Cotton Count

Note: the Cotton Count is NOT the same thing as thread count.

Ne (Number English) or cotton count is another measure of linear density. It is the number of hanks (840 yd or 770 m) of skein material that weigh 1 pound (0.45 kg). Under this system, the higher the number, the finer the yarn. In the United States cotton counts between 1 and 20 are referred to as coarse counts. A regular single-knit T-shirt can be between 20 and 40 count; fine bed sheets are usually in the range of 40 to 80 count. The number is now widely used in the staple fiber industry.

Hank: a length of 7 leas or 840 yards (770 m)

• a hank is to a unit of yarn or twine that is in a coiled or wrapped form (as opposed to other forms such as a ball or a cone or a bobbin or a spool). This is often the best form for use with hand looms, compared to the cone form needed for power looms. Hanks come in varying lengths depending on the type of material and the manufacturer. For instance, a hank of linen is often 300 yards (270 m), and a hank of cotton or silk is 840 yards (770 m).

One lea – 120 yards (110 m)

• The lea or lay was a British unit of length. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as a measure "of varying quantity" and cites quotations from within various areas of the textile industry which define it as "80 yards" (1888 note on a 1399 text), "200 Threds reel'd on a Reel four yards about" (1696), "each lay containing 200 yards" (1704", "eighty threads" (1776), "forty threads" (1825), "300 yards" (1882) and "in worsted 80 yards; in cotton and silk 120 yards" (1885).
  

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Not Thread Count — the Distinction That Matters

The two terms sound like cousins and are constantly confused, but they measure different things at different stages. Cotton count describes a yarn — one strand's fineness, before any weaving happens. Thread count describes a finished fabric — how many warp and weft threads occupy a square inch of it. A sheet's thread count is built from yarns that each carry their own cotton count, and a high thread count woven from coarse, low-count yarns is a very different product from the same thread count in fine yarns. Buyers who keep the two apart can read a specification properly; shoppers who merge them end up comparing numbers that were never measuring the same thing.

Counts in the Wild: Shirts and Sheets

The ranges on this page make the scale tangible. Coarse counts under 20 Ne become denim warps, canvas and heavy workwear yarns; the 20 to 40 band knits the everyday t-shirt, where softness and durability balance; counts from 40 upward weave the finer shirtings and bed sheets, and the finest counts serve lawn, voile and luxury sheeting. Because the hank behind the system — 840 yards — is itself defined as seven leas of 120 yards, older records sometimes quote leas, and the hank definition linked in this section untangles the small units bundled inside the big one.