From the Sector

Wülfing GmbH is one of the oldest but also one of the most modern home textiles companies in Germany, with its main weaving and finishing operations located in Borken, North Rhine-Westphalia, and a further jacquard weaving mill in Steinfurt, as well as with a making up and packaging plant in the Czech Republic.

At its Borken plant, Wülfing has employed a Monforts sanforizing line since 2009 to guarantee the required dimensional stability and shrink-fastness of its high quality bed linen. With a working width of over three metres, the sanforizing process is a central pillar in the production of typical wide-width cotton fabrics for home textiles.

In 2017, the company was able to acquire a second Monforts sanforizing line from another company which, although built in 2005, had been virtually unused. It was overhauled and installed behind a Monforts equalizing frame of a similar age.

“Unfortunately, the two machines had to be operated separately via individual controls and did not represent an integrated unit,” says Schulte-Mesum. “This resulted in deficits in the desired productivity and in the control technology.”

Wülfing consulted with Monforts on a number of upgrade options and opted for a completely new joint control system to merge the two machines, as well as a new connecting inlet, a tensioning and damping field and a steaming unit.

“Monforts provided a fast and precise erection and commissioning of the technology in spite of the difficult pandemic circumstances,” says Schulte-Mesum. “The result has been an increase in production speeds by 20% and enhanced uniformity in fabric width through a much improved guidance system.

“We are also achieving energy savings as a result of the new control and drive technology and operation has been simplified and improved as a result of the unified control. We benefit from simplified access for maintenance work such as the grinding of the rubber blanket, but most of all we have greatly improved our flexibility and now have two almost identical Monforts sanforizing lines.”

Archroma announced that the soon-to-be 5’760 color references of its Color Atlas library are made available within its ‘Datacolor TOOLS’ platform, an easy-to-use color quality control application for industries where color accuracy is a critical component of overall product quality.

Datacolor® provides color management solutions that empower customers to make objective, cost-effective and smart color decisions, in applications such as textile & apparel, paint & coatings, plastics, photography, design and many others. The perfect integration of its instruments and software help formulate, measure, control and communicate color, and its state-of-the-art algorithms reproduce color on materials and displays.

The Color Atlas was launched in 2016 to provide fashion designers and stylists with off-the-shelf color inspiration that can be implemented in production with just a few clicks.

Today, the Color Atlas contains 4’320 colors applicable on cotton poplin, almost the double compared to similar tools available to textile and fashion specialists. Technical support is available to designer, manufacturers, as well as brands and retailers, through Archroma’s global offices - for every single color from its selection to its implementation in production. Engineered color standards empowered by NFC technology are also available for all colors and reproducible in production.
Archroma also just launched a similar tool with 1,440 colors on polyester. Both libraries will be available in the ‘Datacolor TOOLS’ platform for color searching.

Each color from the Color Atlas by Archroma® is available for purchase from Archroma as an ‘Engineered Color Standard’, precise digital data and access to global dyeing technical support.

With that, the brands, designers and mills using the ‘Datacolor TOOLS’ platform will have at their disposal the ability to search the 5’760 colors of the Color Atlas by Archroma®, to quickly find colors for their seasonal color palettes.

• A library of 1’440 off-the-shelf color standards, adding to the already available 4’320 colors of the ‘Color Atlas’ for cotton
• Online and physical library of colors allowing increased speed-to market for sportswear and fashion designers, brands, retailers and manufacturers.

Archroma announced the launch of its new Color Atlas by Archroma® Polyester Library, with 1’440 colors for sportswear, athleisure, swimwear, children's clothing, shoes, fashion and home textiles.

This original Color Atlas Cotton Library contains 4’320 colors, almost double compared to similar tools available to textile and fashion specialists, with options for purer ingredients and lighter resource usage for brands exploring more sustainable collections.

The new Color Atlas by Archroma® Polyester Library brings together colors in line with current trends, from the most neutral tones to the most vivid hues to fluorescent colors.