Is a higher count always a better yarn?
Why Ne 60s is not automatically better than Ne 30s, and how to pick the count your fabric actually needs.
Salem, Tiruppur and Erode: how the Kongu textile belt works
Where cotton is spun, knitted, woven, dyed and traded in western Tamil Nadu, and how yarn moves between towns.
Buyers from outside Tamil Nadu sometimes think of Tiruppur as the whole textile industry of the region. In fact, western Tamil Nadu works as one connected belt, with each town doing what it does best, and yarn from our mill in Salem often passes through three of them before it becomes a garment.
Salem and its surrounding areas, including the Omalur and Attur roads, have a long history of spinning and handloom weaving, and are known for cotton and silk handloom sarees and dhotis as well as larger spinning mills. Erode, about 60 km south-west, is the region’s great cloth market, with weekly textile fairs where grey and finished fabrics change hands, and many powerloom units nearby.
Tiruppur, another 50 km on, is the knitting capital. Thousands of units knit, dye, print and stitch T-shirts and innerwear for export and for Indian brands. Most of the combed and carded hosiery yarn we spin goes there. Karur, to the south-east, specialises in home textiles such as bed linen and curtains, while Coimbatore supplies much of the textile machinery and engineering.
For buyers, this means short distances and quick transport. A truck from our mill reaches Erode in about two hours and Tiruppur in three. We arrange despatch to Tiruppur, Erode, Bengaluru and Ludhiana at cost. If you are visiting the region, plan two days: a morning at our mill and lab in Salem, an afternoon at the Erode market, and a day in Tiruppur meeting knitters. We are happy to suggest a route.
