Technology in Apparel Manufacturing

by

Prof. Biswaranjan GhoshSVPISTM, Coimbatore

APPAREL MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

Contents:• Pattern Making & Grading • Cutting: Lay Planning, Spreading, Marking• Sewing:• Post Sewing Operation / process • Value added Processes• Best Management Practices

Pattern Making

• To facilitate mass production of garments of standard sizes, pattern making is necessary

• First block pattern and base patterns are developed in the process of proto and fit sample development

• Using base pattern various size pattern are made through the process of grading to develop size set samples

• Today Computer Aided Design ( CAD) technology extensively used for Pattern Making and Grading.

Pattern Making

The fashion/ garment industry uses computer-aided design (CAD) systems to prepare the patterns.

Pattern-making the process of transforming the design into the appropriate pieces needed to produce an apparel item

It also facilitate grading.grading the technical process of increasing or decreasing the sizes of a pattern to correspond to a garment sizeMarker Making:

5

Pattern Making

CAD systems store style information such as:• Flat sketch• Size spec• Trim requirements• Size grade charts

6

• The system automatically

produce pattern shapes in all the pre-specified sizes

Grading

7

• Marker – arrangement of all pattern parts for max. fabric utilization

• The system indicates the percentage of waste

• Automatic matching of stripes and plaids is common to most systems

Marker Making

Spreading- Methods

Spreading

Machine Assisted

Spreading

Semi-Automatic

Fully Automatic

Manual Spreading

Spreading related Equipment• Tables

- Normal table

- Vacuum table

- Conveyor table

- Pinned table

• Fabric Loaders• Fabric weights/Clamps/Pins

Pinned Table

Vacuum Table

Fabric clamps

Fabric Weights

Fabric Roll Loader

Spreading Machines

Fully Automatic Spreading Machines

• Automatic loading/unloading device for fabric rolls

• Automatic roll turning arrangement for face to back lay

• Automatic leveling device for fabric edge alignment.

• Automatic cutting device at the end of a run

• Automatic tensioning device to control fabric tension

• Automatic lay height sensing elevator• Programmable lay length, ply height • Spreading seeds up to 140 m/min

Features:

CuttingCutting

Manual

Scissors

Machine

Portable cutting knives

Straight knife

Round knife

Stationary cutters

Band knife

Die cutting

Servo cutting

Plasma cutting

Water jet cutting

Laser cutting

Position markers

Notchers

Drills and thread

markers

Semi-Automatic Cutting Equipment

Advantages• Comparatively cheap• Production speed is very good• Rough work can be easily done by

hands

Disadvantages• Faulty knife could damage fabric layer• Knife required to change• Weight of the motor creates knife

deflection which may be creates faulty pieces

Straight knife Round knife Band knife Notcher machine

Die CuttingDies are pre – shaped metal outlines. Most accurate Die cutting operation involves Placement of fabric, positioning the die on the fabric ,engaging the

machine to press the die into the fabric .Useful for small precision parts.

Fully-Automatic Cutting Equipment

Advantages• Cutting defects are less• Less labor cost• Suitable for very large scale

of production• No need of marker paper

Disadvantages• Very expensive machines• Very high on maintenance• Not suitable for cutting multi

level fabric (water-jet, laser)• Not suitable for synthetic

fabric(laser cutting)

Computerized cutting machine

Laser cutting machine Water-jet fabric cutting

• Single/multi needle industrial lockstitch sewing machine with or without trimmer• Blind stitch machine/Chain stitching machine.• Flat lock machine (cylinder bed and flat bed)• Over lock machine (3 threads/4 threads and 5 and 6 threads)• Single/double needle chain stitch machine• Zigzag flat bed sewing machine.• Button stitch sewing machine.• Button hole sewing machine• Feed of Arm sewing machine• Label/elastic inserting machine• Bar tacking machine.• Hemstitch machine.• Smocking machine / Automatic multi needle shirring machine• Collar and cuff turning and blocking machine and pressing machine• Shoulder pad-attaching machine

