Albinas

It is my workshop and my life

Chief mechanic, Albinas Jaras, knows every sound that comes from the 250 machines within our sewing house. It hits you immediately, that Albinas is a happy man. Regardless of the question you ask him or what you ask him to do, he answers with a smile and a short burst of laughter. He also never gets annoyed by what you request of him.

“Of course, it can cause dispute with the management when I stop a sewing machine and consequently one of the production lines stops, without asking their permission. However, I know every single machine as if it was my own and after 26 years at Avadan, I can almost always hear the sound of a machine which needs servicing or is broken. I always stop it immediately and fix it, even though no one else can hear the difference in sound,“ tells Albinas as he also laughs.

All of the machines in the sewing room in Marijampole get a daily pad or maintenance check from the 62-year-old, Albinas, and his workers. The 50 Japanese ‘Yamato’ flatlock machines we have at our sewing house get a little extra love. These machines sew very flat and soft stitches which you can’t feel against your skin when you wear the clothing. Each machine costs €11.000, so they must not break. To adjust and regulate machines within that price range, it takes a lot of special tools, which there are plenty of in Albinas’ workshop. Everything hangs as straight as an arrow in their own specially chosen place, and no one, absolutely no one, gets to change that order. The photographer realises this when he dares to move the tools slightly. Albinas quickly hangs it back in its rightful place.

"The tools are my entire life. I know exactly where they should hang and lie, and when they should be used. The tools being in their correct places gives me the peace of mind I need to run the sewing house efficiently" tells Albinas and laughs