Weft-insertion deftness
A long-standing partnership between fabric manufacturer Chargeurs PCC and textile machinery developer Karl Mayer has delivered a weft-insertion innovation that, in turn, has brought about the lightest three-layer fabric on the market.
Interlining specialist Chargeurs PCC insists that the H2 stretch fabric it introduced at the end of last year is the lightest three-layer membrane material on the market, weighing only 45 grammes per square-metre. Developed in-house at the group’s Lainière de Picardie production site in Péronne, in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France, the bonded waterproof, breathable material has a warp-knit, weft-insertion construction. It can also come without a membrane for two-layer options. “We are not the only ones who can combine warp-knit and weft-insertion,” says Chargeurs PCC chief executive, Gianluca Tanzi, “but we are one of only a few in the world, and we are making around 25 million metres of it per year.”
He quickly pays tribute to a technology partner that continues to help make this possible: textile machinery group Karl Meyer. The usual way to use the technology is to produce warp-knit fabric without the weft. Together, the companies have developed a technique for inserting weft fibres into warp-knit constructions.
Long-term partners
Technology from Karl Mayer has been in use at the Lainière de Picardie site since the 1970s. The two companies have worked in close partnership. Technicians from both have co-developed a range of innovations, often working side by side in the Péronne factory. Input from the Chargeurs PCC factory floor has helped Karl Mayer offer improved efficiency and quality to customers all over the world, while particular projects, such as the weft-insertion idea have also come out of this joint-working.
For weft-insertion, the fabric manufacturer uses models from the German company’s HKS and RSP warp-knitting machine ranges, in configurations of up to 40-gauge. Mr Tanzi’s calculation is that there may only be 400 looms in the world on which skilled craftspeople can work the magic required to make a product like H2. Chargeurs PCC owns 200 of them and, of these, 100 are in France. Their main use, until now, has been in the production of interlining materials for haute-couture customers. Now they are making H2 as well, with cycling and running apparel companies among those expressing keen interest in using the lightweight, breathable material in their sports clothing collections.
The result of the work that the technical partners have done on weft insertion is a highly breathable fabric with a nap. “You need to have the nap,” Gianluca Tanzi explains. “This way you can create features that are not achievable with a normal, closed, woven fabric. And sports brands are looking for this because the nap provides a 3D effect, with a little bit of distance between the body and the surface of the material. You can make a fabric that is extremely breathable. This helps to manage moisture, which, of course, helps make the wearer of the garment more comfortable.”
He insists that the company has a high level of freedom to adapt the weft, and that many options are possible. “It can be polyester, but we are also working on using washable wool to help improve the thermal properties of finished garments,” he continues. “We think options using cotton and even cashmere and silk in the weft will also be possible, as will different thicknesses and different kinds of weave, including piqué. We are a creative company.”
Questions and answers
In the current climate, any mention of membranes can spark fears that per- and polyfluoroalkyl- compounds (PFCs) might be involved. The Chargeurs PCC chief executive has no concerns about fielding enquiries from customers about this. “There are lots of chemicals that we don’t use and don’t want to use,” he explains. “Customers have access to our restricted substances list and they know how strict it is. It is stricter than the European Union’s REACH regulation.”
On the question of lightness, Mr Tanzi confirms that 45 grammes per square-metre is the weight of the three-layer version. Without the membrane layer, H2 weighs 25 grammes per square-metre. He talks about lightness as being part of the company’s DNA; it is a characteristic that is fundamental to interlining materials, after all. He accepts, however, that there are trade-offs: thickness must have a bearing on a fabric’s tensile strength. “For me, this is probably close to the limit,” he explains. “To go even lower than this in weight would make it difficult to have a product that you could use in sports.”
At a price
None of this is easy, he points out. Using some of the fibres Chargeurs PCC is able to offer for the weft insertion, and manufacturing the fabric in Europe means H2 has to come at a certain price point. Nevertheless, he says he is sure the properties of H2, including its lightness and stretchability, will make it appealing to brands that want to offer high-end sports clothing to their customers.
The market often seems to put more importance on price than on anything else. This is something Mr Tanzi accepts. “You cannot resolve that,” he says. “If price is the main concern of a brand, it will show in its sourcing strategy. It will find ways to squeeze suppliers.” Often, this pressure on suppliers can lead to compromises on quality, sustainability or even worker safety. H2 may not be a product for everyone, but the manufacturer is confident that there are brands that are looking for “something special, something different” for which they will pay a higher price.
“But it’s not such a high price,” Mr Tanzi insists. “Even if you add a few euro to the price per metre, you have to bear in mind that you can make a high-quality, lightweight cycling jacket with only two metres of fabric. Usually, clothing brands are very good at passing any extra cost for the material on to the consumer by adding it to the price of the finished garment. They can more than make up for the extra cost of the fabric. Even then, it is not going to cost thousands of euro more for the jacket.”
Brands know this, he says. In the context of asking, perhaps, €15,000 each for bikes themselves, it seems perfectly acceptable to ask cycling enthusiasts to pay “a little bit more, not a fortune” for garments that will meet their needs especially well when they hit the road.
The Lainière de Picardie production site in Péronne in northern France has added fabric innovation and flexibility with weft-insertion technology.
ALL CREDITS: Chargeurs PCC
