I learned something interesting today: The thickness of thread (i.e. the stuff that makes up fabric) is not measured by its diameter, apparently because thread’s cross-section is not circular. Instead, thickness is measured indirectly, by means of density and volume.
Some Systems
There are a lot of systems for measuring thread size; here are three:
- Decitex (dtex): Weight in grams of a 10km strand of thread
- Denier (den): Weight in grams of a 9km strand of thread
- Metric Number (Nm): Length in km of a 1kg strand of thread
How Does This Work?
How are these numbers useful as measures of thickess? Well, for a given material (silk, cotton, wool, etc.) density will be more-or-less fixed, so that you can convert between mass and volume of thread, once you know what the thread is made of.
The sizing systems seen above relate length to mass. Since mass can be converted to volume, these systems also relate length to volume, and since the volume of a thread is equal to its length multiplied by its cross-sectional area, these systems (very indirectly) specify cross-sectional area.
Bonus Snark
This man does not like nightclubs. What ads did Google assign his article? Nightclubs. The beauty of it is that they were local clubs (for me at least), a technical trick of which I’m sure they’re very proud.
