Low weight terry fabric and a method of producing the same

Abstract

A towel is provided comprising a ground cloth having warp yarns and weft yarns in a flat weave and having first and second sides. Stripes are provided on the first and second sides of the ground cloth that are defined by alternating areas of pile loops and flat weave, the pile loops on the first side being opposed by flat weave on the second side and the flat weave on the first side being opposed by pile loops on the second side. The pile loops have a density of 60 loops per cm 2 . A method for manufacturing a terry towel is also provided in which the towel has a weight of less than 240 gsm using a combination of open structured 100% cotton pile yarn of finer counts with ground and weft yarns that have a proportion of synthetic fiber of from 10% to 100%; comprising: weaving a striped pattern of 100% of pile yarn on one side alternated with 100% of pile yarn on other side to create double density loop stripes, the stripes having width in the range of 2 mm to 25 mm.

1 . A towel comprising:
 a) a ground cloth comprising warp yarns and weft yarns in a flat weave and having first and second sides; and   b) stripes on the first and second sides of the ground cloth defined by alternating areas of pile loops and flat weave, the pile loops on the first side being opposed by flat weave on the second side and the flat weave on the first side being opposed by pile loops on the second side, the pile loops having a density of approximately 60 loops per cm 2 .   
     
     
         2 . The towel of  claim 1  wherein the stripes have a width of from 2 mm to 25 mm. 
     
     
         3 . The towel of  claim 1  wherein the pile loops are formed from open structured 100% cotton yarn. 
     
     
         4 . The towel of  claim 3  wherein the yarn has a twist multiplier of less than 2.4. 
     
     
         5 . The towel of  claim 1  wherein the weft yarns comprise fibers having a tensile strength of greater than 700 gf/tex and the warp yarns comprise a combination of fibers having a tensile strength of greater than 700 gf/tex and fibers having a tensile strength of from 450 gf/tex to 500 gf/tex. 
     
     
         6 . The towel of  claim 1  wherein the warp yarns and weft yarns are 100% synthetic. 
     
     
         7 . The towel of  claim 1  wherein the warp yarns and the weft yarns are a cotton-synthetic blend. 
     
     
         8 . The towel of  claim 7  wherein the warp yarns and the weft yarns comprise from 10% to less than 100% synthetic fibers. 
     
     
         9 . The towel of  claim 1  wherein the towel has a weight of less than 240 g/m 2  and an absorbency of from 8 to 10 times its weight. 
     
     
         10 . The towel of  claim 1  wherein the pile loops are formed from pile warp yarns having a count of finer than 16 s Ne, and a pile ratio of from 1:3 to 1:4. 
     
     
         11 . The towel of  claim 10  wherein the pile warp yarns comprise cotton fibers having a span length of 2.5% or longer than 3.5 times longer than a loop length of a single pile. 
     
     
         12 . The towel of  claim 10  wherein the pile loops have a yarn loop diameter of about 0.8 mm and a loop diameter of about 1.6 mm. 
     
     
         13 . The towel of  claim 10  wherein the pile loops have a yarn loop diameter of from between about 0.5 mm to about 1.6 mm. 
     
     
         14 . A method for manufacturing a terry towel having a weight of less than 240 gsm using a combination of open structured 100% cotton pile yarn of finer counts with ground and weft yarns that have a proportion of synthetic fiber of from 10% to 100%, the method comprising: weaving a striped pattern of 100% of pile yarn on one side alternated with 100% of pile yarn on other side to create double density loop stripes, the stripes having width in the range of 2 mm to 25 mm. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the terry towel undergoes enzymatic pretreatment.