FIBRE PREPARATION

Dewooling

Process whereby wool is removed from sheepskins (nowadays originating chiefly in Australia), the skins being destined for the tannery. The complete skins are first washed in cold water and then the wool, destined for the textiles industry, is removed.  

Washing

Wool is cleaned and treated to remove all impurities on the fleece, whether organic (grease, lanolin), mineral or vegetable. Wool is thus treated whether it results from shearing or dewooling and in English the process is known as "scouring".

 

Combing (Carbonising)

 

Complete removal of all vegetable matter by mechanical or chemical means (wool is resistant to acid, whereas straw is not) and paralleling of the fibres resulting in "combed top" or "combed sliver". These combed slivers (long fibre) are then sent to mills for carding.  

Garneting

Garneting is a mechanical process that takes place in carding mills whereby short fibres are obtained from textile waste (new or recycled) and used to make "batting", or flock.

   

THE TEXTILES INDUSTRY

Nonwovens

Nonwovens consist of a manufactured sheet or web of fibres that have been friction-bonded, thermal-bonded or glued.

 

Carding

 

Manufacture of yarns from unordered fibres. The fibres are first formed into a homogeneous mat (preparation); next the tufts are opened out to produce strands which are then twisted and stretched (spinning) resulting in a yarn which can then be wound and spun together with other strands.

 

Worsted spinning

Manufacture of yarns from carded strands by repeated doubling and draw-twisting.

A yarn is characterised by its composition, the number of strands, its size (in textiles, the weight in grams of 10000m of yarn, ISO legal numbering system, or "metric counting", the number of metres of yarn to a kilo, a traditional way of sizing yarn that is still used, just as people still talk of ’old Francs’) and its twist (number of turns per metre, or per inch in English).

 

Weaving

 

Manufacture of pieces of cloth (50m long x 1.50m useful width, called ’overall width’, as a rule) by using looms to interlace two sets of threads, which are at right angles to each other and known as the ’warp’ (lengthways) and the ’weft’. A loom holds the warp threads parallel (warping) and the weft threads are then woven through them in such a way as to produce the chosen pattern (shuttle loom); any defects in the cloth can be mended manually afterwards.

 

Knitting

 

Using yarn to produce knitted articles of clothing (pullovers, footwear, underwear etc.).

Knitting machines can be used to produce knitted fabrics (which will then be cut and sewn), parts of items (which will then be assembled) or practically finished products (knitted as a whole, socks, tights etc.).

   

FINISHES

Dyeing

Dyeing can take place at any stage of production (raw fibre, strands, yarn, cloths, articles). Colour is obtained by penetrating the fibres with natural or synthetic dyes.

 

Printing

Printing consists of applying and fixing a collection of colours to a cloth, to a web of threads before weaving, or to fibres before spinning (procedure known in French as ’vigorous’).

 

Dressing

These processes prepare the material for its end use with a combination of mechanical and/or chemical treatments, including washing, beating, teasing, shearing, treating (water-proofing, fire-proofing etc.) so as to stabilise the particular end-qualities required with respect to comfort and use. You can find more information about textile functionalities in the "Technical Textiles"section.

   

DESIGN, PRODUCTION, FINISHING

Design

The design stage generally consists of two separate operations:

 Fashion design: the designer (also known as a ’styliste’ in French) produces a sketch or technical drawing of the item to be manufactured, taking into account the kind of material to be used as well as fashion trends.

 Model making: a two or three dimensional pattern is produced, from which the item imagined by the designer can be made.

 

 

Making

The term "confection", translated here as "making", covers all the processes involved in producing an item of clothing.

Embroidery

Different kinds of thread using a range of stitches, either sewn by hand or by machine, are applied to an item by way of decoration (a design, a logo, a slogan etc.) .