Cobble (Vandewiele) Colortec: individually controlled needles and individual pile delivery (2018–2019)
Event · not yet checked at the source · Image permission pending
- Made by
- Cobble, a Vandewiele company
- Date
- IPD shown 2018; Colortec L+ launched 20–26 Jun 2019
- Place
- Blackburn (UK) / Kortrijk (Belgium); shown at ITMA Asia 2018 and ITMA 2019, Barcelona
- Held by
- Cobble / Vandewiele
- Themes
- Machine tufting & Dalton, Companies & modern tufting, Tools & equipment, Global diffusion of tufting
Cite this source
Research notes
Cobble's Colortec is a graphics tufting machine whose needles 'tuft only where pile is required'. A 2018 preview of Van de Wiele's ITMA Asia stand calls Individual Pile Delivery (IPD) for Colortec a key Cobble development, so the base Colortec existed by then. At ITMA 2019 (Barcelona, 20–26 June) Cobble launched the Colortec L+, which it called its most versatile tufting machine to date. It combines three Cobble technologies: ICN (individually controlled needle), IPD (individual pile delivery) and LCL (level cut/loop). Floor Trends later reported that Colortec could take an LCL attachment. A later patent application refers to individual needle selection 'used on the ColorTec® machine, of the applicant', so far only in cut pile. Why it matters: it is the European counterpart to ColorPoint, controlling each needle in a broadloom machine individually. Gap: the year the first Colortec was introduced was not found. Sources: https://www.textileworld.com/textile-world/2019/05/itma-2019-exhibitor-preview-cobble-a-vandewiele-company/ · https://innovationintextiles.com/interiors/cobbles-combinations-for-advanced-tufting-at-itma-2019 · https://www.innovationintextiles.com/van-de-wiele-innovations-at-itma-asia-2018 · https://www.floortrendsmag.com/articles/92218-cobble-s-colortec-machine-can-use-lcl-attachment Research note (Oct 2026): from search results; pages not opened.