top of page
Writer's pictureBhagchandra Rajak

THE COMPLETE GARMENT MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

Updated: Feb 9, 2021

The clothes we wear are mostly made of textile fabrics. The textile fabrics are made of from yarns in weaving and knitting process. Fabrics are converted into wearable garments through the garment manufacturing process in the garment factories. At the time of garment making, functional trims and accessories are attached to the garment at various stages.


Image sources .. wix.com

This article will exhibit you how the clothes are made and its procedures from material to the completed product. Remember, there are specific approaches of making garments. The most traditional manner of making the readymade clothes in mass manufacturing is defined here.

The entire garment manufacturing process, sub-processes and things to do concerned in every sub-processes can't be protected in one single article. To assist you out to examine it absolutely I have given hyperlinks for your in addition analyzing on a number of phrases and processes.

As you are studying this article, I am assuming that you are a learner or a would-be garment entrepreneur or you would possibly be planning to begin a enterprise in the garment manufacturing industry. I make certain you that you will locate a useful guide as soon as you examine this post. Though these are the primary understanding of the garment manufacturing process, you will get the entire overview of the garment manufacturing.



Garment manufacturing Workflow

I have proven the garment manufacturing workflow and mentioned the steps worried in the manner of garment making. For a usual garb product, the garment manufacturing workflow appears like the following -


Some of the above tactics are parallel method and can be carried out simultaneously.






See the Garment manufacturing method waft chart of a ordinary garment product. This chart would assist you apprehend the manner glide in a higher way.


As a garment maker, garment factories usually buy material from the a variety of cloth suppliers. Prior to sourcing the fabric, there are some pre-production techniques dealt with by way of the manufacturing facility merchandiser.

Following steps are concerned in the pre-production stage.

  • Pattern making,

  • Garment sampling,

  • Fabric development,

  • Fabrics and trims approvals,

  • Fabric and trims sourcing,

  • PP assembly

Pattern Making

From the design sketch and product specification sheet, garment patterns are made through a technical character (also referred to as as pattern master). To reduce the cloth for making any type of garb product, you want a template for extraordinary physique parts. These paper templates are referred to as as a pattern.



The first sample of a plan is made at the time of prototype making. The patterns are modified and corrected as the pattern improvement advanced and patterns are graded at some point of measurement set pattern making. The remaining patterns are permitted after the PP pattern approval.


Nowadays most of the designers and garment factories use CAD structures for making the patterns. The CAD device has every other gain in maker making, as a substitute of guide marker making marker papers are printed by using a plotter. The markers are correctly made through CAD device and cloth utilization can be improved.

Sampling

Factories improve garment samples and take approvals on the pattern from their buyers. Without pattern approval, the manufacturing facility is no longer allowed beginning the bulk process. Factories want to enhance more than a few sorts of samples at a number of tiers of pattern development.


Read about specific sorts of garment samples. Garment producers comply with the product tech pack to put together the garment pattern as nicely as the bulk production.


In the sampling stage, manufacturing facility learns the garment building small print and cloth required for a given order. The sampling branch is additionally work as a lookup and improvement (R&D) area for the factory. Sampling technique helps manufacturing crew begin the bulk manufacturing except many issues.


A pre-production assembly is performed at the manufacturing unit through the merchandising team. In this assembly product design, manufacturing agenda and responsibilities, customer requirement in all issue of product quality, and manufacturing completion closing date are discussed.

DEVELOPING FABRICS

Little about Fabrics: Textile fabric are reachable in three most important classes - knitted, woven and non-woven fabrics. Fabrics are manufactured in material mills, and electricity looms sectors. Later, greige fabric are completed as per the buyer’s (garment manufacturers) requirement. The manufacturing unit solely wants to locate the fabric(s) that is required for the style/design.


Selection of fabric: There are heaps of cloth designs and cloth quality. Fabric choice is carried out primarily based on cloth pleasant required, like material color, fibre content, floor texture, hand feel, bodily and chemical properties. If the required cloth is already accessible in the market, manufacturing unit purchases these fabric from the stock. For this manufacturing unit want to discover a number locations for discovering the required fabrics. Otherwise, they work with the cloth provider to advance the favored cloth quality.




