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Welcome
to the Gio factory! Gio fully fashioned stockings are made on the original
Reading machines from the old Aristoc factory. Only a handful of these are
still in service around the world, but with loving care and attention ours is
still working to the same exacting standards as ever.
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We have developed the overhead yarn stands which are
shown above. This gives a smoother yarn feed to the Readings. |
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This shows the stocking being knitted to shape the leg. |
The process Full-fashioned stockings are knitted flat, then
fashioned, or shaped, by hand manipulation and hand seamed up the back.
Knitting is back and forth across the fabric (weft knitting) on a straight-bar
machine invented in Loughborough, Leicestershire, Eng., by William Cotton in
1864. The stocking is started at the top with the welt, with
an extra-thick section for gartering. Reducing the number of needles at the
ankle, then adding needles at the heel, and again reducing the number through
the foot shape to the fabric.
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The fully-fashioned machinery was made from 1940 - 1960
by a company called Reading Machinery Company, of Reading, Pennsylvania.
Production of the machines stopped in the early 1960s, in the years '59 and
early '60s, you COULD purchase one of the later models, which they had deemed
the R100, BUT, you had to order 4 of them. They would tool up and make them,
if you would place an order for 4 or more. The cost was a little over
£300,000 each for this special order.
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The Welt - The first stage of the knitting process. The
welt is held in place by welt bars which are at the top of the blank. |
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Seaming - The true fully fashioned stockings are seamed
by joining the two sides of the blank together. It is a very skilled process
starting at the reinforced toe matching up the sides of the toe and heel, and
then seaming up the back of the shaped leg feeding the nylon leg through the
seamer to the loop hole and on to the welt. Handling of the stocking is very
important as the machinist needs to vary her handling of the stocking as she
seams from toe to welt. |
The length is about 45 feet long, makes 30 stockings at
the same time. The company started out in it's early days making a single
section (or 1) which made 1 stocking. Then, added length, to make 15 (half
section machines) stockings, and then went to full section machines (30
stockings). Needles? A 60 gauge machine, with a full head of needles, has
about 600 needles per head. Now, 600 X 30 Heads comes to 18,000 needles.
These needles cost approx 2 pence each. Now, 18,000 X 2=£3600 in needles
alone approx.
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Temperature Control 51 Gauge machines will run cold or hot. The tolerances
are not nearly as precise as the 60 Gauge. These 60 gauge have more needles
at a closer tolerance than do the 51's, and you have a closer tolerance on
the set up, or gauging. You have to keep the temperature (summer and winter)
within 4 degrees, 74 to 78 degrees. When it gets below 74, they won't knit
properly, over 78 and they won't knit properly. You may have 5 or 6 good
stockings out of 30. You will have to throw out the rest. Every pattern is on a continual chain of 120 feet and
about 8" wide which has studs pressed into the links. These studs tell
the machine what it should do, so every design needs a new stud pattern,
which is a huge operation.
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Quality Control - Each stocking is checked individually
by hand and volumetrically and flat length measured to ensure correct sizing.
Stockings which do not meet our exacting standards are rejected. Handling of
the delicate stockings are kept to a minimum and all our quality control
operatives must wear gloves as shown above. |
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Here the exquisite pairs of stockings are finally packed
in the Gio packaging and sent through to the warehouse where each pair is
allocated to customers all over the world. |
After manufacture each stocking is seamed, one at a
time. People often ask why there is a hole at the top of the seam. This is
called 'the finishing loop'” which cannot be eliminated, as the seaming
machinist has to finish the seam turning the stocking top (called ‘the welt’)
in a circle. Every stocking is manufactured white and must be colour
dyed. They must then be 'Boarded' where each stocking is pulled over a flat
wooden leg and steamed. This tightens the knit, defines the leg shape
correctly and removes creases. Thereafter each stocking is checked for size to ensure
that pairs match. Quality control for faults large and small can mean a third
of production can be lost.
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