REPORT
colours. Not just light or dark, but a whole range of colours; in fact, as many shades as possible. Parkin imports the recycled cotton they need to the UK, where the yarns are spun – the dark fibres are used to make the black yarns, the white fibres to make white – and the buckram is woven. As the buckram is woven in its colour, there is no need for further bleaching or dyeing when it comes off the loom. For the moment, the ‘sustainable’ yarns contain 20% recycled cotton, mixed in with 80% virgin cotton. The aim is to carefully try and increase this amount to a 30:70 ratio but this has to be done slowly, to guarantee that the strength and quality of the end product will not be affected.
Another problem is the availability of recycled cotton. Right now, Europe simply isn’t recycling enough textile. Buckram was traditionally produced in a 36 inch, or 90 cm, width. When Luton manufacturers started using hydraulic machines, Parkin developed a 42 inch, or 107 cm, buckram that gave them a better yield. After the big manufacturers had gone out of business and handmade millinery came back in, buckram started to drop off in popularity. The company had to choose which buckram to maintain and stuck with the 42 inch variety, the most popular at the time. For their new, sustainable buckram, Parkin uses modern British looms capable of weaving a double width of nearly two metres wide. Once woven, the fabric is cut in half (slit down the middle) on the loom and by the time it is stiffened it just happens to shrink to 90 cm, which was the traditional width of the original buckram. It is of course much more cost- effective to weave it in double width, which helps keep the price down.
Another example of difficulties leading to innovation is the adhesive used for Parkin’s adhesive-coated buckram. There has been an important recent increase in the price of this plastic-based
adhesive, linked to inflated prices in the oil industry. This triggered the search for a material to replace it with, not only to be more cost-effective but also to find a greener, cleaner adhesive than the one being currently used.
Paris net
Let us consider another textile that is special to the world of millinery. Paris net is not widely available anymore and is dearly missed by those milliners for whose creations it was indispensable. So why did it disappear, and is there any chance it will be manufactured once again? “The problem with Paris net,” explains Nick, “is that it takes a very specialised way of knitting. Traditional knitwear manufacturers won’t touch it, because the thickness of the yarns will ruin their machines.” The last British manufacturer who was producing Paris net for Parkin was in fact quite reluctant to make it. They particularly disliked doing the heavy stiffening that was needed after knitting and would only take on very large orders, meaning that each order was a £20,000 to £30,000 investment. Unfortunately this company never recovered from the pandemic, went bankrupt and closed overnight. The building was taken over by a supermarket and all the machinery was lost.
Nick is now trying to find another manufacturer but is confronted with a new issue: considering the huge investments needed, will there be enough demand for Paris net? Modern milliners who haven’t benefited from a traditional workroom apprenticeship often don’t seem to know what it was
used for. And with a minimum production of five thousand metres to start with, you need to be absolutely sure you are going to sell it. Nevertheless, Nick has already invested a lot to bring it back and is confident he will find the solution.
Creation and education
Although millinery supplies represent only about one third of the company’s turnover, it is this side of the firm that Nick is most passionate about. It is also the more complex part of the business, with an enormous variety of products, usually sold in small quantities to individual milliners who all have their own wishes and personal
preferences. Yet it is the Paris net
creativity of millinery that appeals to Nick: he originally
trained as a carpenter, building television and film sets before he joined his father thirty years ago. Third generation daughter Bexi is as interested in the technical development of new textiles as her father is – from the considerable amount of testing necessary to meet the specific requirements of each product to the eureka moment when a solution is finally found.
Nick Parkin is acutely aware of the importance of education to introduce or reintroduce a younger generation of milliners to his products. The company gives physical presentations about buckram and abaca with the help of films and a slide show for tutors in colleges and universities. Here again, communication is key.
More information
www.parkinfabrics.co.uk
Buckram from recycled cotton
may 2023 | 61
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