• Linkdin

Interview with Joakim Staberg

Joakim Staberg
Joakim Staberg
Founder
Coloreel
Coloreel

Coloreel enables high-quality instant colouring of textile threads
Coloreel has successfully developed Embroline, an attachment for embroidery machines, which dyes threads in real time. The founder and innovator of Coloreel, Joakim Staberg, spoke to Fibre2Fashion about this new technology and its potential for the embroidery sector.

How does this new technology work?

Coloreel is a digital technology. The first product, Embroline, will be accompanied by our unique embroidery colouring software. With this software, you can make sure that each and every part of the thread has a suitable colour to match the embroidery design. You can create your own thread colouring effects and save them in libraries. If you would like to embroider grass, you can make an effect where the thread colour quickly changes between any number of green shades, to make your embroidered grass look more natural.
 

What is the growth story of Coloreel?

Coloreel AB is an innovative company based in Sweden driven by entrepreneurship with a clear focus to develop products and software based on the Coloreel technology for the textiles industry.
I founded the company Inventech Europe (parent company of Coloreel) in Jönköping, Sweden in 2003. My initial aim for Inventech was to help large corporations improve their products and businesses through technical solutions. Major research and work was made in a number of areas, including the textiles industry. Seeing the large amount of different coloured thread reels needed in various types of textile production, I came up with the idea of instantly dyeing a thread to any chosen colour while it is being used in a production process. Further research identified many limitations and significant improvement potential for production processes using pre-dyed textile threads. In mid-2009, a decision was made to dedicate all company resources solely to the development of innovative thread dyeing solutions for the textiles industry. That is how Coloreel company was born.

What is the Embroline technology all about?

The unique Coloreel technology enables high-quality instant colouring of textile threads while the thread is being used in textile production. Many of these functions are similar to the functions in a textile printer. Each and every part of the thread length can be dyed into any chosen solid colour or smooth transitions between colours. These unique possibilities open up quite an amazing potential. The first product to be launched based on this technology is Embroline, a ground-breaking standalone thread colouring attachment for embroidery machines that can easily be used with any type of embroidery machine without modifications. By instantly dyeing only one single thread (Embroline thread) instead of several standard pre-coloured threads during the embroidery production, it allows complete freedom to create unique embroidery designs as well as colouring possibilities never seen before and vastly improves overall production efficiency.

Does Embroline work with all types of threads and embroidery machines?

By utilising the patented Coloreel technology, machines can be built for colouring threads made of any type of fibre. Embroline uses a unique white Embroline thread based on polyester. Once the thread has been dyed by Embroline and the embroidery is finished, it can instantly be used and washed without further post-treatment.

What is the production capacity of Embroline? Does it need to be changed after a specific interval?

The embroidery machine pulls the thread from the Embroline attachment with a thread speed that is decided by the stitch lengths in the embroidery produced. When you see that the Embroline thread reel is finished, you change it to a new reel. Embroline will inform the user when the ink cartridges are finished. An ink cartridge will normally last for months, for most embroidery producers.

What are the major advantages of Embroline?

The Embroline attachment offers a solution to some of the greatest challenges in the embroidery industry. Requiring only one reel of thread per embroidery head and ink cartridge, Embroline will take the industry to a new level. The challenging handling of a large stock of thread reels and the tedious rethreading of the embroidery machines may soon be nothing but a memory. Embroline vastly improves overall production efficiency. The benefits of Embroline are immense. Embroidery manufacturers will always have exactly the right colour available when they need it. The only materials required are the Embroline base thread and ink cartridges. No spool replacement means minimal wastage. The reduced need for thread cuts means a minimum of lockstitches on the back of the textile and a higher embroidery quality along with increased production speed. The Coloreel technology is a completely new and different approach, allowing the user to produce a thread with any number of solid colours and/or soft transitions in any lengths and repetitions.

Tell us something on the R&D that went into it.

The R&D for the Coloreel technology has been excessive and conducted for more than seven years under strict confidentiality. The reason for the confidentiality was that the company wanted to file a number of patent applications on key functionality before telling the world what is about to emerge.

Embroline was showcased at the recently held Avantex Paris trade fair? What kind of response did it get at the event?

From September 2016 to February 2017, the two times that we have participated at Avantex Paris, the response from the audience has been very positive. We have been contacted by some of the most exclusive fashion brands, some of the largest companies within the apparel and the embroidery industries and some leading textile machine producers.

How will the technology develop further in the future?

Later on we will expand into other areas such as sewing, knitting, weaving, etc. This may be done through corporations or licenses on our technology.

Which countries will you focus on to begin with?

Our focus at the beginning will be Europe and North America targeting the small and medium commercial embroidery producers, retailers and designers, before moving towards large embroidery producers.

When will you start shipping Embroline? How much will it cost?

Regarding the price and shipping time, we will release more details later this year.
Published on: 11/04/2017

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.