Contract furnishing fabrics specialist, Tavelmo Movelta’s, replacement Montex stenter increases speed of production and provides improved quality at its Belgian finishing operation.
Consolidating its two business operations, Belgium’s contract furnishing fabrics specialist, Tavelmo Movelta, replaced its two stenters with a single Monforts Montex stenter; ensuring faster production speeds and improved quality; ordered through local Monforts representative Le Clair & Meert.
“Advanced finishing is at the heart of everything we do here,” said Frans Hellyn, owner of the highly successful Tavelmo Movelta Group, one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of contract furnishing fabrics, “and the Monforts Montex stenter is at the heart of our finishing operations.”
Two previously separate businesses within the group have been consolidated at a state-of-the-art, integrated weaving and finishing plant in Nijverheidslaan, between the Belgian cities of Lille and Ghent.
Both yarn and piece dyeing are carried out at a separate plant in nearby Sint-Niklaas.
The Movelta brand has been well known for many years for its ranges of woven velvets, while the Tavelmo name is equally renowned for flat wovens and cheniles. Home textiles for sofas, curtains and bedding are exported to more than 60 countries and the group also supplies materials extensively to manufacturers of caravans and mobile homes, boats and outdoor furniture.
With the merging of the two operations at the Nijverheidslaan plant, a six chamber Montex stenter with a working width of 1.8 m has been installed to replace two older machines.
“It does the jobs both were previously handling much faster and with much better uniform quality results,” said Mr Hellyn. “Everything we produce here goes through the stenter at least once, and often twice. If we mercerise the fabrics, they then go through the stenter again, and if we coat or print them, stentering also follows.” He added that a conscious decision was made to focus on added-value wet and dry finishing operations and to invest in the best machines available for each process.
Heavy weight fabrics
Tavelmo Movelta generally deals with fabrics that are much heavier than those produced for apparel, in the weight range of between 350-500 gsm, and finishes such as flame retardancy, moisture repellency and even chlorine resistance for the marine market have to be accurately applied and their effectiveness guaranteed. Specific products within the company’s vast range demand especially sensitive handling, such as polypropylene-based outdoor fabrics where precise temperature control is essential, or the latex back-coating of caravan fabrics. In the treatment of face-to-face velvets, meanwhile, the even backing applied on the Montex stenter is essential for achieving accurate pile anchorage. “We are lucky to have a highly-experienced team here who can get the most out of the machines,” Mr Hellyn said.
New developments
Tavelmo Movelta received the 2014 Blue Drop Award at the MOOD (Meet Only Original Designs) trade fair held in Brussels, for its development of a special velvet quality, based on bamboo polyester.
“The company succeeded in creating a kind of pelt, similar to fur,” said MOOD trends co-ordinator Niek De Prest of the development. “The ultimate softness obtained with the naturally antibacterial bamboo fibre is unrivalled and even the discolouration is perfect.”
Another new development which is attracting a lot of interest – and is also particularly demanding on the company’s technicians and the stenter – is the new Easy Clean finish, developed in collaboration with a chemicals supplier.
With Easy Clean, stains on furnishing fabrics including ink, tomato sauce and red wine can be easily removed with water and unlike other treatments, its effectiveness is permanent. “The difference,” Mr Hellyn observes, “is that we are embedding the coating deep within the fibres of the fabrics, which took a lot of research and development work to achieve.”
Third generation
Tavelmo Movelta was founded in 1948 by Mr Hellyn’s father. Today his son Olivier and daughter Charlotte run the business with him as the family-owned firm looks towards its third generation success.
“It’s not possible today to compete as purely a weaver of fabrics,” he concluded. “We are running against the wind in producing in Europe, which is why we have to specialise and have made heavy investments in our finishing equipment.”
