Ever wondered how your favorite clothes are made? Garment production has evolved over the past 200 years, tansforming from handmade clothing to high-tech factory production. This article takes you trough each step of the modern garment manufacturing process, from fabric procurement to finished garments, providing a comprehensive overview for industry professionals and curious readers alike.
1. Fabric Procurement and Production Planning
Fabric Procurement: The pattern department calculates the amount of fabric needed for each garment and procures it from approved suppliers. Factories store the fabric in a central warehouse and conduct quality checks using the 4-point system and various tests such as GSM, shrinkage rate, and wash fastness. If the shrinkage rate is too high, pre-shrinking is necessary, and sometimes patterns need adjustment. Factories also prepare color bands to avoid issues from color variations in large-scale purchases. Additionally, all trims and auxiliary materials like lace, twill tape, buttons, zippers, and cords undergo procurement and quality checks.
Production Planning: Planners schedule all processes to ensure timely order completion, monitor actual processes, and intervene when necessary to expedite production. They prepare schedules and action calendars to control the production process, ensuring timely availability of resources and supporting smooth production. These measures ensure an orderly progression of each production stage, guaranteeing product quality and delivery timelines.
2. Pre-Treatment of Fabrics
Upon receiving the fabric from the textile factory, factories relax the fabric to remove tension accumulated during production and transportation. This step ensures fabric stability and finished garment size accuracy. Factors influencing fabric shrinkage include warp and weft density, raw materials, production processes, and washing procedures. Factories lay out the fabric for 12 to 48 hours to allow natural relaxation. When time is tight, machines accelerate this process, reducing wait times and enhancing production efficiency.
Pre-Shrinking: This step reduces the risk of shrinkage during subsequent use through high temperature and steam. Precise control of temperature and steam ensures fabric stability during production.
3. Fabric Spreading and Cutting
After relaxation and pre-shrinking, the fabric is spread evenly on the worktable for cutting. A spreading machine lays fabric at a speed of approximately 295 feet per minute, ensuring each layer is flat and even. Manual spreading, while precise, is labor-intensive and time-consuming, so many factories opt for automatic spreading machines for efficiency.
Cutting: The fabric is cut according to design patterns using automatic cutting machines. These machines precisely cut the fabric as per pre-set patterns, ensuring each piece meets design specifications. The high precision and efficiency of automatic cutting machines handle large volumes quickly while minimizing fabric wastage. The layout of cutting patterns maximizes fabric utilization, reducing waste.
4. Sorting and Inspecting Fabric Pieces
Cut pieces are sorted by size, color, and bundle size, then bundled and stored in the cutting room. Labels are attached during bundling to identify parts and style details. Quality inspection of cut pieces is essential, checking for notches, pattern shapes, part sizes, and major fabric defects (such as holes and cutting marks). These inspections are conducted from the top, middle, and bottom layers and compared with the actual patterns and shapes.
5. Adding Decorative Details
Garment printing and embroidery are optional value-adding processes. Printing can be done at the fabric stage or after cutting garment parts, with common methods including screen printing and heat transfer printing. For small-scale production, factories may outsource these processes. For small heat transfer logo projects, factories can install heat transfer printers in-house. In the heat transfer process, time and temperature are critical factors. High-automation heat transfer machines ensure consistent print quality for each garment, enhancing production efficiency and product aesthetics.
6. Sewing and Assembly
After cutting, the pieces are sent to the sewing and assembly area for stitching, the core step in garment making. Sewers assemble and stitch the parts into complete garments, inspected by quality control personnel. Finished garments are sent to the finishing or washing department if required.
The sewing process includes sub-processes: part preparation, marking on panels, folding and pressing, stitching/assembly, and quality inspection. Part preparation involves treating each part before assembly, such as collars, cuffs, and sleeves for shirts. Marking ensures accurate part connections. Folding and pressing involve folding and pressing parts as needed. The assembly involves sequentially assembling garment parts and stitching using different sewing machines. Quality inspectors check semi-finished products during sewing to identify and address stitching issues.
7. Final Garment Inspection
Before shipping to customers, all sewn garments undergo finishing processes to remove creases, clean dust and loose threads, and repair defects. Main steps include using manual or machine thread trimmers to remove threads, manually removing numbered stickers, preliminary inspection before ironing, steam ironing to remove creases and wrinkles, and final inspection to ensure each garment meets high-quality standards.
In recent years, some factories have integrated needle detectors with scanning equipment to further enhance detection accuracy and efficiency. Automated equipment can more precisely detect product defects, improving inspection efficiency and ensuring only high-quality products are shipped.
8. Packaging and Shipment
Finished garments are folded, labeled, and packaged, typically in the finishing section. After folding, price tags, hang tags, and other labels are attached. Folded garments are placed in polyethylene bags to maintain freshness until they reach retail stores or showrooms. Some products are packed directly into cardboard boxes without polyethylene bags. Before packaged garments leave the factory, an internal audit ensures the quality of finished products. Finally, garments are ready for shipment based on the shipping plan and schedule.
Daily Factory Routines in Garment Production
Garment production companies compile daily production reports to ensure smooth operations. Each department head prepares daily production reports, including daily production, inventory status, employee attendance, and daily expenses. The industrial engineering team prepares multiple production-related reports and monthly KPI reports. The finishing and packaging teams prepare packing lists for counting packaged items and invoicing buyers. The shipping team prepares necessary documents for export orders. Departments prepare order completion reports after shipping orders. The fabric warehouse compiles fabric reconciliation and cutting reports. The cutting, manufacturing, and finishing teams report leftover fabrics and surplus garments. The quality department prepares quality analysis reports for each order.
Conclusion
Garment production is a complex, multi-step process where each stage is vital. From fabric and accessories procurement to finished product packaging, precise production planning, strict quality control, and efficient process management ensure high-quality garments and timely delivery.
With over 50 years of experience, OSHIMA Taiwan offers a comprehensive range of machinery essential for garment factories. Our advanced equipment supports efficient and high-quality production at every stage. Contact us to learn more about how our solutions can enhance your garment manufacturing process.
