RPS Manufacturing Solutions & Merrow's MG-3U

The Merrow Stories are pouring in! This story came via email from RPS Manufacturing Solutions in Wolfforth, Texas. In this video, you can see our Merrow MG-3U putting the finishing touches on a patch:

RPS Solutions have spent the last 25 years leading the development and delivery of products that make the workplace safer for the everyday person. Their products provide breathability in the harshest environments, industry-leading protection, regulated temperatures, and enhanced productivity for workers all over the world. They carry all types of uniforms for both warm and cold climates including coveralls, bibs, bomber jackets and parkas. And, if you need those uniforms customized with reflective striping, patches, embroidery, or any other kind of personalization, RPS Solutions has the capabilities to get it done fast, all under one roof! 

"We love our Merrow machine, we started out making 200 patches a month but now produce over 5000 custom patches a month and are looking to expand even more….we look forward to buying a new machine very soon!"

- Sally Vento, RPS Manufacturing Solutions

 

We asked RPS a few questions about what role the MG-3U plays in their production and how Merrow has helped improve their product or production. "We apply name branding and custom logo branding on the spot, MTO [made to order].  No stocking or minimum order requirements." Merrow has enabled RPS to incorporate "a unique concept to personalizing work apparel" through "being able to customize and add names" for any order.  

Do you have photos or videos of a Merrow in-action you'd like to submit to our Merrow Stories series? Send us a message and we'll send you a free t-shirt, it's THAT simple! Our favorite submissions will continue to be shared on our blog, so keep checking back for more!

Send us your story today!

Join the Movement: Introducing ActiveSeam 2.0

JOIN THE MOVEMENT:

Add value to your product with the only branded, technically-superior stitch.

INTRODUCE ActiveSeam 2.0 INTO YOUR PRODUCT TODAY!

From performance apparel to medical compression, ActiveSeam improves product performance and leads the industry as the first branded marketable stitch, bringing purpose-built stitching and improved garment construction from the sewing floor to the point of sale.

What is the ActiveSeam 2.0 Platform?

The ActiveSeam 2.0 platform is driven by Merrow's MB-4DFO-2 Series machines. The MB-4DFO-2 series platform accommodates a wide variety of needles and feed eccentrics, including two different needle plates and up to six different needle sizes. It also includes six distinct versions of the machine, allowing users to work on projects with a multitude of variations, from lightweight to heavyweight material, or from general to specialized applications.

MODEL VARIATIONS

MB-4DFO 2.1 - for lightweight knits
MB-4DFO 2.2 - for midweight knits, including rip-stop nylon, outer layers, lightweight fleece, or upholstery
MB-4DFO 2.3 - for mid to heavy-weight material, specifically footwear, including mesh
MB-4DFO 2.4 - with a wider slim, comfort, and infused stitch for knits or industrial fabrics
MB-4DFO 2.5 - for medical and compression garments
MB-4DFO 2.7 - for high lift/high pile materials

• When compared to a 6-thread flatlock seam with identical thread, fabric, and SPI, Merrow ActiveSeam 2 & 3-thread seams proved to be more than 30% stronger and had the ability to stretch (linear travel) 100% further
• With twice the stretch built into the seam, and a flat profile, Activeseam garments are extraordinarily comfortable and do not restrict athletic movement
• ActiveSeam 2.0 accommodates a wide variety of needles and feed eccentrics, including two different needle plates and up to six different needle sizes
• The MB-4DFO​-2​ machines have also been shown to increase production speed: "...we just finished a time study and 'Mrs. Betty Blue' [MB-4DFO​-2​] has cut our production time almost in half." - Kate Sauls, Livell Co.

With ActiveSeam 2.0, the possibilities are truly endless!

• ActiveSeam’s 3D Infused stitch allows users to add design without sacrificing function
• ActiveSeam is almost undetectable when applied next to skin
• With more stretch built into the seam, the garment can be designed to fit the human body better without restricting athletic movement

ActiveSeam is the future of seam and garment construction. Individuals or companies interested in learning more about ActiveSeam are encouraged to contact Merrow to have samples generated at the Merrow Stitch Lab. The Merrow Stitch Lab is an opportunity for individuals or companies to collaborate on the development of product in a unique and creative environment, connecting the designer to the factory and yielding practical, production-ready solutions for the construction of new products.

What can ActiveSeam by Merrow do for YOU? 

Medical Compression

Neoprene Fabrics

Athletic Apparel

Men's & Women's Apparel

HAVE A DESIGN LAB AND WANT TO SEE

WHAT Merrow CAN DO FOR YOU?

Merrow has an Education and Designer Discount Program,

contact us to find out more.

LOOKING TO USE ActiveSeam 

TO IMPROVE YOUR PRODUCTS? 

