Process for Utilizing Off-Color Filament Yarns

A process for utilizing wound packages of off-color filament yarn, comprising:

• a) obtaining a plurality of wound packages of off-color filament yarn,
• wherein the wound packages that contain off-color filament are:
• i) wound packages of filament containing filament having linear lengths with pigment and linear lengths without pigment,
• ii) wound packages of filament containing filament having an amount of pigment outside desired pigment amount limits,
• iii) wound packages of filament containing filament having a linear length of one pigment and another linear length of a differing pigment,
• iv) wound packages of filament containing filament having a mixture of different pigments, and each of those individual pigments are present in varying amounts linearly along the filament, or
• v) any combination of i) to iv) thereof;
• b) classifying the plurality of wound packages, based on a pigment in the filament, into sets of wound packages;
• c) converting a first set of wound packages into first staple fibers;
• d) converting a second set of wound packages into second staple fibers;
• e) mixing the first and second staple fibers of c) and d) to form an off-color intimate blend of staple fibers;
• wherein at least 55 weight percent of the staple fibers in the intimate blend of off-color staple fibers is first staple fibers, based on the total weight of off-color staple fibers in the intimate blend of off-color staple fibers.