We got the chance to visit this mill with the university and we were taken on a tour following through the various stages of fabric finishing. The finishing of fabric is everything; it is what makes a fabric desirable and appealing to the consumer, it is what makes the handle of a fabric have a better drape and feel etc.
WT Johnson's has been established since 1910 and is its 4th generation of the same family which all share a passion for textile finishing. They apply and create high quality finishes to a range of fabrics through the use of craftsmanship and innovative technology; they have a variety of modern machinery and also traditional old machinery which is able to achieve a finish that modern machinery just doesn't seem to be able to achieve and they also have a dedicated workforce of over 90 skilled finishers. They provide finishes on a range of fabrics from high quality worsted suiting fabrics to upholstery and specialist safety uniform fabrics.
They run an environmentally friendly establishment, acquiring their water naturally straight from the ground through a bore-hole.
Some of the finishes they offer are: Scouring, Milling, Solvent Scour, Drying, Cropping, Batch Decating, Eko Fast, Dyeing.
The specialist performance finishes they offer are: Cool stretch, Silver Shield, Nano bloc, V.V. Finishing, Bespoke, and a Luxury Merchant Finish.
Below are some of the images I took whilst on the tour of the various stages of finishing.
WT Johnson's was a great place to visit as it informed me more of the processes that we can apply to fabric after it has been woven to create a certain feel or handle to the fabric. It opened my mind up to the world of finishing and I am keen to find out more about the processes as I progress through the second year.
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