A yarn manufacturer can peddle its goods to a number of outlets, including knitting stores, textile mills, yarn distributors and yarn wholesalers. Creating a beautiful, quality piece of yarn is a challenging job that takes skill, market understanding and specialized equipment. If you want to become a yarn manufacturer, you must learn these talents and consider the size and scope of the operation you plan to run. A yarn manufacturer can vary from a tabletop business to an industrial-size company and everything in between.
Materials are key if you want to become a yarn manufacturer. The fibers you choose will say a lot about the product you create. Purchasing high quality wool that is already dyed or dying the fibers yourself is one way to produce great wool yarn. There also are many varieties of acrylic yarn, silk yarn, cotton yarn and linen yarn that use a blend of traditional materials and some modern polymers. These are less expensive but might not be as valued by some knitters.
Value is an important detail to remember when you become a yarn manufacturer. Reading industry journals and making contacts within stores and with distributors will help you stay on top of the market and know what is selling. This helps you run a smart business and avoid having a surplus of unwanted stock.
You also must choose what size of operation you want to run before you become a yarn manufacturer. A good place to start is with a drop spindle. This simple tool fits on your lap and allows you to make yarn by hand. If you have never produced yarn, this is a great tool to learn how fibers are woven together properly. If you already understand how yarn is made, this small tool can help keep expenses down, because drop spindles are inexpensive. The trade-off is that you will not be able to produce very much yarn.
If your goals for when you become a yarn manufacturer are a little bigger than drop spindles can provide, you will need to make some serious investments. Being a large-scale yarn manufacturer requires equipment such as a spinning frame, a tape condenser, a feed box and other items. These are all very large and expensive, and you will need a number of employees to operate this equipment. This setup will allow you to produce large quantities of yarn and then sell your wares to many places.
