What is Ne (English Cotton Count)?

Ne is the English cotton count: it states how many 840-yard hanks are contained in 1 pound of yarn. A yarn of Ne 30 has 30 hanks in 1 pound, that is 25,200 yards of yarn. Ne is a length-based (indirect) system: the higher the number, the finer the yarn, so Ne 40 is finer than Ne 20. It is used for cotton and cotton-blend yarns (Cotton Incorporated, TRI 1014).

How is Ne calculated?

Ne = yarn length (hanks) ÷ yarn weight (pounds). One hank is 840 yards (about 768 m) and one pound is 453.6 g (Çukurova University lab sheet). In Cotton Incorporated’s example, a yarn of count 24 has 24 × 840 = 20,160 yards in 1 pound.

How to read Ne 30/1 and Ne 20/2

In the common notation for the cotton system, the number to the left of the slash is the count of one ply and the number to the right is the number of plies. Ne 30/1 is a single-ply Ne 30 yarn. Ne 20/2 means a two-ply yarn in which each ply is Ne 20. If the effect of twist is ignored, the count of a plied yarn is found by adding the reciprocals of the ply counts: 1/N = 1/N₁ + 1/N₂ (TRI 1014; Çukurova lab sheet). For Ne 20/2 this corresponds, in thickness, to a single-ply of about Ne 10. In Cotton Incorporated’s example, when two Ne 40 yarns are plied the result is written 40/2 and is equivalent to Ne 20/1 (ISP 1006).

TRI 1014 also adds a warning: in some systems the number written is the count of one ply, in others of the whole plied yarn. In a specification, state the name of the system and which number you mean: “Ne 30/1”, “Ne 20/2”.

Converting Ne to tex, Nm and denier

Conversion between Ne and tex, Nm and denier uses a single coefficient (TRI 1014, Table 2): tex = 590.5 ÷ Ne, Nm = 1.693 × Ne, denier = 5,315 ÷ Ne. A value in dtex is 10 times the tex value.

The coefficients are rounded. With 1 hank = 840 yards (768.096 m) and 1 pound = 453.59237 g, the exact coefficients come to about 590.54 and 1.6934; ISP 1006 gives the same relationships as “590.54 ÷ tex = Ne” and “Nm ÷ 1.69336 = Ne”. The table was calculated with the exact coefficients and then rounded; if you calculate with the rounded coefficients you may see small differences in the last digit. The Çukurova University lab sheet asks that a calculated yarn count be rounded to a whole number (a result of 47.5 is written Ne 48); mark a converted value as “approximately” in the specification.

Counts confused with Ne

• Nm (metric count): The number of meters in 1 gram of yarn. It runs in the same direction as Ne (a higher number means a finer yarn) but the unit is different: Ne 30 is about Nm 50.8. A Nm 30 yarn is 33.3 tex and a Ne 30 yarn is 19.7 tex; that is, a Nm 30 yarn is about 1.7 times heavier per meter. If a quote says only “30/1”, the yarn can be misread.
• Tex and denier: These are weight-based (direct) systems; the higher the number, the thicker the yarn. They run opposite to Ne and Nm (TRI 1014).
• Other hank lengths: In worsted wool the hank is 560 yards; the same yarn takes a value 1.5 times its cotton count in the worsted system (TRI 1014). Ne is the count of the cotton system (840 yards) only, so always write the count together with the name of the system.

Specified count vs measured count

The count in a quote and the measured count of the yarn may not come out exactly the same. In ten measurements of a combed cotton yarn specified as Ne 30, Dönmez (2008) found values between Ne 28.37 and Ne 28.84 (mean Ne 28.57; measured to TS 244, a Turkish standard). This is a single study and not a generalization, but it shows why the test method and tolerance should be written next to the count.

Ne in knitted fabric

The same fabric weight can be reached by knitting a fine yarn more densely or a coarse yarn more loosely; fine yarn costs more (ISP 1009). A measured example: a 100% cotton single jersey knitted on a 28-gauge machine from combed Ne 30/1 ring yarn weighs about 135 g/m² as it comes off the machine and about 176 g/m² when fully relaxed (ISP 1009, Table I). Yarn count alone does not determine fabric weight; loop length and machine gauge also matter. For calculations and specification examples, see the yarn count conversion guide; you can find cotton yarn suppliers in the cotton yarn companies category.

Frequently asked questions

How many tex is Ne 30?

About 19.7 tex: 590.5 ÷ 30. The same yarn is about Nm 50.8 and about 177 denier.

Is Ne the same as Nm?

No. Ne is the number of 840-yard hanks in 1 pound; Nm is the number of meters in 1 gram. Ne 30 corresponds to about Nm 50.8. Reading the same number in the two systems makes a difference of about 1.7 times in yarn weight per meter.

Does the yarn get thicker as the Ne number rises?

No, it gets finer. Because Ne is length-based, the length of yarn that fits in 1 pound grows as the number rises. In tex and denier the yarn gets thicker as the number rises, so do not compare numbers from two different systems directly.