Cotton yarns
Combed and carded quality, single and ply. Combed where evenness, lustre and pilling behaviour matter; carded where the fabric weight and finish will forgive it and the cost saving is real.
Home Products
The full textile value chain, and one category beyond it.
Fibers, yarns, fabrics and garments — traded end to end from Mumbai since 1989 — together with technical textiles. What follows is what each category covers in practice, how it is specified, and how we go about finding the mill that can hold it.
The range
Five categories, sourced against a written specification.
Somani Impex is a sourcing and trading organisation. We do not gin, spin, weave or stitch. What we do is know who does it well, hold them to the specification you have agreed, and remain answerable for the consignment until it lands.
Because we work across the whole chain rather than one link of it, a requirement can be picked up wherever it makes commercial sense. A brand may come to us for finished knitwear; a spinner in another market may come to us for the viscose staple that feeds it. Occasionally both conversations concern the same programme, which is precisely where a full-chain trader earns its keep.
The four stages below are the textile chain proper. Technical textiles sit alongside them, drawing on the same supplier diligence, the same quality control and the same shipping desk.
01
Fibers
Raw cotton, polyester staple fibre, viscose staple fibre, modal and bamboo — bought on staple, denier and consistency.
02
Yarns
Our deepest category. Cotton, polyester, viscose and blends in ring-spun, open-end and specialty constructions.
03
Fabrics
Woven, knitted and denim — greige through dyed, printed and finished, to the weight and hand you specify.
04
Garments
Woven garments, knitwear and sportswear, with vendor selection, sampling and inspection handled for you.
01 — Fibers
Where every programme actually begins.
Fiber is the one stage at which a mistake cannot be corrected downstream. A spinner can work around most things; it cannot work around inconsistent input.
Natural fiber is bought on measurable characteristics — staple length, micronaire, strength, trash and moisture content in the case of cotton — and on the far less measurable question of whether a given supplier ships what the sample promised. Man-made staple is specified on denier, cut length, lustre and finish, and behaves predictably once the producer is the right one. Our work is largely the second question rather than the first.
We buy from established producers and ship to spinners across our markets, in container quantities to specification. Where a blend is intended, we would rather discuss the target yarn before the fiber is fixed — the sensible fiber decision is frequently made backwards from the fabric.
- Raw cotton — sourced on staple, micronaire and contamination standard.
- Polyester staple fibre (PSF) — virgin and standard grades, to denier and cut length.
- Viscose staple fibre (VSF) — for viscose and blended spinning programmes.
- Modal — where hand and drape matter more than price per kilo.
- Bamboo — for buyers specifying it by name in their own programmes.
How fiber is specified
Cotton — staple
Typically 28–34 mm, to the count and quality intended downstream
Cotton — micronaire
Commonly 3.5–4.9, with colour grade, trash and moisture to an agreed standard
PSF / VSF — denier
1.0–3.0 D in standard cut lengths of 32 / 38 / 44 / 51 mm
Speciality
Modal and bamboo viscose to the producer's published specification
Shipped as
Pressed bales in container quantities, against a written specification and test data as agreed
02 — Yarns
The category we know best.
Yarn is where the trade is decided. Price moves weekly, quality is a matter of degree rather than pass or fail, and the difference between two mills quoting the same count is rarely visible on the offer sheet.
A yarn enquiry is only answerable once four things are settled: the fiber and any blend ratio, the count, the construction, and what the yarn has to survive downstream. A count that knits cleanly on one machine will shed on another. Combed cotton earns its premium in a fine single jersey and is largely wasted in a heavy terry. We would rather ask those questions at enquiry stage than explain a rejection later.
Ring-spun yarn remains the reference for evenness and strength, and is commonly sourced in the medium counts that carry most knitting and shirting programmes, with finer combed counts where the end use justifies the cost. Open-end is the sensible choice in the coarser counts used for denim, terry and heavy jersey. Specialty and fancy constructions — slub, core-spun, melange, dyed yarn — we treat as development work rather than catalogue items, because the mill capable of one is not necessarily capable of another.
Counts, ply, twist direction, package form and permitted variation are all fixed in writing before the order is confirmed. Where a programme repeats, we hold the approved standard on file so that the second shipment is measured against the first rather than against a fresh conversation.
How yarn is specified
Count range
Commonly Ne 6s – 60s; finer combed counts where the end use justifies them
Spinning system
Ring-spun, open-end (rotor) and specialty — matched to the fabric, not the offer sheet
Form & ply
Single and plied, on cones or cheeses, greige or dyed
Twist
S or Z direction, TPI / twist multiplier fixed to the construction
Standards
BCI, organic and recycled programmes on request, with chain of custody agreed per order
Polyester yarns
Spun polyester and poly-cotton blends for programmes that need dimensional stability, abrasion resistance or a price point that cotton alone cannot reach. Blend ratio confirmed against the end fabric, not assumed.
Viscose & blended yarns
Viscose, modal and their blends with cotton or polyester, for drape-led fabrics. Handled carefully, since blend uniformity shows up in dyeing long after the yarn has been accepted.
Specialty constructions
Slub, core-spun, melange and dyed yarns, together with fancy constructions developed with the mill. Treated as development work, with sampling and approval before any commercial quantity is committed.
