Full Circle Fibres to farm to Hanger Cloth Story
Planting – October
Spring Planting
1
Planting – October
Flowering
In Flower and Fibre
2
Flowering
Refuge Crops
Nature’s distractions
A whole paddock of nurtured Pidgeon Pea next to the cotton fields encourages moths and bugs to feast and breed away from the cotton.
3
Refuge Crops
Fibre growing
Nature’s Microfibre Factory
Cotton Fibre forming in the boll over Summer.
4
Fibre growing
bolls opening
Fibres maturing
5
bolls opening
Harvest Time April to May
ready for harvest
6
Harvest Time April to May
Picking
Harvest
7
Picking
Modules
Traceability starts here
Each Module of seed cotton is coded and GPS located as it’s made. This record stays with the fibre to baling.
8
Modules
Modules lined up for Transportation
Ready for the Gin
Each module contains enough cotton for over 3000 t-shirts.
9
Modules lined up for Transportation
Seeds Removed
Ginning
This is where the cotton tumbles into the teeth on wheels that pull the seeds away and leave the fibre ready for spinning.
Ginning removes the seed from the fibre, this is saved for cattle feed or to be pressed for oil, even the gin trash has pathways to composting or energy and the motes (short fibres) can go to coarse grade stringy yarns. This is the Gin in St. George, S.W. QLD.
10
Seeds Removed
Laydown
Bales for carding
Each Spinning batch is a combination of bales steadily processed and blended for consistent even yarn.
11
Laydown
Combing
Fibres are aligned
For Smooth strong yarn fibres are combed into alignment with any short fibres removed.
12
Combing
Spinning
Ring Spinning
Roving is finely drafted before ring spinning finally adds twist to the organised fibres – yarn is created.
13
Spinning
Yarn Batch
Yarn ready for milling
Yarn is palletised ready for shipping back to Australia from Manchester, UK.
14
Yarn Batch
Knitting
Circular Knitting Jersey
Yarn is loaded onto a creel and knitted into a great long ‘sock’ as jersey.
Factory in Coburg, Melbourne, Australia.
15
Knitting
Colouration
Dyeing
Jersey Fabric is piece dyed, in a jet dye machine, opened to full width, and dried on a stenter, then rolled up ready for use.
Factory in Sunshine, Melbourne, Australia.
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Colouration
To garment making
Delivered to Farm to Hanger
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To garment making