A combination of a sprocket wheel and a rapier band employed in a rapier loom is improved for extending the service life of the rapier band. Each of the female holes formed in the rapier band for receiving teeth of the sprocket wheel is formed in a frustum-like shape. The teeth of the sprocket wheel have tooth surfaces each including a non-interference portion located above an expansion/contraction-insusceptible layer of the rapier band and an interference portion located underneath the expansion/contraction-insusceptible layer. The non-interference portions do not contact the tooth surfaces, while the interference portions are brought into contact with the wall surfaces of the hole formed in the rapier band when the band is wrapped around the sprocket wheel. Each non-interference portion has a curved surface generated by an involute curve, while each interference portion presents a curved surface which matches the shape of the corresponding wall surface of the female hole formed in the rapier band in the wrapped state thereof.