Merrow offers in-house, hands-on training, check out our

new training dates for 2017.

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT 

Merrow OR ActiveSeam?

Visit our ActiveSeam Website.

Any other questions? 

Feel free to email us for more information: alex.s@merrow.com

12 Merrow Sewing Machine Co. Training Dates in 2017!

12  NEW Merrow Factory
Training Dates

LET US KNOW IF YOU'RE INTERESTED ON FACEBOOK

ACTIVESEAM

January 12th & 13th

April 6th & 7th

July 13th & 14th 

October 5th & 6th 

EMBLEM

February 9th

May 4th 

August 10th

November 9th  

END TO END

March 9th 

June 8th

September 14th 

December 7th

In Living Colour

If you appreciate the elegance and beauty in mechanical mastery, then a walk through the Merrow facility is akin to a trip to the Louvre. Here's a few moments to wet your whistle: machines in colour. Machines as only Merrow can make them. #thestitchmatters www.merrow.com

Downloading Merrow Marketing Swag Just got Super Easy

We've made it easy to VIEW and DOWNLOAD Merrow marketing material right from the Merrow website. Everything you need for trade shows, showroom displays, and presentations is conveniently located under the "Marketing Downloads" section of the main menu in an easy to read, interactive flipbook. CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the full version with available downloads!

Taking Back Product Development - Merrow ActiveSeam in Apparel Online

As Merrow continues to increase its presence throughout the world, I thought I'd share a nice article featuring Merrow CEO Charlie Merrow and ActiveSeam. The article appeared in the April edition of Apparel Online Bangladesh and also calls out Merrow agent Hari Chand Anand & Co. who is helping spearhead ActiveSeam's proliferation in the Bangladeshi market. Enjoy.

Apparel Online, April 2014

Merrow Announces the Appointment of A&E as a Preferred Sewing Thread for ActiveSeam™

August 21, 2013. In its continued mission to build value into stitching, Merrow announces the appointment of A&E as a preferred sewing thread for the ActiveSeam™ branded stitch.  Headquartered in Mount Holly, NC, A&E has distribution points in over 41 countries and is a supplier of industrial sewing thread to the world's leading apparel brands and manufacturers.

Read more about the A&E announcement here

ActiveSeam  (www.activeseam.com) is defined  as much by its marketability as its distinct comfort, appearance, and dynamic performance, and the appointment of A&E as a preferred sewing thread is yet another way that Merrow is pioneering a new way to develop, produce, and market value in sewn products. To learn more about the branded stitch revolution, visit www.activeseam.com.

A&E's Anesoft®, Perma Core® and Anefil Polyester®  threads have been proven by the Merrow Stitch Lab™ to maximize ActiveSeam's performance in many apparel products, and each brand is bolstered by A&E's promise to to deliver exact color, superior quality and innovative products.

In addition to their longstanding commitment to Environmental Health & Safety, Sustainability, and Social Responsibility, A&E's technical expertise and global capabilities ensure that as new ActiveSeam applications emerge, there will be an A&E thread to compliment its application.

Setting Up for ActiveSeam Training

+Nate Murray sets up the table that will be used as the "ActiveSeam training station" (yes, in reality he does have a face).  And the end result, ActiveSeam garments:

Stay tuned world.

Merrow Brand Sewing Machines for a variety of applications

the Merrow Brand Sewing Machine has defined a series of categories for more then 150 years.

Today we're going to list the top ten markets in which Merrow Brand Sewing Machines are best of class:

1. Hosiery - Merrow manufactures the 4D series machines for hosiery, toe-closing and decorative stitching.

2. Continuous Processing - the 70 and 72 class machines are designed specifically for joining materials together with a flat seam

3. Hemming - the Merrow 2D series machines were once the industry standard hemming machines, and have since been replaced with inexpensive japanese and chinese alternatives. The Merrow 2D machines continue to be the most refined and most reliable for industrial hemming

4. General Overlocking with a concentration on Medium to Heavyweight overlock sewing - the Merrow 3DW series machines are the best performing industrial overlock sewing machine for Sweaters, Fleece, and mid-weight wools. You can seam or edge your designs with these machines and like  all Merrow Machines they last a lifetime.

5. Emblems - the Merrow 3U machine is quite simply the best in the world for edging emblems

The New Emblem Application Page

6. Purl Stitching- the 2DNR series machines from Merrow lay out the tightest most delicate edge that can be sewn on fabric - bar none. There is no other sewing machine that can put as tight a purl edge on silks and delicate fabrics as the 2DNR machines. For lingerie the 2DNR machines are ideal.

