TECHNOLOGY CORNER
R95002, THE EXCELLENCE IN WOOL & WORSTED FABRICS WEAVING
Wool is the protagonist of numerous fabrics thanks to its natural intrinsic properties and it can be woven along with a wide range of yarns and with endless fabric constructions. Handling superfine or coarse wool, cashmere and other sophisticated yarns is not for every loom but the Itema rapier R95002 excels thanks to its versatile and user-friendly attitude. Discover more here.
Suits, jackets and coatings, furnishings, scarves, fashion women dresses, loden, tartan and tweed fabrics. Wool is the protagonist of numerous fabrics thanks to its natural intrinsic properties: breathable – and therefore very comfortable to wear – warm in winter and refreshing in summer, flame retardant and hence perfect for home furnishing.
Wool yarns enable endless fabric constructions, allowing designers and stylists to constantly create innovative wool-based fashion products, recently made even more fascinating thanks to the mix of different yarns, including luxurious varieties of wool yarns, silk, cashmere, merino and vicuña, to name just a few.
Weaving is a crucial process when it comes to producing these sophisticated fabrics and fundamental characteristic of the weaving machine that has the onerous task to treat at best these precious fibers is to be delicate in handling the yarns but at the same time precise, effective and easy to use.
Itema is traditionally leading the high-end woven wool fabrics production with its rapier weaving machines. The Italian company leverages the expertise and know-how gained over the years by closely cooperating with some of the most renowned wool and cashmere weavers based in Biella, Piemonte Region of Italy, one of the cradles of the European woolen fabrics production. We can, in fact, rely on long-standing partnerships with Companies such as Loro Piana, Lanificio Zignone, Lanificio Drago, Lanificio Angelico and many others.
Since market launch in 2012, the Itema rapier R9500 gathered weavers’ favor and with the recent launch of its Second Generation, the R95002, Itema further consolidated its technological leadership in wool weaving thanks to the outstanding machine ability to perfectly couple textile versatility with machine’s performances and user-friendliness.
Main R95002 Technical Highlights to Excel in Wool Weaving are:
VERSATILITY
- The FPA – Free Positive Approach – Weft Transfer combines the versatility of a positive rapier system with higher performances and efficiency, enabling to weave with endless creative possibilities even the most sophisticated fabrics, which require delicate and special yarns such as cashmere, silk, from finest to coarsest woolen yarns, chenille, lurex and bouclé. Featuring a race board with no guiding elements in the shed, the FPA Weft Transfer ensures a gentle and effective treatment of the most delicate warp yarns. The FPA is the most suitable rapier system to weave highly complex styles, providing the textile versatility and precision of a positive system without sacrificing the performances ensured by the negative rapier insertion.
Moreover, fundamental advantage when weaving wool – which is a segment with collections made by numerous fabric styles but with short runs – the style change results as quicker and easier without hooks.
- The Itema back-rest roller enables to weave the widest range of wool yarns guaranteeing superior quality due to a precise and constant warp tension control during the whole beam cycle (from full to empty) thanks to a dedicated load cell positioned directly on the roller torsion bar with no interposed parts
- The Itema Electronic Weft Brake.
Programmable directly from the loom console, the Itema Electronic Weft Brake enables the individual setting of each weft insertion cycle brake force. Ideal in case of low tenacity weft yarns such as wool and linen, it also reduces the peak tension during the weft exchange. When weaving without tuck-in devices, the Itema Electronic Weft Brake improves the selvedge formation leading to a reduced weft waste on the right side.
TEXTILE MASTERY:
The Itema Unique Shed Geometry
Itema is worldwide famous for its rapier machine absolute leading position when it comes to providing superior fabric quality. The Itema unique shed geometry – featuring the smallest shed on the market – and our patented rapiers easily and efficiently weave the widest range of yarns and patterns ensuring first fabric quality. This is the reason why the Itema R95002 is the preferred choice of worldwide wool weavers and, in general, of all companies that need to weave sophisticated and complex fabrics.
The Itema Pneumatic Tuckers
Pneumatic tuckers are often preferred by wool weavers. When weaving wool, pneumatic tuckers are the first choice for several benefits:
- reduced device dimensions enabling a perfect fabric visibility and control
- no machine speed limitation
- reduced maintenance compared to mechanical tuckers and maximum user-friendliness
- easy adjustments and blowing time setting directly from the machine console
The Itema pneumatic tuckers are the best solution on the market when weaving without cutting fabric support. In fact, the Itema exclusive blowing system ensures a high selvedge quality without speed limitations and with simple and fast settings.
EASY TO USE:
Quick Style Change and Easy Control of the Machine Parameters
The R95002 has been designed to facilitate weavers’ life. Especially when it comes to weaving precious fashion fabrics, weavers often need to change the style since they are requested to weave many different fabrics but each one in limited quantity. Therefore, the ease-of-use of the weaving machine becomes a key factor and the R95002 provides a quick and effective style change thanks to a combination of characteristics that you can discover in the dedicated article here.
Furthermore, the latest generation touch-screen console provides the whole control of the main machine’s parameters, communicating with the weaver through an interactive, simple and self-explanatory user-interface.
Finally, pneumatic tuckers are often preferred by wool weavers. When weaving wool, pneumatic tuckers are the first choice for several benefits:
Hence, the Itema rapier R95002 is the ideal weaving machine for all the weavers looking for perfect fabric quality, maximum textile versatility and machine user-friendliness.