Embroider Braille - exclusive for ZSK embroidery machines

Whether business shirt or favourite sneaker – you can embroider almost every thing

With the help of a patented embroidery technique, all textiles can be embroidered with Braille characters. Compared with the usual embroidery techniques, the necessary convexity is brought about to guarantee the legibility of the individual dots of the Braille printing.

Essential information whether initials for the identification of class uniforms, colour indications or care instructions can be embroidered onto all textiles. The embroidered guidance hardly modifies the fabric and neither reduces wear comfort nor care.

About Braille

The Braille font, shortly Braille, is a writing system made up of dot patterns for blind people. In order to read them, the dot patterns are felt out with the finger tips. Each character consists of 6 dots, resulting in 64 possible combinations. Thus, letters, numbers, musical scores and many other symbols are educible.

The Braille was invented as early as 1825 by Louis Braille. Louis Braille, blind himself since his 4th year of life, longed for greater independence from others, unwilling to only listen to what was being read to him, but rather perceive and experience for himself. Due to the will of blind or visually impaired people, Braille has seen a worldwide triumph ever since. Today, Braille is an indispensable tool for blind people to actively participate in education, professional life as well as daily routine in general.

Technical solutions for the visually impaired

Since the days of Louis Braille, the possibilities of blind and extremely visually impaired people to get aware of and identify existing information have advanced; today, for the most part, however, in the affluent and highly developed nations, a good many of information is often available by technical solutions like talking scanners.

Nevertheless, in the textile sector, such solutions are only partly feasible. Badges like RFID-chips provide enough space for information, in addition to being washable, however, are a perceptible disturbing factor on textiles and articles of daily use such as towels, shirts, shoes, socks and many more.

Moreover, they are readable only with special equipment which is not always within one´s reach. On top of this it must be considered that on a global level, the majority of the persons concerned are too poor for the purchase of such technical devices. Yet, this matters considerably for the textile production on an industrial scale.

The newly developed solution applies here. With the help of this patented procedure, it is possible to embroider the Braille alphabet on textiles.

This process

is comparatively cost efficient,
generates information which is embroidered with the same material,
generates information which is “readable” without further auxiliary means,
provides information for any interested party.

Braille for textiles

Visually impaired people are facing a lot of problems. To manage these difficulties, they always need innovative ideas to alleviate their everyday routine. With a new, patented procedure, texts and symbols are now embroiderable in Braille by ZSK-embroidery-machines. That will simplify orientation in the daily-life of many blind people.

Choosing clothes is important for many blind persons. They see less to nothing, but they are seen remarkably well in most cases. Therefore, it is important, to be able to trust in their outfit. They need assistance with the choice of their apparel.

Embroidered indications enable blind people to handle this situation on their own. They do not need any longer inaccurate and expensive technical devices, like colour or barcode scanners. Non-textile differentiators, like metal- or plastic-sheets become dispensable. They limit wear comfort and care of the garments and there is always a risk of damaging the textiles with foreign materials in the washer or drier.

Embroidered Braille as a mass-product

Embroidering Braille industrially has often been tried without success. The problem of destroying the pillar fabric while embroidering, was solved firstly in a cooperation with ZSK STICKMASCHINEN.

The newly invented procedure preserves the textile, and actually the dots are still readable after accidental over-ironing. A convexity of 0.4mm guarantees the readability.

The newly invented method to embroider Braille industrially opens a lot of new opportunities. Formerly single garments had to be embroidered with high effort e.g. to help blind children distinguishing their clothes. Now, everyone has the chance embroider textiles with Braille in high or low quantities with only little effort.

It also creates new opportunities for designers, who can design individual clothing especially for blind people.

Textiles, like garments, beddings, towels or bags are marked and individualized for many different reasons and sectors. To these belong sport or working clothes, or catering and hotel industry. Another possible area of use for embroidered Braille is the production of advertising material, particularly for blind people.

Breaking down barriers

Applying differentiators or care instructions to textiles offers a lot of opportunities to simplify the daily work and leisure of blind people. The enhanced self-determination improves the accessibility to public life, too. This fulfills the demands of various UN and EU resolutions and laws and leads to a higher quality of life for visually impaired people.

Requirements for embroidering Braille on ZSK embroidery machines

Braille embroidery with ZSK embroidery machines

ZSK embroidery-machines are perfectly suited for individualization of textiles with embroidery in Braille.

To embroider Braille-letters with ZSK embroidery machines you just need just a company network, a connected computer with the software BasePac 10 and the Braille option.

BasePac translates the text into Braille and sends the stitch-data to the machine via network. You only need the option “Braille”. BasePac 10 is an embroidery software for the embroidery industry.

It is easy to understand and use the software.

When pile fabric, like velvet or terry cloth, or mesh is used, there lies a slick surface of backstitches around the dots. By this, the readability of the Braille-dots is ensured. A series of tests with visually impaired people of all ages yielded the best convexity for each dot and the height of the letters.

With ZSK tubular system machines SPRINT- or RACER you can deal with your high or low quantity orders effortlessly. They are perfectly suited to individualize shoes, caps or shirts.

For high amounts of industrial production the ZSK flatmode-machines with up to 56 heads are best.