Polyester multifilament yarn

A method of preparing a polyester multifilament yarn, which comprises the steps of:

• (A) melt-spinning a solid-phase polymerized polyester chip, composed of 90 mol % or more of ethylene terephthalate units as the recurring unit and having an intrinsic viscosity of 1.05 to 1.13, through a spinneret at a temperature ranging from 290 to 298° C. to form a molten spun yarn,
• (B) rapid-cooling and solidifying the spun yarn by passing it through a solidification zone,
• (C) withdrawing the solidified yarn at such a rate that an undrawn yarn having a birefringence of 0.06 to 0.09 and a density of 1.360 to 1.375 is formed, and
• (D) hot-drawing the yarn to a total draw ratio of 1.5 to 2.5;
• so as for said yarn to have (1) a unit filament thickness of 2.5 to 3.5 denier, (2) an intrinsic viscosity of 0.94 to 1.00, (3) a DEG(diethylene glycol) content of 0.65 to 0.9 weight %, (4) a CEG(carboxyl end group) content of 23 eq./106 g or less, (5) a tenacity of 7.5 to 8.5 g/d, (6) an elongation of 13.0 to 16.0%, (7) a shrinkage of 4.0 to 7.0%, and (8) a silk factor (tenacity(g/d)×{square root over (e)}longation at break) of at least 27.