Definition
Shoddy is a secondary raw material obtained through a mechanical recycling process in which used textiles, production waste, or rags are broken down by machine tearing or shredding. The source materials are processed in garnetting or tearing machines, yielding a fiber blend whose length, fineness, and composition depend on the original material. Because the fibers are shortened and mechanically stressed during the tearing process, shoddy typically exhibits lower fiber length and reduced tensile strength compared to virgin fibers.
Use in the textile industry
Shoddy is used primarily in the production of wiping yarns, insulation materials, and filling materials, and as a blended fiber in yarns for workwear and protective textiles. Due to its heterogeneous composition and shortened fiber length, it is particularly suited for applications where high uniformity or tensile strength is not required. Shoddy is also used in nonwoven production, for example as a low-cost filling component in technical textiles or mattress materials.
Learn textile knowledge in context
You have just looked up a single technical term. In textil trainer, you learn how textile materials, processes, and contexts are connected.
The free learning platform teaches textile fundamentals step by step in interactive online courses. Each online course includes its own glossary with the most important terms of the respective topic. Across all courses, more than 600 textile terms with narrated explanations are available.
textil trainer is developed together with the Chair of Textile Technologies at Chemnitz University of Technology, chemmedia AG, and companies and educational institutions from the textile sector.