PARÁ SpA, manufacturer of awning fabrics and home textiles

PARÁ was founded in 1922 by Mario Parravicini with the objective of producing jacquard patterned woven fabric, primarily for the home textiles sector. In 1950 the range was expanded to include furnishing fabrics for outdoor use, such as garden furniture and umbrella fabrics and awning materials.

Mario Parravicini's sons Giuliano and Ambrogio Parravicini took the helm of the company in 1970 and transformed it into the PARÁ spa of today.

In addition to the company's original plant in Sovico (M1), a new production plant was built in Pontirolo Nuovo (BG). All production is now concentrated here on a 40,000 m2 site offering state-of-the-art weaving, bleaching, dyeing, printing and finishing facilities.

The main premises at Sovico, covering an area of 10,000 m², house the sales and administration departments and a large finished-goods warehouse.
PARA's overall production range is broken down as follows:

•	50% awning fabrics sporting the wellknown TEMPOTEST brand, which is characterized by sound, sturdy quality. These dyed fabrics are manufactured using an acrylic fibre specially adapted to outdoor requirements
•	50% furnishing and decorative fabrics made of cotton, synthetics and linen blends.

30% of the company's production is exported, with the USA and Japan gaining in importance alongside Western Europe as major purchasers of these exports.

The entire range of fabric and colour designs can be ordered from stock, ensuring a swift reaction to the requests and demands of customers.

Sample of the PARÁ collection at this year's Decosit Each piece-dyed article is available in 70 different colour designs. To facilitate a highly flexible reaction where patterned fabrics are concerned, PARA was the first company in the world to install a 36-colour rotary printing machine, which is complemented by a 24-colour printing machine.
Outside this product range, great importance is also attached to the production of exclusive designs for selected clients.

DORNIER airjet and rapier weaving machine installation of the company PARÁ PARÁ thus regards itself as a partner of its customers, with the ability to meet any request in the medium- to high-quality range extremely quickly on account of its modern machinery.

This was also one reason why, after conducting a one-year trial of several different types of weaving machine, the company decided to purchase the DORNIER machine family, comprising rapier and airjet weaving machines. These machines best meet the requirements for manufacturing double-width, heavy woven fabrics with high pick densities.

Since the beginning of 1995 PARÁ has been operating 46 DORNIER weaving machines, 3 Model HTV rapier weaving machines with a nominal width of 340 cm and 43 Model LWV air-jet weaving machines in nominal widths of 280 and 340 cm ranging product spectrum of the company economically.

The advantages of the system family are that both machine models are based on a standard basic machine of sturdy construction. All the assemblies used are virtually identical, apart from the respective filling insertion elements.
This uniformity also extends to the entire range of electronic features, such as user menus, sensor technology and the control system. As far as the overall mechanics and electronics are concerned, operating and maintenance personnel are thus dealing with universal systems of identical construction, making cross-qualification of stag feasible.

To consolidate and enhance its position in the global market, PARÁ will be exhibiting at the principal world trade fairs for household textiles and furnishing fabrics, including, Heimtextil in Frankfurt, Proposte in Como, Decosit in Brussels, Japantex in Tokyo, R97 in Stuttgart and L'Equip'Baie in Paris.