7. Netting - Our 3DGE series machines for sewing laundry bags and seaming light nets
8. Shell Stitching - the Q series machines sew a high speed shell as a decoration on light and medium fabrics and can be applied with a mirrored backing allowing for reversible product

9. Crochet Stitching - Merrow has a complete line of crochet stitching machines, and manufactures the only high speed crochet machines in the world. The blanket stitch, large shell stitching and
10. Athletic Seaming - the new FS1 series of machine is built to create flat stitching that can replace a two needle coverstitch for athletic equipment. This machine was released in 2009 for testing and has since quickly been adopted as a replacement for high-end athletic apparel.

Merrow's 70-Y3B-2 Butted Seam w/ Stitch Multiplier

For Strengthening Selvages

Video: How to Multiply a Stitch on a 70-Y3B-2

The Merrow 70-Y3B-2 industrial sewing machine is a butted seam machine that has a unique non-differential mechanism that doubles the stitch count during sewing. By pressing the 70-Y3B-2's manual lever, an operator can increase the number of stitches to add strength to a seam where required, particularly a at fabric selvages. A single thread machine with cutters, the 70-Y3B-2 can operate on either a table or railway mounting, and can be configured with a number of options to meet the demands of virtually any environment, material, or application.

DOWNLOAD A PDF LINE CARD OF THIS PRODUCT (881 KB)

For questions contact your local agent or email us at sales@merrow.com to find an agent.

New Marketing Material for Merrow's Wet Seaming Solutions

Wet Seaming Solutions From Merrow
FOR USE IN TEXTILE FINISHING

The Merrow Industrial Air Motor is a standard mounting motor designed specifically for use in the wet and humid conditions of the textile finishing industry. The motor’s pneumatic system functions on compressed air, which not only creates a natural cooling process that makes it suitable for temperatures up to 250° F, but also eliminates the risk of electrical injury during operation.

DOWNLOAD A PDF LINE CARD FOR THIS PRODUCT (598 KB)

The Merrow 70-D3B-2_CNP Industrial Butted Seam Machine has been chemically nickel plated (CNP) to allow for sewing on wet fabric and protecting the machine from the damage and corrosion typical in wet textile finishing environments.

DOWNLOAD A PDF LINE CARD FOR THIS PRODUCT (750 KB)
If interested in marketing material for your website please contact nate@merrow.com and for additional images and graphics of these products please click here.

For pricing and availability please contact your local Merrow Agent, or call Merrow Sewing Machine Company at (508) 689.4095 to locate one.

Merrow Genuine Curved Needles

Through application and manufacturing testing, we've learned that our SDT needles outperform our D, SD, and DT needles. For this reason, as of August 2nd 2010, the D, SD, and DT lines will no longer be offered in sizes 5-8 and customers should instead order the SDT. With the SDT you get the same consistently high performance you expect from a Merrow Needle.

Remember, all of Merrow's Curved Needle models are engineered, crafted and sized to ensure that you produce an incredibly well-crafted stitch no matter your material or operating speed! To further guarantee that we can accommodate any application, we also offer specialty options such as Kooltorr and Titanium plating!

To learn more, click here to download our brochure!


Happy Fourth of July, and enjoy the long weekend!

Launch of New Travel Blog

... And I'm the new intern whose going to tell you about it, but more on me later ...

Thanks to Merrow's international business relationships the following months will be filled with plenty of traveling, working and meeting with Merrow customers, making new friends and seeing old ones, and who knows, maybe a little bit of intrigue. This blog will provide a separate space for our travel news, documenting all of our global exploits and the surprises along the way, and hopefully providing a forum for us here at Merrow to share our adventures with you and to learn about yours! Maybe there'll be a post about what its like to try the street food in Bangkok, or maybe you have some advice for us from your last trip to East Asia? Let us know!

The summer is kicking off this weekend with Charlie leaving on a 3 week trip that begins in the city of Shanghai. He'll then make his way East, heading to Bangkok June 29th and then up and over to Istanbul July 4th. Thanks to friends of mine, who

are either from Shanghai or have studied abroad there, I know a little bit about it (though admittedly not too much). It is apparently a city of contrasts where you're likely to be walking down a street on the level of say NYs Fifth Avenue, only to turn a corner and find yourself in a bustling street market, or perhaps the grittier, uncompromising side of town. Thanks to a class I took I also know that the metropolis is famous for its architectural heritage, filled with skyscrapers, and exhibiting styles as varied as modern, neoclassical, art deco, and traditional Jiangnan. I checked the weather for Shanghai, and apparently June is both the city's rainiest and most humid month—we'll have to wait until Charlie posts on the travel blog to see what he thinks of it. Be sure to check it out and keep an eye out for new posts!

Hope everyone gets to enjoy the sunshine and their Friday Afternoon!

