Below is a short clip of Bonfanti’s Omita shuttle loom which are nearly 50 years old.
Keep in mind many looms these days are shuttleless which are designed for much faster production (and hence lower cost).
Below is a short clip of Bonfanti’s Omita shuttle loom which are nearly 50 years old.
Keep in mind many looms these days are shuttleless which are designed for much faster production (and hence lower cost).
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used to work on these kind of machines when I was a school boy. Huge factory.
What are the advantages of cotton spun on these vintage machines versus that produced on an industrial scale?
Kamil
That's an excellent question Kamil and I have been endeavoring these last couple of weeks to pin down the precise reason.
However, it seems the answer is not very clear. I actually had a discussion with a textiles expert on the difference between older shuttle looms and more modern shuttleless looms. In theory, shuttleless looms should be able to produce equivalent performing fabrics to those produced by a shuttle loom (or even higher quality).
What I do know is that the hand of the Bonfanti shirtings produced by their shuttle looms is markedly and decisively superior to their regular shirtings.
It may be that Bonfanti is simply feeding higher quality cotton yarns into their older, shuttle looms and applying additional finishing to the resulting shirtings. If so, the superior aesthetics achieved are largely due to longer staple, higher quality cotton and more expensive finishing rather than the weaving equipment itself.