Machine of Dreams
We are constantly developing processing machinery for socks. Our goals are both to protect Japan’s sock manufacturing technologies and to maintain the technical skills inherited from our forebears, which have eroded over the years due to the import of cheap products from abroad.
Automated Linking Machine
“Linking” refers to the method of seaming the toes of socks one loop at time, generally using a technique called a whipstitch. This is in stark contrast to the method known as “Rosso,” which does not knit each loop individually, but rather seams the entire toe in a single line. You can easily tell the difference between the two methods when you wear the socks. Rosso-looped toes have pilling or lumps at the end of the toe portion and do not feel like a perfect fit. On the other hand, linking-looped toes do not pill or lump, and feel like a perfect fit. Linking gives perfectly designed, high quality pill-free products. All socks used to be made with the linking method, a process that requires skilled, experienced workers. Each loop was said to cost about one Japanese yen, because of the time and effort it required.
The development of the Rosso machine brought drastic changes to the market. The sock industry moved toward cutting costs, even at the expense of quality, effectively eliminating whipstitch-quality products from the market. We were not satisfied with the results produced by the Rosso method, and explored every avenue possible to keep the flame of linking alive. Unfortunately, none of the machinery manufacturers could respond to our requests for a linking machine. Knit products are soft. It is difficult to secure them so a needle can pass through each loop with precision – not quite the same as mass-producing radios.
Over these ensuing twenty-five years, we have seen remarkable advances in science and technology. We started a joint business-academia research project with Ritsumeikan University, and in 1997 we succeeded in developing a prototype linking machine incorporating robotics and image processing technologies. This automated linking technology, acclaimed as the Nobel laureate of the textile industry, had always been regarded as a “dream technology” that would be difficult to realize. At present, as we strive to pass this vanishing traditional technique on, we are moving forward with the development of the practical application of an automated linking machine.
The final touch
Our sock manufacturing process can be divided into two processes: preprocessing up to knitting, and post-processing.
Japanese-manufactured socks have always been regarded as the best in the world. Unfortunately, today’s Japan is flooded with cheap, poor quality products from overseas, and the Japanese sock manufacturing industry is on the verge of collapse. The only reason Japan has been unable to compete with overseas manufacturers is their cheaper labor. In reality, most post-processing work abroad is consigned to home workers, and the only way for Japanese industry to overcome this handicap is to automate the post-process. A few post-process machines have been developed in Europe and the US, but they cram several pairs of socks together like food on a skewer, and are far from meeting elaborate Japanese technical standards. We wanted to protect Japanese sock manufacturing factories by every means possible, a passion that led us to start a new project in 2001. We have now succeeded in automating every stage of post-processing, from pairing to packing, folding, tagging, printing of the trade name, attaching labels, and inspecting for metal residue. This new system has already been introduced in the factories of our associates, and we are now working on refinements to make it more compact and economical to operate.
