Growing Uses For N.Z.-Made Nylon

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30530, 27 August 1964, Page 16

Growing Uses For N.Z.-Made Nylon

"The Press” Special Service

WELLINGTON, Aug. 26. New Zealand-made nylon would be going into yarns, textiles and garments on an ever-increasing scale from the beginning of 1965 onwards, said Mr D. D. Dickinson, commercial manager of Fibremakers (N.Z.); Ltd. The company’s £2,500,000 Auckland factory would be ready on schedule by the end of this year and would begin production of nylon filaments and yams immediately afterwards, Mr Dickinson told a function to- introduce “Miss New, Zealand, 1964,” Miss Lyndall Cruickshank, at the start of a national tour in which she will model the latest nylon fashion garments. Mr Dickinson said that local production of nylon would relieve local textile manufacturers of yarn shortages which had arisen because of a tremendous increase in the demand for nylon throughout the. world.

Coupled with the provision by the yarn-maker of specialised ’textile production knowledge, local production of nylon would also help ' to speed up ■ the development and production of new locally-produced’ fabrics. Mr Dickinson said New Zea-

land could expect soon tb see a number of fabric developments, some of which were: A greater variety of warpknit fabrics, at present used mainly for lingerie and nightwear, being used -on a substantial scale, in shirts and blouses, dresses and upholstery cloths; More versatility in bulked and textured yarns which would give fabrics special new properties; The increased blending of synthetic with natural fibres which would result in the appearance of many entirely hew fabrics, each with its own feel, appearance and performance; and Laminated fabrics—-not only the bonding of plastic’ foam to fabric but also fabric-to-fabric lamination which would allow almost any kind of fabric to be bonded to another and give the garment industry almost unlimited scope in selecting a cloth with properties exactly tailored to the use in mind.