What Do 80/1 and 100/2 Mean in Shirt Fabrics? Understanding Yarn Count
Written by Kenji Tanaka
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When looking at fine shirting fabrics, you may come across specifications such as 80/1, 80/2, 100/2, or 120/2.
What do these numbers actually mean?
What Is Yarn Count?
Yarn count is a way of expressing the linear density, or fineness, of a yarn.
For shirting fabrics, one commonly used system is the English Cotton Count, or Ne. In this system, the higher the number, the finer the yarn.
The system is based on the relationship between length and weight: one hank is 840 yards, and the count indicates how many 840-yard lengths of yarn are contained in one pound.
For example:
- Ne 1 → 840 yards per pound
- Ne 10 → 8,400 yards per pound
- Ne 80 → 67,200 yards per pound
In other words, the more length that can be contained in the same weight, the finer the yarn.
Therefore, an 80-count yarn is finer than a 60-count yarn, and a 120-count yarn is finer than an 80-count yarn.
What Do “/1” and “/2” Mean?
The number after the slash describes the yarn construction.
80/1
→ a single yarn of Ne 80
100/2
→ two Ne 100 single yarns twisted together, creating a 2-ply yarn
120/2
→ two Ne 120 single yarns twisted together
An important point is that 120/2 means neither a 60-count yarn nor a 240-count yarn.
The “120” refers to the count of each individual single yarn used to make the 2-ply yarn. When two Ne 120 yarns are combined, the resulting yarn has a theoretical equivalent count of approximately Ne 60.
However, it is still specified as 120/2, because the notation describes the construction of the yarn rather than simply giving the equivalent count of the finished ply.
Why Use Two Plies?
As yarn becomes finer, it can become more challenging to achieve sufficient strength and stability in a single yarn.
For this reason, particularly fine shirting yarns are often made by twisting two or more single yarns together.
Plying can improve strength, evenness and stability, which is one reason specifications such as 100/2 and 120/2 are commonly found in fine shirting fabrics.
Does a Higher Yarn Count Mean Better Quality?
Generally, finer, higher-count yarns tend to be more expensive to produce and are often used in finer, smoother shirting fabrics.
A finer yarn can contribute to a softer, smoother and more refined hand, and fabrics made with higher-count yarns are often positioned at a higher price level.
However, higher yarn count does not automatically mean higher quality.
The quality of the cotton, spinning process, twist, yarn construction, weave, fabric density and finishing all influence the final character of a fabric.
Yarn count is therefore an important specification, but it should never be considered in isolation.
What About Thread Count in Bed Sheets?
A question I often hear from clients is:
“I see bed sheets described as 200 or 300 count. How does that compare with a 120-count shirt fabric?”
The answer is that these numbers are measuring different things.
When discussing bed sheets, the number commonly refers to thread count (TC) — the total number of warp and weft yarns woven into one square inch of fabric.
For example:
100 warp yarns + 100 weft yarns = 200 thread count
This is different from yarn count, which describes the fineness of the yarn itself.
Therefore, 200 thread count does not mean that the yarn is Ne 200, and it cannot be directly compared with a 120-count shirting yarn.
When you see a number associated with a textile, the first question should always be:
What exactly is this number measuring?