Fabric development: The garment maker offers the material pleasant requirement to the cloth provider for growing a new material design. At the cloth improvement stage, the negotiation of cloth fee is achieved with the cloth vendors. Lab dip and desk loom are developed at this stage prior to bulk material order. Prior to bulk sourcing, cloth pattern is examined to take a look at whether or not the favored satisfactory is matched with the developed cloth or not. For yarn dyed stripes knits material knit-down is developed.


Garment maker takes approval of bulk material by using sending a material swatch to the buyer.

FABRIC SOURCING FOR BULK

Fabric sourcing: How lots material is required for every garment? What is the common material consumption for bulk production? At this stage, there are few calculations on material consumption per garment. This work is accomplished through sample making branch (CAD department). Based on the material consumption, whole material requirement is generated for an order and the identical is sourced from the pre-approved cloth supplier. The fabric are in-house in the manufacturing facility or in a central warehouse of the company.


Fabric satisfactory inspection: Whether the fabric are bought from the purchaser nominated cloth suppliers or from the open market, garment makers are now not certain whether or not all the fabric are besides fault and defect free. So cloth checking is an vital process. The material might also be required to take a look at a hundred percent or can be checked randomly based totally on cloth exceptional received. For an example, four Point System is used by way of the factories for material inspection and cloth exceptional grading.


Some material assessments like material GSM, cloth shrinkage and coloration bleeding in washing are completed by using the factory. If the cloth shrinkage is extra than the allowance, fabric are pre-shrunk for bulk cutting. Sometimes patterns are modified in accordance to the material shrinkage which offers the right size in the garment after washing.


Fabric sorting and color banding: It is a frequent truth that when fabric are sourced in bulk, the fabric are processed in extraordinary loads (batches) relying on dyeing computing device capacity. So, there are possibilities of having colour variant of fabrics of equal colors. To keep away from color variant in clothes color band is organized via the factory.


Sourcing for trims and accessories: Similar to cloth sourcing all required trims and add-ons are purchased. Trims and add-ons are sourced in superior to production start. Trims requirement is calculated primarily based on the trims consumption per garment.

Quality checking of trims and accessories: Quality of the trims are inspected and accredited for production. Trims like laces, twill tapes, button, zippers, and draw cords are examined for colour bleeding. Defective and broken trims are separated and are now not used in garments.

PRODUCTION PLANNING

All the techniques and things to do are deliberate and scheduled in increase through the manufacturing planner. Production planning group executes and controls manufacturing activities. They hold song of the authentic procedure things to do to make sure on-time order completion. A time and motion calendar is organized through the planning crew for manufacturing scheduling and controlling. Mostly the T&A is made by using a merchandiser.

CUTTING PROCESS

Fabric is the most steeply-priced object in garment manufacturing. About 60-70% price of the garment is incurred in fabrics. For this reason, garment makers accurately make use of fabrics. Some of these cloth saving pointers in the reducing room truely assist garment makers to keep cloth as nicely as money.


Cutting Flow chart
Cutting Flow chart


Bulk fabric cutting using a straight knife cutting machine

The bulk slicing is completed by means of potential of slicing machines. Different kinds of material slicing machines are on hand for bulk cutting. Before the slicing of fabric, reduce order format is organized and the cloth is taken from the cloth keep in accordance to the requirement. Following steps are observed in the slicing section.


Fabric spreading: First the material rolls are opened and unfold on a reducing desk layer by using layer. This manner is finished with the aid of hand or by using the use of an computerized spreading machine. The size of the layer is determined primarily based on the marker measurement and marker length. Multiple numbers of cloth layers are unfold on the desk and all the material layers are reduce together. Depending on the cloth thickness wide variety of plies in a lay is decided. Normally the top of the lay is saved in accordance to the slicing desktop blade height.


AUTOMATIC FABRIC SPREADER
AUTOMATIC FABRIC SPREADER

Image source.. alibaba.com


Marker making: For guide marker making, cutter use paper sample for marking and use chalk to mark outlines of the patterns. After marking the outlines on the lay, patterns are eliminated and the cutter follows the define to reduce the garment parts.




