Combed cotton is cotton yarn that has gone through an extra mechanical combing step before spinning, which removes the short fibres and remaining impurities and aligns the long fibres in parallel. The resulting knit is smoother, stronger and far less prone to pilling than the same fabric made from carded yarn.
What is the difference between combed and carded yarn?
| Combed | Carded | |
|---|---|---|
| Short fibres removed | Yes, 15-20% of the mass | No |
| Surface | Smooth, low fuzz | Fuzzy |
| Pilling resistance | High | Low |
| Strength | Higher at the same count | Lower |
| Cost | 15-25% more | Baseline |
Is the extra cost of combed yarn worth it?
Combing throws away up to a fifth of the raw cotton, and that loss is what you pay for. In exchange you get a fabric that still looks new after 30 washes. For a garment sold at volume with a returns policy attached, the difference in complaint rate normally covers the price gap on its own.
Where does combed yarn matter most?
- T-shirts and basics — surface appearance after repeated washing is the entire product.
- Underwear and sleepwear — direct, prolonged skin contact.
- Baby clothing — softness plus no loose short fibre.
- Printed goods — a smooth surface gives sharper print edges.
How can you check it yourself?
Hold the fabric up to a strong light. Carded cotton shows a visible halo of fibre ends standing off the surface; combed cotton looks clean-edged. Rubbing two layers together for thirty seconds will start to raise pills on carded fabric and generally will not on combed.
Which qualities are common?
Our combed cotton range covers single jersey (supreme) at 140-200 g/m², interlock at 120-180 g/m², pique (lacoste) at 180-220 g/m² and french terry at 240-320 g/m². Organic combed cotton is available under GOTS certification, and all cotton qualities can be supplied under BCI.
Altunkaya Tekstil produces combed cotton jersey, interlock and pique — min. 50 kg per colour, GOTS, BCI and OEKO-TEX Standard 100 Class I certified. WhatsApp: +90 536 304 67 29