Japan November 2013…...
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Drinks + Karaoke today maybe G?
No. Today we go the Iron Heart Kojima branch and then scope out possible venues for the new Triple Works shop. After that we are going to Sarina's Dads screen printing factory to document that. There is even a rumour that Winchy and I will be allowed to do some screen printing…..
I was allowed to sew false plackets at the shirting factory yesterday.
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What yesterday made me understand is that what we vaguely think of as weaving and sewing is actually an exercise in engineering.
We went to 2 amazing "house factory" mills. The first had about 6 looms in it and was run by a husband and wife team, the second had about a dozen shuttle looms and was run by one guy. In both cases, Haraki uses these people, primarily because of the engineering skills of the people involved.
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What yesterday made me understand is that what we vaguely think of as weaving and sewing is actually an exercise in engineering.
We went to 2 amazing "house factory" mills. The first had about 6 looms in it and was run by a husband and wife team, the second had about a dozen shuttle looms and was run by one guy. In both cases, Haraki uses these people, primarily because of the engineering skills of the people involved.
wow,
that's one of the reasons why i love IH so much! -
And even in the shirt sewing factory, the owner spent most of our time with him enthusing over modifications he had made to the machinery. Some of you (Rocket) may remember the problem we had on the placket of the IHSH-80, I was proudly shown the reengineered false placket folder that was made as a result of my observation to Haraki….(Rockets well warranted bitch actually)....
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Some great stuff from G san in this thread.
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Thanks all. I've grabbed plenty more footage and will chop it down when I get the time, which will probably be on the flight home.
Great vid Matt, am excited to see more! But do try to get some rest on the journey home… you've no idea what a mess I've created since you've been gone...
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So on Thursday, we visited a couple of House Factories which weave some of our denim. These are tiny places, one was a husband and wife team, the other just one guy. The first thing you notice is the incredible noise, you then notice that there is indigo dust everywhere (including up our noses as we discovered later)….
I had to be air-jetted off before I was allowed back into a car…
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The first workshop we visited consisted of husband and wife and about 5 or 6 very large Toyoda looms, these were larger than anything that I have seen before, but they still weave a 30" width. Their massive overengineering is what makes them able to cope with heavy ounce denim. Whilst we were there our Ultra Heavy Raw (AKA 21/123) was being woven…..
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And we were lucky enough to see a new run started, this only happens once every 13 or so days per machine….
Sacrificial lengths of warp are used to start the process, each of these is hand knotted to the real warp and then teased through the loom before the weaving actually starts...
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That's a really great insight. I'd never thought about how a new run would be started. Always seem looms in flight. That is far more fiddly/detailed to setup than I would have thought, but makes sense.
Some really great photos there too. Love the one of Tom looking/smiling at the loom whilst all others are using phones/cameras :).
