The program of the author's course by Valeriy Rybas, Director of TK-Furniture, "Thread and Accessories Economy" continues to be implemented. On April 23, 2024, the third meeting, focused on accessories for the needs of the light industry, was held within its framework.
Combining experience and strategy, over the 24 years of its existence as a trade, official and exclusive representative in Ukraine of more than a dozen world-class brands, TK-Furniture LLC has been cooperating only with the best manufacturers, providing a comprehensive supply of accessories and equipment to enterprises of the clothing, footwear, leather, furniture and other industries.
For the third lecture in a row, Mr. Rybas has been gathering full auditoriums. Traditionally, the speaker used posters with different types of zippers, fasteners, eyelets, holnitens, blocks, braids, ribbons, etc. for visualization. The lecture material was also accompanied by a video.
As usual, at the beginning of the class, Valeriy Viacheslavovych outlined the topic, the lecture plan, and its connection with the previous topics. The speaker structured the broad material of the lecture and conditionally divided it into parts according to the types of accessories, talking at length about buttons, zippers, textile fasteners, metal and plastic accessories, ribbons, braids, etc., and emphasized that accessories account for a small share of the cost of the finished product.
Valeriy Viacheslavovych began with a detailed review of the range of button types, their countries of origin, and systematized them by material, purpose, size, shape, number of holes or type of leg, application, manufacturing methods, etc. He reminded the students of the natural materials used to make buttons: mother-of-pearl, wood, stone, metal, resin, glass, horn, etc. He also listed synthetic materials such as halalite, acrylate, phenolic, aminoplastic, polystyrene, polyester, polyamide, etc. and described their properties. He spoke about modern semi-automatic and automatic machines for sewing buttons - with two or four punctures, followed by wrapping the leg, etc. The speaker outlined that buttons should be durable, not break, not lose their luster and color, that is, not change their appearance under the influence of washing, dry cleaning, sun, water, etc. He also emphasized that TK-Furniture LLC dyes and tints buttons in accordance with the color of the textile product.
The lecturer also organized the material on zippers in an equally successful way. Valeriy Viacheslavovych began with the history of the origin, the components of their construction, two textile tapes, on which plastic or metal links are fixed along the edge, formed by separating teeth or rings of a continuous spiral. The halves are connected or disconnected by a lock - a slider that moves along the ribbons, and each link is fixed by a pair of them on the opposite side. He distinguished between detachable and one-piece zippers, noting the simplified design of the one-piece zipper because of the limiters on both sides. The detachable zippers have a stopper on one (lower) side with a slot on one edge, which has a pin on the other edge. The pin passes freely through the slider hole, locks into the slot, and connects the edges of the webbing. He explained that due to the greater load on the underside of the split zipper than on the rest of the webbing, it should be more reinforced. The lecturer also emphasized other product quality indicators, such as curvature, waviness, density of the textile tape, ease of movement of the zipper, fixation of the link on the slider, etc. The attendees were interested to hear about the domestic manufacturer PJSC Blyvayka in Kyiv region and well-known foreign brands such as YKK, Salmi, Coats, etc., materials and their characteristics, production features and design of spiral, tractor, metal, and hidden zippers. The speaker also spoke about the design of runners to prevent unexpected unzipping of products. He also noted that zippers are used as a decoration for clothing, etc.
In the next part of the lecture, the speaker informed the audience in detail about textile fasteners for various purposes and production, outlined the scope of their use, in particular in the manufacture of clothing, footwear, backpacks and bags, tourist equipment, furniture, curtains, etc. Valeriy Viacheslavovych noted that the textile fastener consists of two tapes, loop and hook, which are joined together by the front sides, and is made of polyester and polyamide fibers on weaving machines. According to the method of connection to the product, we distinguish between threaded, as the most common, and adhesive textile fasteners. It is recommended to sew a textile fastener along the edge of the fastener, free of hooks and loops. Valeriy Viacheslavovych also emphasized the quality criteria for textile fasteners: the strength of delamination and shear; the number of opening and closing cycles; resistance to sunlight, washing, chemical cleaning, etc.
The speaker did not ignore metal and plastic fittings, which are widely used in almost all spheres of life, including the repair and sewing of clothing, shoes, bags, accessories for tourism, sports, jewelry, interior textiles, seat belts, etc. The range of plastic fittings includes fasteners, fastexes, holnitens, quick release buckles, carabiners, frame buckles/adjusters, eyelets, cord retainers and tips, buttons, half rings, etc. Valeriy Viacheslavovych explained in a clear manner that metal hardware is made of ferrous and non-ferrous metals and their alloys. Nickel, aluminum, chromium, copper, brass, etc. are used in the production of certain alloys. Well-known manufacturers of metal hardware experiment with alloys and keep them secret. The most common metal fittings are carabiners, rings, eyelets, blocks, half rings, belt buckles, frames, including those with a stopper, holnitens, and buttons. The distinctive feature of metal sewing accessories from plastic sewing accessories is such indicators as strength, wear resistance, plasticity and color. The lecturer also described the devices for installing metal accessories.
In the last part of the lecture, the speaker covered the material on belt, kipper, rep, reflective, ribbon, elastic, decorative braid, cords and noted that the range of them is very wide.
The lecture ended with questions to the speaker, as his material was informative and fascinating. After that, everyone came up and looked at the stands to see the different types of zippers, fasteners, eyelets, holnitens, blocks, braids, ribbons, etc.
The high professional and cultural level of the speaker made a deep impression on the audience and caused a warm applause!
Valeriy Viacheslavovych's lecture was a significant event for students of various specialties and university professors and helped them to deepen their understanding of the nature and significance of the varieties of a wide range of accessories. The initiative to cooperate with such a well-known expert in the field of light industry turned out to be very informative and fruitful for all participants of the event and helped to understand the complex aspects of their manufacturing technology, etc.
We express our sincere gratitude to the speaker for the extremely interesting and useful material of the next lecture, which motivates, inspires, encourages and contributes to the formation of professional competencies!
06.05.2024