Component numbering on the marker: Normally in a marker, extra than one garment is reduce and garment might also be of distinctive sizes. To keep away from mixing of one-of-a-kind garment sizes in the course of bundling and sorting, the dimension is marked on the pinnacle layer after guide marking. For automated reducing or paper printed marker, this marking is no longer required, as all patterns are already come with fashion and measurement marking.


Lay Cutting: After marker making, the lay is reduce via the usage of a slicing machine. For a single ply and a small quantity of plies, hand scissors are used.


Ply numbering: Ply numbering is carried out to all the garment components. This procedure is blanketed to keep away from colour variant in the garment aspects of the identical garment. In single piece manufacturing device bundle numbering is now not required. A hand laptop is used for numbering the reduce plies.


Sorting and Bundling: Cut aspects are sorted through size, color, and bundle size. Then bundling is achieved and saved in the reducing room. A ticket (bundle tag) is connected to the bundle to pick out the factor and fashion details.


Dispatch cuttings to stitching section: Cut bundle are despatched to stitching part as per the want of stitching flooring and loaded to the line. Some factories choose to ship the complete lay to stitching part and bundling of the layer are achieved on the manufacturing line.


Quality checking in slicing section: In the slicing section, exceptional of the reduce aspects like notches, sample shape, aspects measurement, and most important material defects (hole in the fabric, reduce mark etc.) are checked. Parts dimension is taken from the top, center and backside plies and in contrast with the genuine patterns, and shapes etc.


Practices, and Technology to examine and discover the garment manufacturing procedures accompanied by using garment producers and exporters.

PRINTING AND EMBROIDERY

Printing and embroidery methods are price brought however an non-obligatory process. Printing on the garment is performed at both material stage or after slicing of garment components. For small set up, this is now not essential to set-up facility for printing and embroidery process. If required printing and embroidery tactics are outsourced.

Garment Stitching

After slicing and printing manner (optional process), reduce aspects are despatched to stitching department. Operators sew and collect garment aspects one via one and make the entire garment. At the time of sewing, clothes are checked by means of satisfactory checkers. Stitched clothes are dispatched to ending or washing branch if washing is required.


GARMENT STITCHING FLOOR
GARMENT STITCHING FLOOR

The garment stitching process involved following sub-processes.


· Part preparation

· Marking

· Folding and pressing

· Stitching/assembling

· Quality checking

In the stitching section, operators are additionally furnished a variety of stitching materials like stitching threads, stitching computer needle, trims, operation unique courses and attachments.


Parts Preparation: Before assembling the garment, person garment components are organized in the preparatory section. For an example, in shirt manufacturing, shirt collars, sleeve cuffs and sleeves are organized in the preparatory area and later loaded in the shirt assembling section. The preparatory part is delivered in the line to enhance line balancing. Be cited preparatory area is now not required for merchandise like t-shirt, boxer, leggings.


Marking part: In a garment, some section requires marking to connect one garment aspect to every other precisely. Marking is generally completed via the usage of chalk or magic pencil by way of the use of a template or laser ray.


Like in a formal shirt for button holing and button attachment, the front plackets are marked manually to outline the right area of the button positioning. The marking technique helps operator determining the place the job desires to be accomplished accurately.


Part folding and pressing: Depending on the requirement an operator might also want to fold the aspect and press it via capacity of a template. Like, chest pocket is folded and pressed prior to attaching the pocket on the chest.

Assembly section: The garment factors are assembled via the operators step with the aid of step in a sequence of product construction. To sew clothes extraordinary sorts of stitching machines are used.


Quality inspection on the floor: On the stitching floor, stitching fine is checked through the checkers. Normally the semi-stitched clothes are checked to discover the stitching faults. The checker suggests a answer to the operator who is accountable for making the defects. Inline satisfactory inspection, roaming inspection, and end-of-line excellent checking are accomplished on the sewing floor.

Production line set-up: The stitching ground requires a most range of manpower in a garment manufacturing devices inclusive of stitching desktop operators, helpers, pressman, alteration tailor, feeder, facts collection, work-study officer, best checker and line supervisors.


In mass garment production, the manufacturing line design and line putting are executed prior to loading each new product (style). The industrial engineers put together the operations bulletin and line layout. In the operation bulletin, they estimate manpower requirement and laptop requirement to produce the goal quantity. Learn extra about the industrial engineer in the garb manufacturing from my blog.


