Japanese company Shima Seiki, and its Brazilian representative, Brastema Tecnologia Textil, will be a part of FIMEC 2020, the 44th trade fair for leather, chemicals, components, machinery and equipment for footwear and tanning in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, from March 10-12, 2020. The company will be seen in pavilion 5, aisle J-P-K, booth 5059.
The global shoe industry is currently evolving at a rapid pace, adopting various textile and material technologies especially in the area of fit, comfort and functionality in footwear applications. Working off the recent trend in knitted shoe uppers in the athletic footwear market, Shima Seiki proposes knitted fabrics to the general footwear market as an alternative to the prevailing material in this field—leather. To that effect Shima Seiki will be showcasing the latest applications of computerised flat knitting technology to demonstrate its contributions in this field.
On display will be the company’s SVR123SP and SSR112 computerised flat knitting machines. The SVR123SP machine features a dedicated loop presser bed mounted above the rear needle bed. This permits full use of inlay technique for the production of hybrid fabrics that feature both knit and weave characteristics, suited to shoe upper applications that require formfitting function, comfort, flexibility, breathability as well as strength and stiffness.
SVR123SP furthermore features i-Plating inverseplating capability for increased patterning capability, including the production of jacquardlike patterns in lightweight plain jersey stitch. Examples of Wholegarment shoe uppers will also be on display, according to a press release on the show.
Shima Seiki’s new SDSONE APEX series 3D design system will also be available for demonstrations in design and simulation suited to shoe production. Of particular interest is its ultrarealistic simulation capability that realises virtual sampling. When countless variations must be evaluated before arriving at a final design, virtual product samples can be used to streamline the decisionmaking process by minimising the enormous amount of time and cost normally associated with producing actual samples for each variation.
The sustainability factor is also undeniable considering the amount of material normally gone to waste in the sampling stage. APEX makes further contribution to this effort with programming and simulation processing speeds of up to 6 times that of the previous APEX3 system.
