Flat knitting solutions provider Shima Seiki has announced the opening of a special website page featuring new and recommended products for spring/summer 2022, by leading yarn manufacturers participating in the Japanese company’s digital yarn sourcing web service yarnbank.

With recent difficulties in holding or participating in physical trade fairs and exhibitions related to yarns and materials, as well as implementation of new work styles such as teleworking and telecommuting, digitalization in all processes from product planning and sourcing to production and retail sales has become an urgent issue, forcing changes in the way information is collected and products are promoted, the company says.

The new yarnbank Spring/Summer 2022 Feature Page connects yarn manufacturers with designers, brands and apparel companies online as an alternative to meeting face-to-face and researching and presenting yarns at physical exhibitions. When business conditions improve in the future, yarnbank will continue to present such features to meet the needs of customers looking for new discoveries by complementing existing trade fairs.

yarnbank also serves as a new promotional platform for yarn companies with the opportunity to present their yarns directly to their customers. In that respect, yarn companies can reduce their dependence on traditional sample books as a means to promote their products, saving time, cost and material and doing their part for sustainability. “yarnbank brings together each player in the supply chain—spinner, knit manufacturer and apparel company—and connects them digitally,” comments Shima’s Masaki Karasuno..

What is yarnbank?

yarnbank is the world’s first online web service for searching and viewing the latest yarns, developed in cooperation with yarn companies from around the world. Registered users have free access to the yarnbank archive of yarn information and digital yarn data. Users can also download yarn data for free, for use in fabric simulation and virtual sampling on APEXFiz and SDS-ONE APEX4, avoiding the need to scan yarn on their own. By using yarn that is used in actual production, knit manufacturers and apparel companies can furthermore rest assured that the simulations created using yarnbank are not merely realistic images but accurate representations using yarn that can actually be purchased and used in production.

The yarnbank Feature Page, which hosts the Spring/Summer 2022 collections of 31 yarn spinners, can be accessed freely. Visitors have to register and log in to yarnbank to view yarn information and download digital yarns.

yarnbank Spring/Summer 2022 Feature Page