Sock WholesalersWhat is combed cotton, and why sock yarn gets combed
Combing is a mechanical step in yarn preparation: the short fibres are taken out and the long ones are laid parallel. The sock that comes out is not a different construction, it is a different yarn. This page sets out what changes, what does not, and the three numbers that put the difference in writing.
Combed and carded. Both knit a soft sock; they sit at different price points.
Spandex share listed on our ballet sock, the style where combed cotton is used.
Sampling, after the brief and artwork are confirmed.
Minimum per style. The count is pairs per style, not per size.
1. What combing actually removes
Cotton arrives at a spinner as a mass of fibres of wildly different lengths. Some are long enough to be spun into a strong, even yarn; some are short and only ever become pills on the surface of a finished sock. Combing is the step that separates them: the fibre is brushed through fine combs so the short staples fall away and what is left is laid parallel.
That is the whole of it. No chemical is added, no coating is applied, and the sock is not finished any differently afterwards. Combing removes the short fibres that cause pilling, which is why a combed sock stays smooth for far longer than a carded one at a modest cost premium.
The consequence for a buyer is simple and slightly uncomfortable: combed and carded look identical in a photograph, feel nearly identical in the hand for the first week, and behave differently after twenty washes. It is one of the two or three things on a specification that nobody can check by looking.
Basis: the description of combing in our own supplier-vetting guide, which states that combing removes the short fibres that cause pilling and that carded is a different price point rather than a defect.
2. Combed against carded, line by line
Neither yarn is a better version of the other. They are two price points, and the job is to name which one you are buying rather than to assume the word "cotton" settled it.
| Line | Combed | Carded |
|---|---|---|
| Hand | Soft, even, breathes well. | Soft at first, coarser as the surface fibre works loose. |
| Pilling | Short fibres removed, so it pills far later. | Pills sooner. This is the visible difference, and it appears after washing rather than in the showroom. |
| Dye | Even dye, because the fibre length is even. | Less even, which shows most on a deep or a bright shade. |
| Cost | A modest premium. Combing wastes fibre, and waste is priced. | The cheaper of the two. |
| Where we list it | Ballet crew, casual crew, and the terry crew. | On styles where the yarn is named as carded on the specification. |
The sentence to hold on to is the one our own materials guide prints: both knit a soft sock, and carded pills sooner — so name which one you are buying, because the two sit at different points. A supplier who cannot say which one is in the sock has not written the specification yet.
Basis: the combed-cotton row of the fibre table in our yarn guide (soft hand, even dye, breathes well; suited to ballet, dance, casual and business crews), and the guide sentence that combed and carded both knit a soft sock while carded pills sooner.
3. The cuff is where the difference shows up first
Ask a wearer which sock was combed and they will point at the cuff, not the sole. Our own fibre table says the quiet part out loud in the "what to watch" column for combed cotton: the cuff relaxes unless it is blended.
A rib cuff that loses recovery is the most common quality complaint in this trade, and it is not a combing problem — it is a blend problem. Pure cotton knits a beautiful sock body and a cuff that slowly gives up. What holds a cuff is elastane, and on this floor the share is written down: our listed ballet sock gives 5% spandex and 80% cotton, and the sample is knitted to that pairing.
So the two facts belong in the same brief. Combed cotton for the hand and the dye; a named spandex percentage for the cuff. A buyer who asks for "soft cotton socks" and stops there has specified half of the sock, and it is the half that fails first.
“80% combed cotton, 5% spandex, the balance stated by name; ___ g per pair finished; cuff rib sized on the sample.”
The 80 and the 5 are the figures our ballet sock is listed at. The rest of the line is what the brief has to add.Basis: the combed-cotton row of our yarn guide, the 5% spandex and 80% cotton figures published on our listed ballet sock, and the rib-cuff entry in our glossary, which names cuff recovery as the most common quality complaint in the trade.
4. How to write it so the invoice can carry it
"Combed cotton" on its own is a word, not a specification. Three numbers turn it into one, and all three are checkable at the other end of the order.
- Composition, as percentages. Our glossary states the rule this floor works to: "cotton" on a specification means one thing, the composition stated next to it — and we quote blends and combed variants by composition.
- Weight, in grams per pair. It goes on the specification sheet, and it is checked twice: weigh the signed sample, then weigh pairs pulled from the bulk carton. Both figures are recorded against your order number, so a weight claim has a document behind it.
- Needle count. The number of needles on the cylinder sets how fine and dense the sock knits, and we quote the count per style in the specification. A combed yarn knitted on a coarse cylinder is a fine yarn spent on a coarse sock.
