Our Process
Our Fabric Production Process
Turning raw yarn into finished fabric takes more steps than most people outside the industry realise, and at Hayleys Fabric PLC, each one is treated as its own discipline rather than a box to check on the way to the next. The process starts with sourcing the right raw materials and ends only once a fabric has passed rigorous quality control, with colour formulation, knitting, dyeing, printing and finishing in between, each stage shaped by specific machinery, technical standards, and a quality check built into the workflow rather than bolted on at the end.
Explore each stage below to see the technology and process behind the fabric we manufacture.
01. Raw Material
Every fabric starts with a decision about materials, and we make that decision carefully. We source raw materials from suppliers certified for strong social and environmental management practices, with a stringent focus on global compliance standards and matching the right raw material quality to what each customer actually needs.
Yarn, our main raw material, is sourced regionally, while dyes and chemicals come from both regional and European suppliers. Every raw material is thoroughly inspected against our compliance and quality standards before it enters production, since a fabric is only as good as what goes into it.
02. Colour Laboratory
Getting colour right, and keeping it consistent, starts in our colour laboratory. It’s equipped with the latest Datacolor colour management system, which we use to formulate dye recipes with precision rather than trial and error.
We capture spectral readings for every lab-dip to keep DELTA values within specified limits, and lab-dips are continually evaluated to hit the highest quality standard at the lowest achievable cost.
03. Knitting
Knitting is where thread or yarn is transformed into semi-finished fabric, known in the industry as ‘greige.’ We produce weft-knit fabric on Orizio, Santec, Fukuhara and Mayer knitting machines, capable of Single Jersey, Double Jersey (also called Interlock), and Rib fabrics, alongside a dedicated Flat Knit section that produces bands and collars.
Our mill can knit a genuine variety of designs and structures, including Pique, Waffle, slub yarn designs, metallic yarn designs, and inlay (loopback) constructions. Every piece of greige is checked online for defects as it’s manufactured in the Knitting department, then re-inspected by our quality assurance team, so only fabric of the right quality moves on to the next process.
04. Dyeing
Dyeing is where colour brings the knitted fabric to life. We dye both pure and blended cottons, as well as polyester fabric, using Sclavos, Thies and Fongs dyeing machines in our dye-house. Dye-house operations are controlled through Sedo and OrgaTEX systems, while an automated chemical dispensing system ensures the exact same colour can be achieved and repeated, order after order.
05. Printing
Textile printing applies colour to fabric in sharply defined patterns and designs, and precision at every step is what keeps a design looking the same on roll 500 as it did on roll 1. Our CAD division runs the latest CAD/CAM software from AVA, while our screen engraving and preparation divisions use laser engraving technology for accuracy and consistency.
Our eight-colour rotary screen printing machines handle full-coverage prints, vertical stripes, tight-registration work and intricate designs across cotton, cotton-blends, polyester, polyester-blends and viscose fabrics, including pigment printing.
06. Brushing
Brushing, also known as raising or napping, gives fabric a soft, slightly weathered, broken-in feel. We create that fuzzy surface by abrading the cloth and pulling the fibre ends up, a mechanical process rather than a chemical one, which is part of why the effect feels so natural against the skin.
07. Sueding
Sueding gives fabric a soft, smooth handfeel while also changing its appearance, and can be applied to one side of the fabric or both, depending on what the end use calls for.
08. Shearing
Shearing is a dry, permanent finishing process that creates a uniform surface on napped or pile fabrics. This cutting operation controls the height of the fibre, trimming away any strands that were raised irregularly during the napping process.
The result looks and feels close to velvet: a soft handfeel with a genuinely even surface, the kind of finish that’s difficult to achieve without this specific mechanical step.
09. Combing
Combing further refines the fabric surface after brushing and shearing, straightening and aligning fibre ends to remove the loose, uneven strands that raising can leave behind. The result is a cleaner, more uniform surface with a smoother handfeel, an important step for fabrics where a refined, consistent finish matters as much as softness.
10. Finishing
Finishing is the step that turns fabric into something genuinely usable, refining its look, performance and handfeel. It’s the final stage of manufacturing, and the one that determines whether the finished product actually matches what the customer specified.
Our finishing machinery, from Babcock, Santex, Sperotto Rimar and Tong Yang, includes automatic in-built controls that keep physical measurements precise across every metre of fabric we produce, with every piece inspected online at this stage to confirm those measurements hold.
Our finishing capabilities go beyond basic handfeel, covering moisture management, water repellency, UV protection, and anti-microbial treatment. Only fabric that clears this stage moves on to Quality Assurance.
11. Final Inspection / Quality Control
Consistent quality isn’t something we claim, it’s something we check for, fabric by fabric. Every piece undergoes 100% final inspection for visual defects, colour inconsistencies, and the physical properties specified for that order, so only fabric of the right quality reaches our customers.
Our Quality Policy is communicated and understood at every level of the organisation, not confined to the quality assurance team alone.
12. Process Control
Behind the physical production process sits a layer of digital coordination. We run SAP-ERP to integrate business functions across Sales & Marketing, Procurement, Warehousing, Production, Finance and Controlling, so decisions in one department are visible to the others rather than made in isolation.
For production planning specifically, we use FastReact, a tool built for the textile and fashion industry, which sharpens coordination between Sales & Marketing, Procurement and Production and keeps operational efficiency high even as order complexity grows.