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 CASHMERE YARN PRODUCERS FINDING NEW TOOLS
TO CUT TIME AND COSTS OF SAMPLE MAKING
North West U.K. – In a region where textile manufacturing goes back two and a half centuries, long-standing traditions are beginning to incorporate new and better sampling technologies.
Faced with rising production costs, high-value yarn suppliers are seeking new ways to compete. These include reducing their costs, shrinking supply cycle time and making sure their yarns and fabrics meet their customers' quality expectations.
To help yarn spinners reach those goals, SDL Atlas offers the Quickspin System. The Quickspin System incorporates the Suessen MDTA Fiber Opener with the Rieter R20 rotor spinning unit. The superior blending capabilities of the MDTA and the high speed flexibility of the Rieter unit make the Quickspin System ideal for production of samples of cashmere yarn requiring color blending and the matching of dyed fibers.
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A Typical blend layout before processing on MDTA
(SDL Atlas File Photo)
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Survival in the dynamic fashion and apparel industry demands the production of subtle, intimate and varied blends of quality yarn, fast. Quality is particularly important for cashmere buyers at every stage in the supply chain. In this market it is essential that all production yarns are the exact shade the designer is seeking and that the yarns maintain that shade throughout processing.
The dyer and spinner need a quick, reliable, cost effective system for producing samples of blended yarns. Traditional methods of sample production tend to be slow, expensive, and labor intensive and to interfere with production. Samples of dyed yarns have been blended, carded, spun and knitted on production machinery.
To produce a sample, approximately 1 kilo of fiber is needed (at about 100 Euros per undyed kilo). But cost is only one factor. Production of a single sample typically takes several hours. Often as many as 10 attempts are required before arriving at the desired shade. With perhaps hundreds of samples in preparation at any given time, a modern spinning operator needs a modern high speed sample preparation system.
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The same blend processed into sliver after two passages
through MDTA (SDL Atlas File Photo)
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The SDL Atlas Quickspin System offers a dramatically simpler approach to producing and testing samples. Quickspin uses a much smaller amount of fiber – between 5 and 7 grams. Time needed to produce a sample of blended yarn is about 5 minutes for two blended fibers.
Additionally, when linked to the optional QuickKnit unit a knitted sample can be prepared in less than 10 minutes – without the use of any production machinery.
The well known cashmere yarn supplier R. Gledhills Ltd., based in Oldham, UK, has used both ring and mule spinning processes. When introduced to the SDL Atlas Quickspin System Gledhills officials expressed concern as to how Quickspin yarn would compare with ring and mule spun samples. Their concerns were more than answered. Gledhills learned that, while there are slight differences in yarn appearance between the two systems, production lots of ring and mule spun yarns will replicate the shade of Quickspin sample yarns.
According to Gledhills officials, the Quickspin system has completely revolutionized their sample production. The new technology has significantly cut sample preparation costs and enabled them to conduct product testing and development on a much larger scale.
The Quickspin System is now in use by Cashmere Processors across the world - most particularly in the UK, China, Inner Mongolia, Italy, South America and Japan.
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The same sliver being processed into 200 meters of yarn suitable for
knitting into a sample fabric for blend evaluation (SDL Atlas File Photo)
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