Fabric Source Chris Stone Gets Greener

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 4/23/2007 12:00:00 AM

Vernon, Calif. —

As part of a major effort to improve its "clean manufacturing" efforts, decorative fabric producer and mill Chris Stone has invested in a number of new machines and processes.

The company has purchased several atmospherically controlled jumbo dye jigs capable of dyeing 2,000 yard lots at a time, with color consistency achieved by computer controlled fabric speed tension and temperature throughout the process.

A new open width compacting machine will permit fabrics to have less than 3% shrinkage.

In addition, the company has reduced its minimums to lots of 500 yards from 1,000 yards, to better accommodate more customers with special product needs, said Mark Aizawa, president.

Chris Stone will soon launch an eco fabric collection that makes use of the new machinery. The program will use sustainable fibers – bamboo, linen, and cotton – and will be compliant with GOT dyeing standards, Aizawa noted.

To allow more representation of patterns being developed, the company has added longer-length tables for strikeoff samples, increasing the length to 10 yards from the former five-yard maximum, he said.