Best,

Christine

the short story about the painting project at Merrow

on a southwest flight from Chicago a week or so ago I sat in the middle seat. after apologizing to the left and right I hunkered down for a couple, three hour flight back to providence, ri.

and then we start talking. an air force colonel (maybe lt. colonel) to the right and an artist to the left. He flew A-10 warthogs and stealth bombers, she had been in Albuquerque studying a technique of paint on tar-paper.

the great right brain left brain drama manifested in airplane seats. seriously, this was unreal.

he sent an email a couple days ago clarifying a sovereign airspace issue we discussed at some length.

she showed up in fall river and started painting. and we begin an interesting new project at merrow...



southwest airlines-- i've got to give you credit for the greatest middle seat flights i've ever taken.

thoughts on a bad economy

The turret is the hanging desk that i call home for the balance of the work day. On this desk sit a laptop connected to a monitor, a slew of papers, cup of coffee from Uncle Jon's and a bunch of other miscellany.

Here at the Turret for the past couple of weeks I've been having conversations that often include 'we're just going to wait it out -- get to the the other side [[of the recession]].' The last man standing type of thing.

Is it possible that this '..get to the other side..' idea is a responsible plan, ( considering it's offered almost unanimously)?

Can't be. It violates a simple rule I'd like to call the 'don't do what everyone else is doing' rule.

First of all there are a couple of broad stroke assumptions that, if wrong, screw you -- Let's not talk about 'the other side' as if we're crossing the delaware and there's a storm a brewin'.

Please.

What we're talking about is a future that may or may not resemble what we so resolutely believe it should be.

Second: i'd argue that the risk profile of 'waiting it out', likely is higher than the exact opposite, possibly defined as a situation where one does everything possible to influence the outcome.

In this case it is the people that take broad proactive steps to affect their future that may have the best possible chance of being in decent shape over the long haul.

The calls i'm taking seem to me one of the best indicators that now is the time to swing big. If you don't define the 'side' that you're struggling so hard to get to ... perhaps it doesn't exist.

the dark horse

Merrow makes a wide variety of machines; the sexy stuff is here and here and here.

The dark horse of the line is our 70 class machine. Used to join fabric together it is found in almost every textile mill. Most of the material that you're wearing, sitting on, looking at, was at one point rolling along a gigantic finishing machine where it invariably passed a Merrow 70 class machine.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

These machines are subject to some of the toughest conditions. They are often nickel plated to avoid corrosion.

Imagine dropping your sewing machine, hitting it with a hammer now and again, soaking it in bleach and running it without lubricant ..... for years on end. Would it still work?

That 70 class machine does... quietly and without incident

the move

What a day!

we've moved. and what a place we've moved to....


A long time ago Fall River, MA was the epicenter of fabric production. Out of our new south facing windows we look at the Durfee Buffington building; once the largest textile mill in the world.


Today we are residents of 502 Bedford St., and take up the top floor of a 132 year old Mill Building. Merrow is spread across 30,000 sq. feet with terrific views of a half dozen other mills, and most of Fall River.


It will take us another six to eight weeks to finish the renovation. But as of right now, we've got new digs. And it feels great.

latest merrowed edge find...

the peter nyguård collection posts this:

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a list of the world's oldest companies

Merrow is an old company....how old?

to put a fine point on it, it appears that Merrow is the 1356 oldest company still in business in the modern world. This is tracked back to 587 AD !

ok -- before i doubt on the data -- out of all of the companies that have ever existed... AND made it to today, there are only one thousand three hundred and fifty odd older than Merrow. wooohooo!

this according to the NationMaster encyclopedia

sometimes you don't want to be reminded of your age -- at 170 we're kinda past that. And, as I was emailed a link yesterday to a list of the world's oldest companies, i couldn't really help posting...

This list of the oldest companies includes brands and companies excluding associations, educational, government or religious organizations. To be listed; a Brand, Family Business or Company name must remain, either whole or in part, since inception. If the original name has since changed due to acquisitions or renaming, this must be verifiable on their website.

If you didn't click above, here is the list.

Ok. no one here is taking this seriously (not sure what about it would be serious anyway...) I mean who has business records back to 587AD. And what happened to the poor smithy who put out a shingle in 586? Big questions, little answers. In the mean time we should have shirts made up.... ;)

Stewart Brown, great design and Merrow Stitching...

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

We've been looking through the Stewart+Brown catalog, and I've got to tell you -- it's worth another look. Fantastic designs, a great ethic

Stewart+Brown believes in optimizing their designs and lives to attain the highest standards of quality and functional style while extracting the bare minimum from Earth's precious capital.

and lots of Merrow stitched clothing. Beautiful stuff.