A friend who read yesterday's post wrote me to ask if I met other Japanese yarn manufacturers at the Pitti Filati or if I knew about any manufacturers producing lamé yarns.
The answer to both the questions is yes, in fact I actually met a Japanese manufacturer that produces innovative lamé-based yarns, so I guess this post is dedicated to all those knitwear students and designers looking to add some sparkling notes to their creations.
Originally based in Kyoto, Reiko first started producing silver and gold yarns for traditional textiles such as Nishijin brocade. As the decades passed, the company developed specialising in the production of lamé-based yarns, the results of its experiments with thin-film processing technology.
The Reiko yarns in the "Lamé Session" line are mainly nylon-based and this guarantees a soft texture, nicer than your average polyester metallic yarns. The exceptional dyeability of these yarns - all patented by Reiko - produces rich colour variations.
Reiko's formalin-free lamé yarn also received Product Class I certification under the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 (one of the strictest safety standards in the world), does not even have the odour normally associated with metallic yarns and is considered as exceptionally safe for babies and toddlers.
Among the most innovative yarns for the Spring/Summer 2013 season there is the "Alpure" yarn, a nylon lamé twisted wuth Pure Bright A.H.Y. from Mitsubishi Rayon Textile Co. The most brilliant yarn produced by Reiko remains instead the "Mizar", cotton cylindrically covered with nylon lamé.
My favourite yarn produced by Reiko remains instead the "Kaitos", a very delicate, subtly shiny (the metal fibre is located in the centre of the yarn) and soft polyester lamé, the world's first non-twisted metallic yarn.
Resistent to pilling and with considerable fewer knots, this yarn is very smooth and therefore ideal for applications in the knitting and weaving processes.
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