Yarn-Dyed

Yarn-dyed fabric is woven from yarns that already have colour in them. The stripe, check, or two-tone is in the warp and weft, not applied after the cloth leaves the loom. Piece-dyed cloth works the other way: undyed greige is dyed as a whole piece to one solid shade.

Because the dye is in the yarn before it is woven, colour usually sits deeper than it does after a later piece-dye bath. Stripes, checks, chambray-like two-tones, and heathers stay cleaner in the wash than a surface print. The back of the cloth shows the same yarns, so you are not looking at a one-sided print. On polyester home textiles the chemistry is still disperse dye on filament, under heat. What changes is when the colour goes in, not the fibre.

The extra cost is in the yarn plan. Each colourway has to be dyed and creeled before the first pick, so changing a stripe or adding a colour is a yarn program, not a lab dip on greige. Minimums are usually quoted per colourway, in line with other make-to-order constructions rather than stock greige. If you want one solid Pantone across a width and may change the shade next season, piece-dye is still the quicker route.

Yarn-dye is also not the same job as dual-jet. Dual-jet is how many wefts the water jet puts in one pick. Yarn-dye is when those yarns were coloured. It is also not satin stripe: that stripe is a weave change (sheen bands), unless you also specify coloured yarns. A cloth can be both: two pre-dyed yarns on a dual-jet insertion is a common way to get a two-tone face without printing. Write construction and colour route as separate notes on the program—not as a catalogue SKU—with width, GSM, and finish. Approve a physical woven strike—a screen will not show how the yarns sit next to each other in daylight.