Heather filament yarns and fabrics, and methods for producing the same

Abstract

A heather filament yarn includes first pre-colored filaments comprising first polyester filaments dyed with a first cationic dyestuff, and second pre-colored filaments comprising second polyester filaments dyed with a second cationic dyestuff. A knitted heather fabric includes a plurality of the heather filament yarns knitted together to form the knitted heather fabric. The first and/or second pre-colored filaments may have contrasting colors. A method of manufacturing a heather filament yarn includes preparing a plurality of first pre-colored filaments by dyeing first uncolored filaments using a first cationic dyestuff, preparing a plurality of second pre-colored filaments by separately dyeing second uncolored filaments using a second cationic dyestuff, and twisting the first and second pre-colored filaments together to form the heather filament yarn. The heather filament yarns may then be knitted together to form a heather fabric.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.