Production Reporting: Production statistics shooting and reporting is an fundamental phase of the garment manufacturing. Production and first-class associated records are amassed to song the manufacturing and monitoring the production. Various sorts of manufacturing reviews are made and analyzed through a factory. Apparel producers put together a file on key performance indicators (KPI) of the a number production departments.

Garment Washing

Washing is carried out to eliminate dust and dirt from the garments. Washing method includes extra cost, so this system is executed solely if the client asks for washing of their orders. More than simply cleansing of garments, washing is additionally carried out to supply washed seem to the completed garment with special kinds of finishes.

Garment Finishing

All the apparel articles are completed prior to sending to customers. Even a tailoring store does ending of tailor-made shirt and pants. So what activities are generally performed at the garment ending stage? Here is a quick listing of garment ending processes.


GARMENT PRESSING
GARMENT PRESSING

Thread trimming: In case clothes include uncut threads – left via stitching operator at some stage in stitching, threads are reduce at this stage. Uncut threads can be trimmed with the aid of guide trimmer or a thread trimming machine.


Removing the sticker and loose threads I have referred to above that in slicing department, all the garment aspects are labeled with the aid of paper stickers. Those stickers are eliminated manually by means of a crew of workers.

Initial garment checking: This checkpoint is positioned prior to ironing the garments. Visual inspection and dimension checking are executed in the preliminary checking. Finishing checkers take a look at for unfastened and uncut threads, ply numbering stickers, garment construction, garment labeling, workmanship and size after washing / non-wash.


Checkers additionally take a look at for stitching defects in seams, material defects in the garment and any different type of defects these want to be repaired. So, at this stage checkers segregate the faulty clothes and faulty clothes are despatched to the restore section.


All stitching defects are despatched to a restore tailors. Defect like stains and difficult stains, faulty clothes are given to stain removers. Small jobs like thread trimming and eliminating of stickers are accomplished via the checker.


Garment pressing: The garment portions are pressed with the aid of an iron. Normally steam iron is used for processing cotton garments. In this process, creases and wrinkles in unfinished clothes are eliminated and provide a clean seem to the clothing products. Different sorts of urgent gear are accessible for garment pressing. Depending on the product and manufacturing volume, the proper urgent tools is used.


STEAM IRON
STEAM IRON


Final garment checking: The pressed clothes are rechecked for dimension and visuals inspection. Shade variation, right labeling of dimension and content material labels are test in this stage. Any faulty garment detected at this stage is dispatched returned for repairing.

Garment folding and packing

Folding: The completed garments are then folded in a specific dimension. Folding can be completed via the usage of a template too. The fee tags, dangle hags and any different sort of tags are connected to garment after folding. The garment folding kinds different relying on the article and consumers requirement. Sometimes the total garment is packed in a hanger except folding.


Packing: The folded garment is packed into a poly bag to hold it sparkling until it reached to the retail showroom. Different kinds of packing add-ons are used to maintain the garment in a preferred shape. Some merchandise are packed into paperboard cartons immediately besides packing it into a poly bag.


Carton packing: For the transport of the completed garment are packed into larger cartons.


Internal Audit: The packed clothes are then inspected for high-quality assurance of the outgoing completed products. This system is accompanied for inner first-class audit and to make certain that no faulty clothes are packed into the cartons.


Finished and geared up product: Finally the clothes are geared up for the cargo and geared up for the stop consumers.


Finished garments in a retail store
Finished garments in a retail store

A garment manufacturing agency prepares trendy running approaches (SOPs) relying on the product kind and machines they used. It is now not indispensable to observe all the steps defined above.


Manufacturers goal need to be producing exceptional merchandise in the shortest feasible time. Remember, all merchandise do no longer require go via the equal procedure flow. The manufacturing facility wishes to figure out what steps they ought to observe to whole the order.

Hope you have loved analyzing component lengthy article. Share this with your buddies and let them study the garment manufacturing manner from cloth to fashion.

269 views1 comment

1 Comment


Wasim Ali
Wasim Ali
Feb 08, 2021

very helpful

Like
bottom of page