Raising

Raising process in the processing of noble fabrics in Pray, in the province of Biella

At the town of Pray, in the province of Biella, Gar.Fin.Tex processes noble fabrics using mixed techniques, capable of combining technology and craftsmanship. Among these is raising, an operation that is part of the fabric finishing process: it consists of lifting the fibres of the threads of a fabric to make it soft and fluffy. It changes the texture, giving a hairy and velvety appearance to the surface, hides the weave of the weft and the warp and improves the thermal insulation properties of the fabric by increasing the amount of air retained. Raising is a technique that was once carried out with a sort of brush that rubbed the surface of the fabric that was built with dried thistle flowers, rich in thorns, picked dry and held together in a bunch so that they were close and arranged in parallel. Gar.Fin.Tex still uses thistle in the manufacturing process.

The use of vegetable thistle

Raising has the purpose of extracting the fur from the yarn used to build the fabric. It is performed either with metal raising machines, equipped with raising rolls covered with metal seals, or in an artesanal way with vegetable raising machines that are equipped instead with cylinders garnished with thistles. Raising is a delicate and complex process that requires a sensitive and careful teaser, able to evaluate the yield of the fabric and adjust the settings of the machine to avoid the risk of compromising the resistance of the fabric.