Shima Seiki has launched yarnbank, its new digital yarn sourcing web service. Yarnbank is the world’s first online web service for searching and viewing the latest yarns, developed with cooperation from yarn companies from around the world. Shima Seiki of Wakayama, Japan, is one of the leading solutions provider in the fashion textile industry.

Registered users have free access to the yarnbank archive of yarn information and digital yarn data. Users can also download yarn data for free, for use in fabric simulation and virtual sampling on SDS-onE APEX4 design system as well as APEXFiz subscription-based design software likewise announced last month. Users can, thereby, avoid the need to scan yarn on their own.

By using yarn that is available for actual production, users can further rest assured that their simulations created using yarnbank are not merely realistic images but accurate representations using yarn that can actually be purchased and used in production. Such clear communication is possible with yarnbank by bringing together each player in the supply chain, spinner, knit manufacturer, and apparel companies, and connecting them digitally to eliminate trial-and-error sample making that is the legacy of obsolete analogue fashion production, according to a media statement by Shima Seiki.