Thread Count in Metric Number

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The distinction of the yarns on the basis of their thickness is made by means of a particular procedure which takes the generic name of titration. The title is a relationship between length and weight: the relationship between weight and length is called direct titration, while the relationship between length and weight is called indirect titration. It follows that in the context of direct titration, the smaller the number, the finer the yarn, vice versa in the indirect titration, the higher the number, the finer the yarn.

Among the numerous titration systems in use, for synthetic fibers the Tex represents the weight in grams of a kilometer of yarn, or the Denaro (or Danaro), widely used in female nylon hosiery, which represents the weight in grams of a nine kilometer long skein of yarn.

The "Metric Number" is used for wool. The metric number of a yarn is given by the number of kilometers of yarn needed to make the weight of a kilogram and is expressed with the symbol Nm.

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For example, Nm 120 means that 120 km of yarn are needed to make the weight of one kilogram. In the case of titration of twisted yarns, the resulting Nm is given by the ratio between the metric number of the only ones and the number of plies; in fact, the metric number resulting from the combination of two threads of Nm 120 is Nm 2/120 which also represents the thickness of the yarns used in the Merino Super Fun project.

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