03 — Fabrics
Greige through finished, to the hand you asked for.
A fabric specification that stops at composition and weight is an invitation to be disappointed. Construction, finish and the intended end use decide whether the cloth is right.
We source woven, knitted and denim fabrics, in greige for buyers who process themselves and in dyed, printed or finished form for those who do not. Weights and widths are commonly agreed in the ranges the machinery in question runs efficiently, since asking a mill to work outside its comfortable window costs money and consistency in equal measure. Where a shade has to be held across repeat shipments, that is settled at approval stage against a physical standard, not a reference number.
Denim deserves separate mention. It is unforgiving of casual sourcing — weight, construction, warp shade and finish all interact — and we treat it as its own conversation rather than a line on a fabric enquiry.
- Woven — shirting and bottomweight constructions, typically in the widths standard to the loom running them.
- Knitted — single and double jersey and related circular-knit constructions, in the GSM range your garment calls for.
- Denim — sourced against weight, construction, shade and finish together.
- Stage of processing — greige, dyed, printed or fully finished, as your own operation requires.
How fabric is specified
Construction
Woven — poplin, twill, oxford, satin · Knit — single & double jersey, rib, interlock, pique · Denim
Weight
Knits typically ~110–320 GSM; woven weights per construction and end use
Width
Woven commonly 58–60″; knits tubular or open-width to specification
Composition
100% cotton, CVC / PC blends, viscose, modal, tencel, and elastane blends
Finish
Greige, dyed, printed, mercerised, peached and similar, to the hand agreed
Compliance
Shrinkage, colourfastness and GSM tolerance held to the buyer's standard
04 — Garments
Finished product, with the vendor work done for you.
Sourcing garments is only partly about the garment. Most of the effort goes into choosing a factory that can hold the standard at volume and then staying close enough to know when it is slipping.
We work to your specification — the tech pack, the measurement chart, the trims and the packing standard — and put it in front of the factories genuinely equipped for that product rather than every factory willing to quote. Sampling and approval run before commercial production is released, and inspection takes place at the stage where a problem can still be corrected on the line rather than discovered in the container.
Because we also trade the fabric and the yarn underneath, we can usually say why a garment costs what it costs, and where a change in the material would move the number without moving the product.
- Woven garments — shirts, trousers and related constructions built to a measurement chart.
- Knitwear — jersey and knitted product, where fabric selection largely decides the outcome.
- Sportswear — performance and activewear programmes, specified to the fabric behaviour the end use demands.
How a garment programme is specified
Product
Woven tops & bottoms, knitwear, sportswear and activewear
Fabric base
Sourced by us or nominated by you, with the yarn and cloth traceable underneath
Specification
Tech pack, measurement chart, trims and packing standard, agreed before production
Sampling
Proto → fit → pre-production → shipment approval
MOQ & pricing
Agreed per contract against the product, quantity and fabric base
Packing & labelling
To the buyer's or retailer's requirement, with inspection before dispatch
05 — Technical Textiles
Textiles specified by what they must do.
Outside apparel, a textile is judged on performance rather than appearance. The specification starts from the application and works backwards to the construction.
Technical textiles cover industrial fabrics, non-wovens, and performance or functional materials used in applications well beyond clothing. There is no useful catalogue for this category, because two buyers asking for the same generic description frequently need entirely different products. We therefore begin with the requirement — what the material has to withstand, for how long, in what environment — and identify producers with genuine experience of that application.
Where the requirement is unusual, this becomes a development exercise with the mill rather than a purchase. Send us the functional brief and we will tell you honestly whether it is something we can source well.
- Industrial fabrics — engineered for a defined mechanical or protective duty.
- Non-wovens — where a bonded web suits the application better than a woven or knitted structure.
- Performance and functional textiles — sourced against the property required rather than a product name.
- Application-led sourcing — supplier identified from the end use, with samples before commitment.
How technical textiles are specified
Category
Industrial fabrics, non-wovens, coated or laminated cloth, functional textiles
Base material
Cotton, polyester, polypropylene and blends, chosen from the duty required
Property
Strength, filtration, barrier, flame-retardance and similar — specified to the application
Format
Roll goods or cut pieces, to the dimensions and tolerance agreed
Standards
Assessed against the relevant application or industry standard, confirmed in writing
How we source
Four steps between an enquiry and a clean shipment.
The sequence is the same whether the order is fiber or finished garments. It exists so that disagreements happen at sampling stage, where they are cheap, rather than at the port, where they are not.
Specification
We settle what is actually being bought — composition, construction, finish, quantity, destination and the end use it has to serve. Anything left vague here becomes an argument later.
Supplier shortlist
The enquiry goes to the two or three producers genuinely suited to it, not to the market at large. We say which we would use ourselves, and why.
Sampling & approval
Samples are produced and approved against a physical standard, which is then held on file so a repeat order is measured against the first shipment.
Inspection & shipment
Inspection at the stage where a problem can still be corrected, then freight, documentation and customs coordination through to arrival.
Send us the detail
Give us a specification and we will give you an answer.
Composition, construction, quantity and destination are enough to start. We will come back with the suppliers worth talking to and an honest view of price and delivery — including when the answer is that we are not the right house for it.