What's Inside this Site:

Most people who are involved in the selection of thread make their decision based on one or all of the following reasons:

• Sewability (process ability)
• Seam Performance (seam strength, seam durability, etc.)
• Seam Appearance (color, color fastness, stitch appearance, etc.)
• Availability (is the product available to meet my needs)
• Cost (cost includes both the price and the hidden costs associated with the above)

The Thread Selection Guides (End Use), listed below, are intended to help you select the most common thread types and sizes used for a particular application. A&E Sales Representatives and Technical Service Team are also available to answer specific questions about thread application and share with you their experience of what is the best thread to use.

• Apparel - Wovens
• Apparel - Knits
• Apparel - Special Applications
• Soft Home Applications

Note:  Three of the Guides, Wovens, Knits, and Special Applications,  generally apply to men's, women's, and children's apparel unless there are special considerations that would warrant a special thread.

To use the Guides, you need to know the following:

1. What product is being produced?
2. Is the fabric being used a woven or knit?
3. What is the weight of the fabric?
4. Which thread selection criteria should be used:

• #1 Thread Selection: Higher performance threads for sewing on automated sewing machines; for sewing particularly hard to handle fabrics; and where quality seaming is a must; or
• #2 Thread Selection: Average performance threads where sewing requirements are not as difficult and cost is the major consideration.

The thread size and A&E brand is listed for each application. For more information on what the A&E brand is look at the bottom of each page. For example, Perma Core is a polyester wrapped polyester core thread that can be sourced around the world.