What we do in-house

Our processes

1. Photo: TFO twisting machinesfactory-tfo-twisting · 4:3

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   TFO twisting

   TFO (two-for-one) machines put twist into filament yarn. More twist, measured as TPM, gives the crisp, grainy feel of georgette and crepe-style cloth. Because the TFOs are ours, we set and check the twist ourselves.

2. Photo: Winding machine with conesfactory-winding · 4:3

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   Winding

   Yarn is rewound from supplier packages onto cones that suit our warping and weft. This is also where weak spots and bad knots are taken out before they reach the loom.

3. Photo: Warping beam being woundfactory-warping-beam · 4:3

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   Warping

   Hundreds of warp ends are wound side by side onto a beam. Even tension across the beam keeps the cloth flat and the selvedge straight.

4. Photo: Pirn windingfactory-pirn-winding · 4:3

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   Pirn winding

   Weft yarn is wound onto pirns, the small bobbins that sit inside the shuttle. A well-wound pirn unwinds smoothly, which means fewer weft breaks and fewer marks in the cloth.

5. Photo: Beam gaiting on the loomfactory-beam-gaiting · 4:3

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   Beam gaiting

   Gaiting is fitting a new warp beam on the loom and joining or drawing the ends through the healds and reed. Careful gaiting means the loom starts clean and the construction is as specified.

6. Photo: Shuttle loom, close-up of shuttle and clothfactory-shuttle-loom-closeup · 4:3

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   Shuttle weaving

   On our 24 shuttle looms the weft is carried across in a shuttle, so every pick turns back at the edge. This gives a closed, firm selvedge with no loose fringe.

7. Photo: Cloth on the checking tablefactory-checking-table · 4:3

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   Checking and folding

   Cloth is checked at the loom and again on the checking table. It is then folded into taka, and defects are noted for each taka.