Development of Sustainable and Ecological Hybrid Yarns: Hemp Fiber in Denim Fabric Production

Abstract

This study aims to develop and characterize more sustainable and ecological yarns as an alternative to 100% cotton in traditional denim fabric production by using hemp fiber. For this purpose, conventional ring, core-spun and dual core-spun yarns were spun from three blend proportions of organic cotton/hemp fibers as 100:0, 80:20 and 70:30 in percentages. Hemp and organic cotton were used as sheath fiber, and elastane type (Lycra and T400) – as core fiber in the yarn structures. According to the results, the sheath fiber type and blend ratio greatly influenced all yarns’ physical characteristics. Using hemp fiber in the yarn structure generally decreased the yarn properties, as expected. However, the best results by using hemp fiber in the yarn structures were achieved by using 20% hemp fiber in the sheath of the yarn structure. Further increasing this rate to 30% worsened the yarn properties considerably, regardless of the core component. When the yarns were evaluated in terms of sustainability and performance, 80/20% organic cotton/hemp blended yarns had the optimum yarn properties.