A circular knitting machine includes a needle-holding cylinder having plurality of longitudinal grooves housing plurality of needles, at least one yarn feed operatively associated to needles, actuating cams arranged around and movable relative to cylinder, drive chain for each needle operatively placed between needle and actuating cams. Drive chain includes: sub-needle, selector having butt which can be engaged with selector paths, selecting device acting, punch equipped with butt which can be engaged with punch paths. Punch paths include a tuck stitch ascent and drop stitch ascent for each yarn feed. Inlet of drop stitch ascent circumferentially precedes inlet of tuck stitch ascent. Selector paths include a single track defining first and second ascents placed in succession for each yarn feed. First ascent circumferentially precedes second and is operatively associated to drop stitch ascent and second ascent is operatively associated to tuck stitch ascent.

Systems and methods for manufacturing knitted shoe uppers. An article of fully finished three-dimensionally weft knitted footwear is manufactured through a knitting process which can be performed by an automated V-bed flat knitting machine. The knitting process includes manipulating one or more double-knit stitch types and joining the stitches exclusively in the knitting process to create a seamless upper to fit a foot. A resulting upper advantageously has no sewn seams and requires no manual post process to cut or sew the upper to create the dimensional shape. The process creates a seamless, full gauge, dimensionally stable footwear upper, as a unitary textile construction with an integrated anatomically appropriate heel. The entire upper, including the closure element of the upper, may be completed exclusively by the knitting machine, ready for the following shoe making process.

Presented are automated manufacturing systems for fabricating engineered textiles, footwear and apparel formed with such engineered textiles, methods for making such engineered textiles, and memory-stored, processor-executable instructions for operating such manufacturing systems. An automated manufacturing system constructs engineered textiles from workpieces composed of superposed, unwoven wires. The system includes a movable end effector bearing a stitching head and an image capture device. The stitching head has a thread feeder and sewing needle to generate stitches. The image capture device captures images of the workpiece and outputs data indicative thereof. A system controller receives this image capture device data and locates, from the captured image of the workpiece, gaps defined between quadrangles of the superposed wires. The controller commands the end effector to sequentially move the stitching head and thereby align the sewing needle with the gaps, and commands the stitching head to insert a succession of stitches within these gaps.

A footwear is for wearing on a foot of a user. The footwear includes at least one component (ex. only one single component, or a plurality/combination of different components, etc.) selected from an upper, a lining, a midsole, an outsole, an insole and at least one lace. The at least one component is made of a material based on a lignocellulose substance and having been converted into a corresponding fabric (ex. a bamboo lyocell fabric, etc.), without, or at the very least, with reduced chemicals or synthetics like rayon (polyester). The resulting footwear has various advantages in terms of “sustainability” and “functionality”, as well as other advantages, when compared to conventional footwear.

The disclosure discloses a method of whole garment knitting in horizontal direction along the back center, and belongs to the technical field of knitted fabrics. The method can be used for directly knitting an integrally shaped left piece and right piece, wherein a sleeve, a front body, a back body, a front placket, a lapel and a lapel collar of the left piece or the right piece are all integrally shaped, and can be directly sewn at back center lines and collar center lines through a looper to form a fully-shaped upper garment including plackets and a collar portion. According to the solution, the knitting process is simple, manual or single yarn lifting sewing is not needed, and the garment knitting efficiency is improved. Moreover, the lapel collar and the plackets of the fabric knitted according to the solution are all of double-side double-layer structures, so that the thickness and stiffness are greater than those of the body; and the single yarn lifting sewing at the left side seams, right side seams and armholes is not needed, so that the texture of the fabric is improved.

Disclosed are a spandex fiber with a reversible triple-shape memory effect and a preparation method thereof. In the present disclosure, the spandex fiber includes the following raw materials in parts by weight: 3 parts to 100 parts of a crystalline polyester diol or a crystalline polyether diol, 1 part to 30 parts of a diisocyanate, 0.1 parts to 15 parts of a polyurethane chain extender, and 0.2 parts to 11 parts of a polyurethane cross-linking agent, where the crystalline polyester diol or the crystalline polyether diol has a number-average molecular weight of 1,000-10,000 Daltons. The spandex fiber has a reversible deformation process, shows an ability to transform between “stretched” and “shortened” states infinitely under the action of a temperature field, and can memorize two temporary shapes. Moreover, the spandex fiber has easily accessible raw materials and a simple preparation method, and is suitable for large-scale industrial production.

The invention relates to method for producing an artificial turf, comprising the following steps: providing a carrier material having a top and a bottom, providing a plurality of fibres, wherein each fibre comprises two ends extending from the top of the carrier material and comprising a connected region arranged in a loop-like manner at the bottom of the carrier material; feeding the carrier material with the fibres to a heated rotating calender roller; guiding the carrier material with the fibres over at least one sub-region of the surface of the heated rotating calender roller, wherein the connected regions of the fibres and the bottom of the carrier material face the calender roller; during the guiding of the carrier material with the fibres over the at least one sub-region of the surface of the heated rotating calender roller: transferring heat from the heated rotating calender roller to the carrier material with the fibres, and fusing the connected regions of the fibres with the bottom of the carrier material to the artificial turf, and removing and cooling the artificial turf. The invention further relates to an artificial turf comprising: a carrier material having a top and a bottom; a plurality of fibres, wherein each fibre comprises two ends extending from the top of the carrier material and comprising a connected region arranged in a loop-like manner at the bottom of the carrier material, wherein the carrier material is fused at the bottom to the connected regions of the fibres.

The invention discloses a twisted yarn, a twisted yarn production device and a twisted yarn production process. The twisted yarn is obtained from an air-covered yarn and a core-spun spandex yarn through doubling, twisting and winding. Compared with the prior art, the invention utilizes the feature that the air-covered yarn has rhythmic network points. After the air-covered yarn and the core-spun spandex yarn are made into a twisted yarn, the air-covered yarn can clamp the core-spun spandex yarn, thereby effectively preventing the retraction of the spandex in the core-spun spandex yarn.

Footwear and footwear production process comprises steps that include the reuse of raw materials previously used in footwear or other sources. Such a process also provides for the reduction of waste and environmental impact as well as the elimination of water consumption. A footwear, also the object of the present invention, comprises renewable origin, natural, recycled and recyclable components, being a sustainable product, ecologically viable and inserted in the context of Circular Bio Economy. The footwear presents quality standards in accordance with standard technical standards of quality, overcoming challenges related to obtaining comfortable and simultaneously sustainable shoes.

A laminated surface covering including a facing material made of vinyl and a backing material comprising a rubber component. The rubber component comprising at least a matrix of bonded rubber granules. A bonding material disposed between the facing material and the backing material. The facing material configured to melt at a temperature between 165° F. and 248° F. infiltrating the backing material thereby essentially encasing the rubber granules of the matrix and providing fire retardation and smoke suppression qualities.