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We used to make 10,000m rolls of fabric, which would then be slit down for typewriter ribbon.
Then someone had the idea of dyeing the fabric, adding a water repellent finish and then running the fabric between two massive heated rollers to close up the fabric and make it windproof. That's how Pertex started!
It was in the last few years before it shut when they were developing the lighter weight fabrics like Quantum. These were dyed on a beam rather than a jig so as to avoid damage to the quite delicate fabric.
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Really sorry for delay replying - been a lot of catching up from the weekend,
.....I had no idea it started out as ribbon manufacture - I guess this is where finer, durable weave tech would have been required, and perfecting moisture transfer/absorbency in type-writer inks.
Mitsui merging with Nippon Steel to make MN Inter-Fashion on Jan 1st.
Chopsicle
Wow - are you still working in textiles? Been really interesting learning about the Pertext heritage ….we were trying to get hold of more archive pieces for the weekend here, perhaps you dyed the Rab fabric we had, which was stitched in Sheffield ….naming is a complete coincidence! Once you see the name, it appears everywhere, pubs, house names, animals etc etc