Tecnopea’s Seamless ‘Revolution’ at the Forefront

Fabrizio Paleologo has been working in robotic sewing, finishing systems and with automatic boarding and packaging machines for over 30 years. As he explains, ‘Tecnopea, a company part of the Lonati Group, started its production of boarding machines for socks over 30 years ago. Since then, [we] have extended [our] range of products to the pantyhose and Seamless fields; also covering the packaging area. [Tecnopea’s] goal is to offer simple and reliable products to increase the efficiency and reduce the production cost with the right flexibility to follow a continuous market change,’ briefs us Mr. Paleologo. With time, Tecnopea — like the advanced Santoni technology — continuously looks at manufacturers’ needs in order to offer simple and reliable solutions. For instance, demand and expectations for seamless manufacturing by industry and end-consumers are rising, the urge to diminish material waste, and more. Mr. Paleologo details one example of these issues since, ‘energy saving and low maintenance are now playing a big role in investment decisions. [Our] continuous research on the latest technologies, the advanced use of electronics and servomotors, allows us to reduce the use of mechanical and pneumatic components, developing machinery easier to handle and cheaper in operating costs [as a result].’ Though these steps take time, they’re already in motion. Here is how.

In order to stay present, Tecnopea’s latest system ‘Revolution’, a Seamless Heat Setting operation, has proven to take fibers in seamless textile to the next level — especially synthetic fibers. ‘Revolution’ provides a solution for these as this is the area where the size settings and the yarn treatment have high standard requests when it comes to sport or technical garments. This high-tech system can also enhance natural fibers with steam treatment to improve their stability and softness. However, ‘Revolution’ was designed to facilitate synthetic fibers best. Their revamped system ensures wrinkle-free multi-sized textiles that also has the abilities to control other undesired properties like: yellowing, stiffness, wear & tear, shades and side lines. With chances at these imperfections lowered, end consumers can rest assured their garments will last and preserve level of quality over a long period of time. Designed for seamless material finalization, this machine possesses a range of new improvements compared to the previous model that include: wider and higher boarding frames, a redesigned hot tunnel with new electric heaters that entirely cover the internal walls, temperature control in 3 areas and more. The mission of ‘Revolution’ is to, ‘pass the fabric through a heating zone for a time and at a temperature that resets the thermoplastic fiber’s morphology memory’. When reverting the fibers back to their raw characteristics once in a blended material, and then applying heat, it results in a dimensionally balanced fabric that doesn’t distort or lose its original shape. This also means that when these fabrics are in the consumer’s hands for machine washing; the color, texture and look will not fade or diminish in quality.

Essentially, heat setting ensures that fibers in the final material, retain their shape and resist creasing while promoting resilience and maintaining elasticity. This is a crucial process specifically for synthetic fibers such as Polyester (PES), Polyamide (PA), and other elastomers. Synthetic fibers also require a heat-setting process to prepare the garment for dyeing and avoid wrinkles and shades. Our ‘Revolution’ model has been developed specifically to solve these problems and simplify the Seamless production, reducing the number of cylinder diameters required to obtain the different sizes.’

For instance, Tecnopea’s ‘Revolution’ treatment in collaboration with Santoni’s Yarn and Machine Up product development process, avoids excess material waste and excess energy consumption. How? By heat-treating materials according to their fiber constitution and creating a prototype — only when its performance and purpose direction has been established. Both systems provide efficient solutions that deliver innovative quality products that serve their purpose how they should while lasting.

‘It's now estimated that 35-40% of all apparel in developed markets may contain some elastane in filament form,’ implying that correct heat treatment is necessary if we want end consumers to have lasting garments and fabric that isn’t so quickly disposed of (Mr.Fabrizio). Mr. Paleologo wraps up by stating that, ‘Tecnopea believes the direction to follow is to produce high efficiency machines requiring low labor assistance in terms of operativity and technical handling.’ Ultimately, streamlining proper synthetic fiber treatment for seamless textile in the near future.