Steps involved in garment manufacturing process
Ready to wear apparel or garment manufacturing involves many
processing steps, beginning with the idea or design concept and ending
with a finished product. Apparel manufacturing process involves Product
Design, Fabric Selection and Inspection, Pattern making, Grading,
Marking, Spreading, Cutting, Bundling, Sewing, Pressing or Folding,
Finishing and Detailing, Dyeing and Washing, QC etc.
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Receiving Fabrics
Garment factories receive fabric from overseas textile manufacturers
in large bolts with cardboard or plastic center tubes or in piles or
bags. The fabric typically arrives in steel commercial shipping
containers and is unloaded with a forklift. Garment factories often have
a warehouse or dedicated area to store fabric between arrival and
manufacturing.
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Fabric Relaxing
“Relaxing” refers to the process that allows the material to relax
and contract prior to being manufactured. This step is necessary because
the material is continually under tension throughout the various stages
of the textile manufacturing process, including weaving, dyeing, and
other finishing processes. The relaxing process allows fabrics to shrink
so that further shrinkage during customer use is minimized.
Garment manufacturers perform the relaxing process either manually or
mechanically. Manual fabric relaxing typically entails loading the bolt
of fabric on a spinner and manually feeding the material through a
piece of equipment that relieves tension in the fabric as it is pulled
through. Mechanical fabric relaxing performs this same process in an
automated manner.
Many garment manufacturers will also integrate quality assurance into
this process to ensure that the quality of the fabric meets customer
standards. This step is performed by manually spot-checking each bolt of
fabric using a backlit surface to identify manufacturing defects such
as color inconsistency or flaws in the material. Fabrics that fail to
meet customer standards are returned to the textile manufacturer.
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Spreading, Form Layout, and Cutting
After
the fabric has been relaxed, it is transferred to the spreading and
cutting area of the garment manufacturing facility. The fabric is first
to cut into uniform plies and then spread either manually or using a
computer-controlled system in preparation for the cutting process. The
fabric is spread to:
- allow operators to identify fabric defects;
- control the tension and slack of the fabric during cutting; and
- ensure each ply is accurately aligned on top of the others.
The number of plies in each spread is dependent on the fabric type,
spreading method, cutting equipment, and size of the garment order.
Next, garment forms—or patterns—are laid out on top of the spread,
either manually or programmed into an automated cutting system. Lastly,
the fabric is cut to the shape of the garment forms using either
manually operated cutting equipment or a computerized cutting system.
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Embroidery and Screen Printing
Embroidery
and screen printing are two processes that occur only if directly
specified by the customer; therefore, these processes are commonly
subcontracted to off-site facilities. Embroidery is performed using
automated equipment, often with many machines concurrently embroidering
the same pattern on multiple garments. Each production line may include
between 10 and 20 embroidery stations. Customers may request embroidery
to put logos or other embellishments on garments.
Screen printing is the process of applying paint-based graphics to
fabric using presses and textile dryers. Specifically, screen printing
involves sweeping a rubber blade across a porous screen, transferring
ink through a stencil and onto the fabric. The screen printed pieces of
fabric are then dried to set the ink. This process may have varying
levels of automation or may largely be completed at manually operated
stations. Like embroidery, screen printing is wholly determined by the
customer and may be requested to put logos or other graphics on garments
or to print brand and size information in place of affixing tags.
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Sewing
Garments
are sewn in an assembly line, with the garment becoming complete as it
progresses down the sewing line. Sewing machine operators receive a
bundle of cut fabric and repeatedly sew the same portion of the garment,
passing that completed portion to the next operator. For example, the
first operator may sew the collar to the body of the garment and the
next operator may sew a sleeve to the body. Quality assurance is
performed at the end of the sewing line to ensure that the garment has
been properly assembled and that no manufacturing defects exist. When
needed, the garment will be reworked or mended at designated sewing
stations. This labor-intensive process progressively transforms pieces
of fabric into designer garments.
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Spot Cleaning and Laundry
In
addition to identifying manufacturing defects, employees tasked with
performing quality assurance are also looking for cosmetic flaws,
stains, or other spots on the garment that may have occurred during the
cutting and sewing processes. Spots are often marked with a sticker and
taken to a spot-cleaning area where the garment is cleaned using steam,
hot water, or chemical stain removers.
Some customers request that a garment be fully laundered after it is
sewn and assembled; therefore, garment factories often have on-site
laundry or have subcontract agreements with off-site laundry operations.
Commercial laundry facilities are equipped with at least three types of
machines: washers, spinners, and dryers. Some facilities also have the
capability to perform special treatments, such as stone- or
acid-washing.
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Ironing
After
a garment is fully sewn and assembled, it is transferred to the ironing
section of the facility for final pressing. Each ironing station
consists of an iron and an ironing platform. The irons are similar
looking to residential models but have steam supplied by an on-site
boiler. Workers control the steam with foot pedals and the steam is
delivered via overhead hoses directly to the iron. In most facilities,
the ironing platforms are equipped with a ventilation system that draws
steam through the ironing table and exhausts it outside the factory.
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Packaging and Shipping
In
the last steps of making a product retail-ready, garments are folded,
tagged, sized, and packaged according to customer specifications. Also,
garments may be placed in protective plastic bags, either manually or
using an automated system, to ensure that the material stays clean and
pressed during shipping. Lastly, garments are placed in cardboard boxes
and shipped to client distribution centers to eventually be sold in
retail stores.
