Capabilities

Heathcoat Fabrics’ renowned XTEX yarn texturising, twisting, winding and covering unit develops and produces controlled stretch yarns to enable textiles to be engineered with specific properties such as elongation at a set load, weight and fabric porosity according to customer requirements.

Processes include false twist texturising for thermoplastic fibres, hollow spindle elastic covering for other fibres and yarn twisting. Some of our advanced products include aramid-stretch yarns and our 100% stretch nylon for fabric reinforcements in compression moulded rubber synchronous timing belts.

Heathcoat’s collaborative robotic (Cobot) doffing system located within the yarn processing department, automates the doffing of finished bobbins, loading of empty tubes and the automatic restart of winding spindles. The Cobot ensures consistent quality and precision, increasing productivity.

Our continued exploration into advanced robotics is just one way of ensuring that Heathcoat Fabrics remains at the forefront of innovation in textile manufacturing.

Heathcoat Fabrics’ unique weaving capability plays a valuable role in the creation of a diverse and expansive range of products. By embracing lean manufacturing, our weaving facility has become a hub for continuous improvement, enhancing our processes and ability to develop complex products. Furthermore, with industry leading machinery, we have been able to continue elevating our warping capabilities.

An extensive range of high-performance fibres, including spun, multi-filament and mono filament high and low modulus fibres and high tenacity yarns, can be woven to meet individual customer specifications; with the choice of machines that range from flexible, rigid rapiers to air jet and double beam looms.

With over 200 years of experience, Heathcoat are capable of offering a variety of advanced knitted products through our own warp-knitting production facility supported by in-house warping.

Our advanced Tricot and Raschel machinery, featuring single and double needle bar capabilities, allows significant positive reaction to customer and market demands, both with 2D and 3D products in a variety of patterns, widths and weights. With an in-house dyeing facility, we can also offer an extensive selection of colors and technical finishes to meet diverse requirements.

Our coloration, impregnation and finishing technology has seen sustained investment, leading to versatile treatments for textiles. This includes processes such as stentering, calendering, continuous scouring and ISO 6 cleanroom processing. Furthermore, we incorporate energy saving initiatives and the highest level of sustainability throughout our operations, from pre-treatment, coating and dipping to dyeing, drying and multifunctional finishing ranges.

We have the capability to laminate fabrics, allowing the bonding of two or more woven, knitted or non-woven fabrics together to create composite fabric. Laminated products can offer additional performance features, including active layers, water resistance, durability and compression resistance.

We have an extensive range of coloration machinery, including low liquor dyeing with automated process regulation to ensure reliable recipes and reproducibility. Our ongoing investment into advanced equipment, combined with the expertise of technologists within our coloration laboratory, ensures that our products meet the needs of customers and open new opportunities through innovation.

Our highly skilled research and development team, combining strong academic foundations with extensive industry experience, has positioned Heathcoat Fabrics as a leading manufacturer of complex technical textiles. Our talented researchers, technicians, and engineers specialise in developing fabrics and chemical finishes that can be tailored to individual customer needs.

Our research and development processes include the ability to accurately simulate the production process to generate fabric samples for systemic testing in our laboratories; assess performance of finishes on a small scale and subsequently analyse and interpret results.