Loopwheel jersey (tsuriami)
Also known as: Loopwheeled jersey, Tsuriami knit, Hanging circular knit
Jersey knitted on antique very slow-running circular machines with tension-free loops — exceptionally soft and shape-stable.
Description
Loopwheel jersey is produced on hanging circular knitting machines (Japanese tsuriami-ki) – a 1920s construction in which the yarn drops into the needles by gravity alone, without tension. The machines run at about one revolution per minute and produce only about 1 m of fabric per hour – compared with about 30 m/h on modern high-speed circular knitters, less than 5 % of the speed. Globally only around 200 working loopwheel machines are still in use today, most of them in Wakayama, Japan.
The advantage: loops sit tension-free next to each other, the fibre is not distorted. The result is an extremely soft, dense and long-lasting sweat or loopback jersey that hardly shrinks after washing, drapes softly on the body and does not tire out over the years. Well-known brands: Loopwheeler (JP), Merz b. Schwanen (DE, since 1911 with a historic machine park). Uses: premium sweatshirts, henleys, T-shirts, hoodies at the upper price segment.
- Production speed: ~1 m/h (~30× slower)
- Global installed base: ~200 machines
- Advantage: tension-free loop, high shape stability
- Uses: premium sweat and jersey
Properties
| Machine principle | Hanging circular knit (gravity feed) |
|---|---|
| Production speed | approx. 1 m/h |
| Global machine base | approx. 200 |
| Origin | Japan (Wakayama), Germany (Albstadt) |
| Known brands | Loopwheeler, Merz b. Schwanen |
| Application | Premium sweat, henleys, T-shirts |
Related product categories
Sources & references
1- Wikipedia: Circular knitting Wikipedia — Freie Enzyklopädie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_knitting
