black and the green are the
face and back piles respectively. The
number of loose picks always remains
same but for producing better quality
towels the number fast picks varies.
45
 Let off arrangement of Terry Loom
Full Beat-up Point
The let off arrangement of terry weaving is
Front side Pile Warp one of its main features that assist in terry
Back side Pile Warp formation. In any terry loom there are two
let off mechanisms one for the ground
1st Ground Warp warp which is just like ordinary weaving,
the other let off mechanism is intended for
2nd Ground Warp
the pile warp. Since the pile warp forms
C Weft the pile therefore the let off of the pile
Figure-2: The cross section of a towel through the warp warp beam is very important to maintain
equal pile height as on the whole the
quality of the towel. The let off of pile
warp is again can be of two types e.g.
negative and positive. The negative let off
is used in the old version loom where the
!g:B ffi? +dis!:;1 pile beam is subjected with a very light
weight and the warp is let off deliberately
due to the tension caused by beat up of the
group of three picks. In case of positive
beat up, certain length of pile yam, which
Figure-3: Loop formation during terry weaving is equal to the pile height, is delivered
deliberately by the let off system. In case
of negative let off there is possibility of
variation of pile height.

Other mechanisms

+- Normal beat up in Towel Heading

Warp eft Direction As is shown that in towel there is an area

Figure-4A: Basic 3-pick called border or towel heading. In towel
Figure-4B: Basic 3-pick terry
terry weave in 1:1 warp order weave in 2'.2warp order
heading there is no pile and the pick
density is very high so that the beat up is
\Yhere
Shaded: Front Face Pile Warp is raised carried out after every pick and therefore
G: Ground Warp over the weft the let oft ol pile warp require some
FP: Front Face Pile Warp X: Back Face Pile Warp is raised over the adjustment in the border or towel heading.
BP : Back Face Pile Warp
weft In case of negative let off additional
Empty space:Warp is lowered behind the weights are required to prevent pile/loop
Little block: Ground warp is over the weft
weft (Baser, 2004). formation while for positive let off
mechanism, deliberate delivery of the pile
I Ground varp is prevented and a normal let off is brought
? Pile warp into action. In fact the whole length of a
3 Meaqariug unit single towel is like a repeat and a pattem
4 Torry motion chain controls the production.
,5 Posltive {ortrolled whip roll
for gniBd warp Special Beat up mechanism/Crammed
6 Pqitiye mrtrolled cloth fake up mechanism
7 Cloth roll
Therefore the special beat-up system has
prevented its loose pick and fast picks
action and instead it has to work like
ordinary beat up action. Apart from the
pick density of the towel heading also
increases in the towel heading. This special
arrangement in the beat up is called
crammed mechanism.

Variable speed mechanism

One important aspect of terry weaving is

the variable loom speed that is loom rpm.
In modem terry towel looms the loom can
run in several different rpms. In the pile
area where there is loose pick, beat up is
not required so that the loom speed can be
increased in that area. In the border or
F g-:e-5: X-Sec:'on of the components of air-jet terry weaving machine
Bangladesh Textile Today
lssue 03/2008
towel heading there is no loose and fast pick therefore the loom
speed has to be reduced this is shown in figure -6. It is shown in the
figure that the loom runs at 600 ppm in the pile area while it is
of running at 350 to 450 ppm in the towel heading or border
#;J-
Example
this there are dobby and jacquard designs used in terry stlucture.
A more complicated type of design is produced by jacquard
weaving where pile height varies to different extent.
Conclusion and Suggestions
(i) Bangladesh is mainly producing and exporting lower end
that is cheaper products. Attempts should be made to go for
value added products. In that case modern machines will be
required.

(ii) Unlike garments the lead-time for towel production

very low. Therefore as far as lead-time is concerned
towel business is less risky than RMG business.
(iii) At the moment there is no training facility for
technical experts working in the Towel Factories. Like
BGMEA, BTTLMEA (Bangladesh Terry Towel and Linen
Manufacturer and Exporters Association) may establish a
training and education center to educate the experts of its
Pile weaving Border weaving Pile weaving member industries. Training is necessary in the field of
merchandising, weaving mechanism, weaving design,
Pick skip mechanism production management, quality control etc. It is expected

Sometimes it is seen that certain length of fringe are kept at the end
that introduction of such training center would reduce waste%,
of each towel. This is produced by allowing the take up motion to improve product quaiity, increase production and reduce cost of
wind cerlain length of the fabric without inserting any weft in it. production.

Designing and Decoration of Terry Towel Textiles are always (iv) In addition to the training center, a research and
associated with fashion. Towels are not different from that. Towels development (R & D) center facility would be a
can be decorated by dyeing, printing as well as weaving. One of the demand.of time. Technology is changing continuously; an R
most common form of designing is altemate block of pile plain & D center would be able to track those changes. An R & D
surface. This is done by the changing the weave
structure. center will be very helpful to monitor existing and new
Production of pile in only one side is aiso part of this. Apart from markets and also business opportunities.

1
i

{g
lndentor, [mporter & Distributor for Reactive D,vestuffs, Disperse Dyestuffs,
Figments, Pretreatment auriliaries & Finishing Chemicals.

811a1 chamber (10th floor), 11 Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh

Tet : 880-2-7112678, Mobile :01711523140, Fax : 880-2-7161866
e-mail : sams @ msnbd.net, samsent @ dhaka.net, sams @ bdonline.com
Webside : www.samsbd.com
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