Q: What is Pinnacle's Enhanced Twill & Poplin?
A: Pinnacle's Enhanced Twill is made from finer
Ring-Spun yarns. Ring spinning creates a superior yarn than results
in a softer, more durable fabric than open-end yarn. The time-honored
process of ring spinning requires two more processing steps than
open-end yarn production and ring-spun takes five times longer to
produce. The additional steps involve continuously twisting and
narrowing the rope of cotton and polyester fibers. This continuous
fiber "helix" or twist gives ring-spun yarn extra softness
and strength. The resulting garments feel softer wash after wash.
Pinnacle makes 65/35 Poly/Cotton Chef Coats and related products
using Enhanced Twill, 7 ounce/square yard and 65/35 Cook Shirts
using Enhanced Poplin which is 4.5 oz/square yard.
Q: What is MJS Spun Polyester and MJS Poly/Cotton
Blends?
A: MJS stands for Murata Air Jet Spinning.
Murata is a brand of Japanese spinning equipment developed in the
1980's. Air Jet technology creates a yarn from short staple polyester
or for blends, a combination of polyester and cotton (rather than
extruded, continuous filament polyester) that is naturally hairy
and soft. This technology yields a fabric that has comparatively
low pilling and higher absorption rate due to the low twist yarn
structure. The loose yarn structure allows the fabric to dry fast
as well as accept starch, this also adds to its breath ability when
sewn into uniforms. For colors, MJS yarns and fabrics accept dye
at lower temperatures yet its color retention is higher than most
other fabrics.
Q: Is all "SPUN" made from similar yarn
construction?
A: The answer is No!
When Murata Air Jet spun or MJS was introduced to our industry,
the term quickly was shortened to "SPUN"
mills and
manufacturers have since blurred the lines and stretched the meaning
of "spun" to cover everything from Open End Spun, Ring
Spun, Blends, Filament hybrids and more. Technically yes, most are
produced with some form of "spun" yarn, but not what the
industry originally migrated to in the 1990's.
The term spun merely means the yarn is formed from
smaller yarns (staple) and has a wrapper yarn that holds the small
bundles together
the varying technologies to accomplish this
are generally referred to as Open End (OE) which is the fastest
and cheapest way to spin, Ring (RS) which is softer and has twice
the tensile strength as OE but takes up to 5x longer. Each type
has its advantages and disadvantages depending on the application.
Pinnacle offers these choices for Polyester
products:
OMEGA: 6.4 oz MJS/Filament Hybrid-Domestic Fabric
APEX: 6.4 oz MJS/Filament Hybrid-Imported Fabric
INFINITY: 7.2 oz all Ring Spun Polyester-Imported Fabric
TITAN: 7.2 oz MJS Aprons and Uniforms
Q: How about the finishing? White is White, right?
A: The finishing of fabrics can vary greatly
from one type of spun to another and from one vendor to another.
These are important factors when finishing polyester fabric for
use in linen and uniforms.
Q: Is your linen fabric spun from dull white or optical
bright fibers?
A: Optical bright yarns allow the fabric to
maintain its whiteness from new to used. Pinnacle uses only fabrics
spun from optical white polyester fiber.
Q: Is your fabric dyed white in slow feed jets, or
simply scoured and bleached in a series of "baths"?
A: Adding white dye in the slow feed jets is
a bit more costly, but the advantages are white fabrics or linen
that tends to stay white for its entire life rather than graying
down. This is the normal process for colors, but it is optional
with white since the fibers are already white. Pinnacle offers dyed
white products and products that are merely bleached.
Q: Is the soil release treatment embedded in the fibers
with heat and pressure, or simply "padded" on top of the
fabric without heat or pressure (HP)?
A: Without question, adding soil release with
high heat and pressure, normally achieved in a slow feed jet process,
is the best way to lock in the long term soil release. Those that
are added topically, tend to wash out over time. Pinnacle does not
add soil release to its cotton or poly/cotton blends. Pinnacle's
all polyester products have a soil release treatment which is applied
in the slow feed jet process.
Q: Is the fabric treated for anti-static control?
A: All Polyester fabrics naturally create ample
amounts of static. In the absence of anti-static treatments, they
tend to pick up lint on flat work ironers and elsewhere. Pinnacle's
polyester products are treated with anti-stat.
Q: Is the fabric naturally soft or does it need to
be peached/brushed/sueded?
A: TITAN and other MJS fabrics do not need
to be sueded
the yarns are created to be naturally "hairy"
which also adds to the breath ability factor in uniforms. Fabrics
with filament filling yarns require some softening, especially if
used for napkins. There are various ways of achieving the desired
hand; however, most processes do take life from the product and
increase the likelihood of some pilling and/or linting especially
when new.
Pinnacle believes the sueding of spun/filament fabrics
is important on napkins given that they are the items that contact
the skin. Further it is Pinnacle's belief that sueding the table
tops is an unnecessary expense that only decreases the life expectancy
and increases the likeliness of pilling. Pinnacle's Apex napkins
are sueded two passes, the table tops are not sueded.
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