The sentence our supplier-vetting guide asks buyers to complete puts all of it in one line: needles, composition, weight in grams per pair, denier, and how the toe is closed. A supplier who cannot fill the blanks is selling whatever is on the machine that day.
Basis: the yarn guide sections on composition, weight per pair and the weigh-twice check; the cotton and needle-count entries in our glossary; and the specification sentence printed in our supplier-vetting guide.
5. Where combed cotton sits on this floor
Combed cotton is not a premium line here, it is a starting point for a group of styles. Our yarn guide lists where it is used: ballet crew, casual crew, and the terry crew we list as a combed cotton knit for running and gym wear. The end uses it suits are the ones that have to feel soft before they feel technical — ballet, dance, casual and business crews, and studio socks.
The same guide is blunt about the other direction. Thin studio crews and kids sports start on polyester, a Pilates grip crew starts on nylon, and merino is named on this site as a yarn we hold while no current style runs in it — if you want one made, the desk quotes that construction, and it adds a sample round.
Yarn is held by lot, and that matters to a combed order
Once a lot is set aside for your order, the second shipment is matched to it. That is worth knowing before you approve a shade: with combed cotton the dye reads even, which makes a lot change more visible, not less. If the colour has to hold across a reorder, the lot reference belongs in the paperwork alongside the composition.
Basis: the "where we list it" and "which family to start from" sections of our yarn guide, its merino note, the combed-cotton figure on our terry style listing, and the yarn-by-lot statement in the same guide.
6. What a fibre change costs you in calendar time
A fibre the floor already knits needs no extra sample round. A fibre that no current style runs in adds one, because the construction has to be knitted and signed before bulk — and that round runs 3–5 days after the brief and artwork are confirmed, not after the first email.
Colour is settled in the same round. We dye to a Pantone reference sent with the brief, and the match is made on the sample rather than on a screen, because a monitor and a dyed cone never agree. The sample you sign is what bulk is checked against.
Which is the practical argument for asking about combed versus carded early: both are fibres this floor runs, so the answer costs one email and saves a sample round rather than adding one.
Basis: the sample-round statement and the dye-matching note in our yarn guide, and the 3–5 day sampling window stated in our published wholesale terms.
7. Three numbers to get in writing
Composition, weight, needle count
- Composition as percentages, with the word "combed" attached to the cotton share rather than to the sock.
- Grams per pair finished, with its unit, checked on the signed sample and again on the bulk carton.
- Needle count for the style, so the fineness is a number and not an adjective.
Everything else on a combed-cotton brief — the hand, the dye, the cuff recovery — follows from those three, or is a claim nobody can check.
Basis: the three figures are the ones our own specification sheet records and the ones our supplier-vetting guide asks a buyer to demand in a single sentence.
Which fibre to start from
Read down the left column until you recognise the sock you are trying to sell. The right column is where our own yarn guide puts that brief.
A crew you sell on how soft it feels
→ Combed cotton — ballet, casual and business crews
A studio sock that has to feel soft before it feels technical
→ Combed cotton
The lowest landing cost on a plain bulk crew
→ Carded, named as carded on the specification and priced as one
A cuff that has to come back after a hundred washes
→ A named spandex share — 5% is what our ballet sock lists
A thin training crew or a kids sports sock
→ Polyester, not cotton
A warm winter sock
→ Merino — ask first, because no current style here runs in it
The mapping is the one our yarn guide publishes for the five fibre families; the ordering of the questions is ours.
Where these figures come from
- Our own yarn options guide — the five fibre families, the combed-cotton row (soft hand, even dye, breathes well; cuff relaxes unless blended; ballet crew and casual crew), the combed-versus-carded trap, the 5% spandex and 80% cotton listing on the ballet sock, the yarn-by-lot rule, the weight check in grams per pair, the merino note, and the 3–5 day sample round for a new fibre.
- Our own glossary of wholesale sock terms — the cotton entry (blends and combed variants quoted by composition), needle count, grammage, and the rib-cuff entry that names lost cuff recovery as the most common quality complaint in the trade.
- Our own supplier-vetting guide — the statement that combing removes the short fibres that cause pilling and that carded is a different price point, plus the specification sentence with its blanks for needle count, composition, weight and denier.
- Our own terry socks style page — the combed cotton crew listed for running and gym wear.
- Our own wholesale terms — sampling at 3–5 days after brief and artwork, and the minimum of 1,000 pairs per style.
Send the fibre and the end use. We cost the construction against it.
Fibre by name, percentage in numbers, weight in grams per pair, and the end use. Those four answers cost one email and save a sample round.
If the fibre you want is one this floor already knits, the sample round is 3–5 days after the brief and artwork are confirmed.