A textile yarn is a continuous strand of staple or filament fibers arranged in a form suitable for weaving, knitting, or other form of fabric assembly. The yarn can be twisted with one or more yarns to create added value or aesthetics. Traditionally, yarns have been constructed of fibers of finite length called staple fibers.

This document will discuss how yarns are formed. It covers fiber preparation and spinning for cotton and blends of cotton. Also covered is the production of synthetic filaments and their conversion to tow and how the tow in turn gets cut into short fibers.