who has the best thread ?????

I totally agree! I like Madeira poly but I hate their shipping/handling fees! You don't have to buy directly from Madeira though. If you want Madeira checkout The PAS Store.

I use Fil-Tec's glide thread. Easy to use and very minimal breakage. Helps that their headquarters is 20 min down the road.

Frank

Yea, madeira irritated me too. I only use their thread until it runs out, then I use an Isacord equivalent. I like them because I get it for 7.50 per 5000m cone and can pick it up 5 minutes later from the warehouse. I'll have to check out the sessa thread though.

I had tried most all threads out there and was really pleased with King Star thread from the embroidery store. Its poly thread and seemed to have more shine than Madeira thread and ran smoothly.

Running 740 heads in our shop. Mostly Madeira Polyneon, with a small amount of RA mixed in where there's no Madeira color match. However, larger customers like us have much more leverage to deal with them on price & service charges. ;)

After 20 years in the business I still find Madeira to be unequaled in quality and consistency, and remain a loyal customer.

I run just under 900 embroidery heads, and have 58 Chenille heads.

I refuse to use Madeira just on principal.

That's nice, however the question was, "Who has the best thread?" not "Who do you choose to not deal with based on your 'principals'." ;)

Madeira, final answer. (though I will agree that Harry IS a hoot, and I do buy some other things from him)

Touché to you....

The question was also not "how many heads do you have"

"Running 740 heads" "I run just under 900 heads" ... Well, aren't you two big shots.

Typical school boys comparing who has the bigger "business" ;)

Although, I applaud people with "principals" I think the point trying to be made here is that we don't all start out with 740 heads or 900 heads. Everyone starts small. Its the people that help you when you are small that we remember and cherish most. (at least we should) If Maderia has been good to you, then by all means, go for it, but have they ALWAYS kissed you butt, even when you only had a handful of heads? I doubt it?

Maderia has NOT beed good to me, and I choose to give my business to a company that appreciates it, and if someday I could ever become as big as you boys I would not give Maderia my business. No matter how much levarage I've accrued.

Judging by some of the preceeding posts, I'm not alone, and there seems to be a line of PO'd thread heads forming as we speak.

Final Answer: Maderia - Thead good, company awful. However, the quality of the thread does not negate their "policy". They ain't Rolls Royce.

I run the screen printing side of our business but embroidery has always been our bread and butter. The owner refuses to use anything but madeira. I've been to shows and got samples for them to try out but they never do. I don't know why she refuses to use anything else. I showed her this thread last week and she didn't even blink. She says she gets madeira for a great price and nobody's quality comes close. But she couldn't really tell me how much she was paying per cone. Oh well, I'll be over there one day doing all the things that I've done to change the screen printing side for the better and I'll see for myself what thread is the best. But until then, I guess we'll be using madeira no matter how much it costs us over another equally as good thread, doesn't make sense to me. Oh, only 72 heads here, all Tajima.

I prefer isacord or madeira I use a toyota 850

If you haven't tried Iris thread, you might want to give it a look. Our parent company uses the thread in our plants, and we liked it so much we created a company to distribute it in the United States. It is available in poly and rayon and it's a terrific thread. Definitely comparable or better than RA or Madeira.

You can take a look at the thread online on the EnMart website.

Well ... Here is my "take" on it.

Yes Madeira makes great thread. Probably the best (in my opinion) BUT (isn't there always a but) I don't use them. I use mainly Robison-Anton Poly thread.

Why?

Cause Madeira pi**** me off .... Madeira charges you a 2% processing fee on ALL orders, regardless of size. Now, in this economy, the easies and best way to tick someone off is to charge them a "fee" for anything.

I understand getting a price break when ordering full cases of thread, I have no problem with that. Once they started tacking on all kinds of "order processing" fees, charged me a fortune for shipping. When their warehouse is an hour from me.

There is absolutely NO reason for an order processing fee, just raise your prices by 2% and avoid the argument. They should be happy to take my order.

I have had no issues with Robison Anton, the thread runs fine, very few breaks, I typically run my machines in the 850spm range. I have mainly Barudans, with a few Tajima's here and there.

If you are in the Northest region of the US, shoot me a PM, and I'll give you the R.A. rep's contact info ... he's a great guy.

LOL @ Tyrko ...

That is the EXACT reason I don't use Madeira either!

I use Robison too, I have no problems, I use some Isacord, but I find it to be very linty.

I'm in Massachusetts, I take it your rep is Harry? He's a hoot!

I have about 200 Tajima heads and been doing embroidery since 1979. I have used many major brands like Madeira, Robison, gunold, Isacord and Salus.

All are good and they work great but I prefer the Salus thread over all of them since there quality is the same as Robison Anton at much lower prices. I pay $4.95 a cone for 5000m at http://www.sessatextile.com which is a bargain compare to the other threads.

They also have value packages at http://www.sessathread.com/acatalog/salus_thread_value_lot.html for $2 per cone.

Enjoy :)