Cotton Networks, Virtual Knitting and Yarn Customisation (Filmar + Filarc + Filaticolor)

For 50 years, Italian company Filmar has been manufacturing and marketing fine 100% Egyptian cotton yarn. At the latest Pitti Filati the company launched a new collaboration, a networking partnership with Filarc and Filaticolor to promote creativity and high quality.

Filarc is a relatively new company offering two lines, “Superior” (Haute Couture yarns) and “Basic” (young yarns to create trendy and functional garments); Filaticolor focuses instead on designing cotton-based yarns blended with an extraordinary mix of materials including silk, bamboo, coolmax, viscose and microviscose, micromodal, corn fiber, wood fiber, cashmere, wool, rabbit fur, angora, alpaca, seacell, steel and silver.

Bringing together different types of expertise, the network aims at consolidating the companies' position on an international level while guaranteeing to clients an extraordinary wide choice of cotton-based yarns.

Yet there are more exciting news for all the fans of technologically advanced discoveries linked with the fashion industry: Filmar's Cotton Store yarns were digitalised in their structures, colours and tones by Shima Seiki and can now be virtually knitted thanks to an innovative system devised by this Japanese company famous for its computerised knitting machines.

The SDS-ONE system allows indeed to make a prototype using elaborate compositions, patterns and stitches, offering a level of accuracy never achieved before in virtual knitting and saving in this way time, money and yarn.

Rather than loading a yarn on a machine and weave various samples resetting the machine every time, Shima Seiki's new system allows samples to be displayed on a computer in a short time. Designers will be able to test the final effects and patterns using all the yarns and colours available.

All the yarns ready to be used in the SDS-ONE system (also the ones from the "Zero" line – that is zero pilling cotton yarns in 68 colours) are available on a USB key (request it here). Shima Seiki opted for the Cotton Store line for its constantly updated colour palette and quality.

A file note for knitwear designers looking for cotton yarns: Filmar also allows you to create and customise your own yarn, spinning a blend from a selection of 264 Cotton Store colours, in 3, 4, 7, 9 and 12 threads.

This means you will be able to create a unique yarn in infinite multi-tonal nuances, mix and spin it with polyester, polyamide, steel and silver threads and have it delivered in 12 days (this service is also available for small sample quantities). Now, that's what I call customisation!

For further information on Shima Seiki's SDS-ONE system and Filmar, please check out also the following video.