Ringspun Cotton vs Regular Cotton
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Ringspun Cotton vs Regular Cotton

Updated – July 2021

When you’re looking at t-shirts to print on, one big question always pops up. What is Ringspun Cotton? So we’re going to break it down for you here.

Cotton Flowers Ringspun Cotton

Regular Cotton

Regular cotton is produced by twisting together soft vegetable fibers into yarn. The yarn is then woven together to create regular cotton material. This fabric is the heaviest and roughest but also the cheapest and fastest option for cotton production.

Ringspun Cotton Machine Loom

Ringspun Cotton

Ringspun Cotton sits a little higher than regular cotton in price and quality. It is produced in the same way as regular cotton, but with an additional step. Before the cotton is woven into a fabric, it is spun rapidly around a ring mechanism, hence the name. And then wound around a large bobbin. This spins the thread into a much finer gauge and twists it all in the same direction. This added process greatly increases the durability and softness of the fibers and thus the final fabric once woven.

Our particular Tees of choice is the Bella + Canvas 3001 and the Gildan 64000, both of which are created using very nice ringspun cotton giving an excellent balance of cost and quality. Check out one of our tees using the Gildan 64000: https://hovercat.com/weebs-r-us/bungee-gum-hisoka-tee/

Ringspun cotton spool bundle

Combed Ringspun Cotton

Combed Ringspun Cotton is one more step up the ladder and is found in the highest quality tees. This, of course contributes heavily to the price making them the most expensive tees also. This process takes takes everything from the standard ringspun cotton and adds yet another additional step. And that step is exactly what it sounds like. The threads are combed, removing any additional loose strands, and further tightening the thread when spinning. Like the normal ring-spun cotton, this only adds to the durability and softness of the fabric once woven.

Each type of Cotton has it’s own benefits and uses. If you want to produce a bunch of tees to give away at a charity event, a good old fashioned cotton t-shirt will do you just fine. And if you want to produce high quality branded apparel, you can look to the variety of ringspun tees to take care of you. Hopefully you can walk away with a little bit better understanding for choosing your best t-shirt! And if you’re hankering for some additional knowledge, you can check out the wikipedia page all about ring spinning:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_spinning

-Logan