BARNSLEY, England — February 15, 2018 — MagnaColours®, manufacturer of water-based screen-printing inks, has launched a new anti-migration blocker. MagnaPrint® Migration Eliminator V2 is designed to prevent the bleeding of inks throughout the printing process, and was officially unveiled at the recent ISS Long Beach show.

The product is a development on a previous Migration Eliminator created by Magna, and boasts superior bleed blocking of PVC and phthalate free water-based inks, for use on polyester and polycotton blend fabrics.

Helen Parry, managing director, MagnaColours®, said: “Magna are at the forefront of innovation of water-based inks and products. We pride ourselves on creating inks that meet the needs of screen-printers, so that they continue getting the very best results, and don’t need to resort to using chemical-based inks. Part of this is ensuring that we continue to innovate and improve on what’s already out there, including our own product range.”

“This new product builds upon our existing Migration Eliminator, providing greater performance benefits, and its launch has been welcomed by the industry. This is just one way we’re ensuring that our products perform as well as, if not better than plastisol inks, meaning there’s no reason not choose water-based.”

As well as its superior blocking performance, Migration Eliminator V2 is slow drying, making it easier to print with, and it provides a softer handle than the previous version. When printing with the new ink, screen-printers will benefit from improved coverage, opacity, flexibility and wash fastness.

Magna showcased the new ink at the recent ISS Long Beach event, using it to print a range of designs on their stand. At the show, they also launched their new EDGE ink, and their revolutionary new initiative, Make the Switch, which aims to help make the transition to using water-based inks simple and painless for screen-printers.

Posted February 15, 2018

Source: MagnaColours®

MÖNCHENGLADBACH, Germany — February 14, 2018 — Quality is the number one requirement for Hugotag, a specialist France-based finisher of silk fabrics for many of the world’s most prestigious luxury brands.

Now a member of the Chanel Group, the company in its present form represents the merging five years ago of two former silk businesses — Tag, founded in 1974 in Fourneaux, close to Lyon; and Hugo Soie, a St Etienne-based company with a 200-year history.

Investment in new equipment has followed the merger and consolidation of the companies at the Fourneaux site, including advanced digital printing machines, as well as the installation of a finishing line centerd on the latest Monforts Montex 8500 tenter and a Matex padder.

The five-chamber Montex 8500 machine at the Fourneaux plant is equipped with newly-developed 24-inch visualization monitors, providing total, intuitive automation and surveillance via the Monforts Qualitex 800 system.

“It’s an excellent machine,” says Hugotag Director General Philippe Magat. “The key parameters for us include homogenous drying over the length and width of the machine and precise control of the tension of the fabric, because the silk has a natural elasticity, even without the addition of elastane. The Monforts stenter allows us to completely control the tension from the fabric entry right through to the winding machines — and we have special units for winding onto small rolls too.”

“The fabrics are very delicate and require a sensitive treatment when being pinned into the stentering chain, as well as very gentle drying — without the fabrics ever touching the nozzles and with absolutely no air turbulence in the dryer.”

“The humidity of the air inside the stenter is crucial for ensuring a perfect quality fabric feel,” adds French representative for Monforts, Christophe Monel, of Monel Industrie Services.

Hugotag is finishing some very fine silk fabrics indeed — sheer muslins that can be as light as 14 grams per square meter (gsm), along with chiffons, and heavier satins and twills. The weights of the more delicate fabrics are usually between 20-50 gsm, and produced in average widths of 90 centimeters to a maximum of 1.9 meters on the 3.2-meter wide Monforts finishing range. In haute couture fine fashion, of course, they command very high prices.

As a result of the extremely specialist nature of handling such delicate fabrics, the Monforts line has been equipped with a number of additional features, including special needle chain devices for dealing with knitted silk fabrics, a steamer unit, a computerized weft-straightening device and associated controls, and a horizontal combined chain.

The tentering chain is completely sealed — to avoid any grease or oil coming into contact with the fabrics at any time — and fitted with long-lasting lubricated bearings.

Special attention has also been paid to energy recovery, with low energy consumption IE3 motors and the integration of a full heat recovery system into the line.

Philippe Magat confirms that this is now providing Hugotag with significant energy savings.

Historic legacy

Like its equally famous counterpart in Italy — Como — Lyon has historically been associated with silk fabric production, and all of Hugotag’s fabrics are still woven locally. Piece-dyeing was introduced in Lyon and became an industrial process in the mid-18th century and for a long time remained a specialty of the region. Screen-printing is meanwhile sometimes known as ‘a la lyonnaise’ because Lyon is acknowledged as the first region to industrialize the process during this same period.

And although there still remain other silk finishers in France, Hugotag is one of only two to carry out the ‘degumming’ of the silk fabrics using ‘Marseilles Soap’ — a chemical-free formulation based on 100-percent olive oil, developed long before the concept of sustainability was even known.

“It’s a very specific treatment and because the fabric is so very delicate it’s very difficult to do on an industrial machine, but we can now do it successfully,” says Philippe Magat. “More than anything, however, zero defects are our objective, and this is something the new highly-automated and computerized Monforts line is allowing us to achieve.

“We don’t need to run at high speeds, and average 15-20 meters per minute, because the priority is perfection. Our customers are very discerning and even the smallest of defects can result in returns, which we simply can’t afford to allow to damage our reputation.”

The human touch

It is reassuring to know, however, that there are still some things that highly-automated and computer-controlled machines like the Montex 8500  still can’t do — and perhaps never will.

Hugotag still relies on the keen eyes of its specialist quality fabric control inspectors who have many years of experience, rather than digital optical inspection systems that are readily-available on the market.

“At this level of quality, it’s a skill machines are simply unable to replace,” Philippe Magat concludes. “Through many years of experience I am able to spot even the smallest detail that the average eye simply can’t see — and so can the specialist team working here. Our exclusive customers would expect nothing less

Posted February 14, 2018

Source: A. Monforts Textilmaschinen GmbH & Co. KG