Löffler adds Svegea cutters to its main Austrian site
Machinery manufacturer Svegea, a cutting systems specialist from Sweden, has placed a fully automated EC300-S collarette cutter and FA350 roll-slitting machine in the hands of workers at Austrian sportswear brand Löffler’s knitwear factory in Ried im Innkreis.
Löffler, which celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year and still makes most of its fabrics at the Ried site, is today best known for its cycling, Nordic combined, running, ski touring and Alpine sports gear.
The factory has an annual output of roughly 905,000 square-metres of knit fabrics. All of its manufacturing takes place in Europe. “Due to steadily increasing sales, we have been forced to [outsource some work to] local partners within Europe,” explained plant manager Arnold Bowier (pictured), “but our core activities and 70% of all fabrics produced come from the Ried plant."
Svegea's digitally operated EC300-S system has been specially tailored to the needs of tubular apparel component producers engaged in the manufacture of waistbands, cuff and neck tapes and other seam reinforcements. It handles cutting bands up to 200 millimetres in width. The FA350 cutter, meanwhile, slits all kinds of fabric on the roll and can adapt to as many as three pre-set cut widths during any one cycle.
The brand notably took home an ISPO award for the latest addition to its double-layer, heat-regulating Transtex baselayer line-up back in December.
Available in long-sleeve top and legging styles for women and men alike beginning autumn 2023, the knitting technique responsible for Löffler's new textile technology, called Retr'x, combines 68% recycled polypropylene from scrap fabric with 32% partly recycled Recot2 cotton in a way that allows the synthetic fibre to transfer moisture away from the skin via the material’s natural face fibres. Recot2 yarn, spun by Germany-based Gebrüder Otto, is itself composed of 75% GOTS-approved organic cotton and 25% recycled cotton.
Mr Bowier with the FA350 roll slitter. Credit: Löffler.