Different sewing Machines’ name

Lock stitch M/c: single and double

Sewing machinesComputer controlled, Direct-Drive, High-Speed, 1 Needle, Lockstitch, Zigzag Stitching Machine with Automatic thread trimmer. Automatic Pocket Welting Machine

Feed-of arm- cover stitch m/c

2- needle feed-of arm 4-needle feed-of arm

Sewing Machine

Over lock machine Flat lock machine

Smocking Sewing Machine with Shirring This machine adopt vertical movement of looper, suitable for basic sewing and decoration of high-grade garment for women’s and children’s suit. Up to 32-needles

Flatbed, multi needle, double chain stitch machine.These machines are multi-purpose machines for attaching elastic, attaching waistband, sewing the front of shirts, attaching line tapes, smocking and shirringwhich are ideal for underwear, sportswear, lady's clothes, interior decorated goods (curtains, table-clothes etc.).

Collar Turning and blocking machine

Lockstitch Automated Pocket Welting machine with corner cutting device, 10 different patterns can be stored as stitch length, sewing speed,

Feeding- some example

Special attachments- Folders and guides

Yoke attaching Pocket heming

Folders and guides

Cuff heming Cuff attaching

Folders and guides

Centre placket Centre Placket

Folder and guide

Pleat folder Edge stitch guide

Folder and guide

Sleeve attach Sleeve attach- 2nd operation

Folder and guide

Sleeve placket folder Lap seam folder

Sewing through Profile----

Automatic Feeding Button Sewing Machine

Button Holders

Pneumatic Multi-head button-attaching Machine

For this machine, the head number can be: 1, 2, 3, 12. The machine series fit for all kinds of

eyelet, snap button, jeans button, snap ring button, decoration button, etc.

Button hole sewing machine

This is a buttonhole foot for making an automatic buttonhole. As you can see, it is much different than a traditional sewing machine foot. This foot works with a sensor on your sewing machine so that it makes the exact size buttonhole for the button you are using. The button is placed in the slot at the back- not shown in fig

Sequins attaching m/c• This machine is used to attach the sequin on the fabric. There is a wheel on which a roll of

continuous sequin is wound. The fabric is put on under the foot and sequin lace is placed on the fabric with sewing. This is time saving machine and durability of the sequin is also increased.

Pressing Technology• Steam iron table • Vacuum is useful in two key ways. One, the most effective pressing is done by pulling the

steam through the layers. Second, blowing up (via a readily accessible switch) reduces seam imprinting by the iron. This is particularly noticeable if you’re pressing several layers, the iron maps allowances underneath. This table is reported to be good for napped fabrics like corduroy and velvets because blowing up while pressing doesn’t crush the nap.

Border Making m/c• This machine is used to make different types of borders design. which can be select from

pattern memory . Large embroideries can be machine produced based on design developed using AUTOCAD or other design software.

• The software allows the designer to shrink , enlarge, rotate etc….

Computerized Embroidery m/c- single head and multi head

• Computer connectivity using USB port for transferring patterns from the Internet is possible

Tajima 6 head embroidery machine

Each Toyota Expert ESP 9100 is capable of 1,000 stitches per minute, the machines are fully networked together and driven by Wilcom

software Used to embroider t-shirts, polo shirts, fleeces, coats, caps and hats, overalls, bags, sports kit, wear and most etc.

47

Electronic body scanningAdvanced CAD for e-Commerce

• A new trend in customizing clothing

• After scanned, customers could used the measurement information for internet shopping e.g. ez-size

• The perfect fit” -The Virtual Smart 3D Body Scanner calculates your customer's measurements and characteristics in your retail stores, in less than 15 seconds. This information is directly integrated into Lectra's FitNet mass customization solution with the end result: a perfect-fitting garment

1 Body Scanner

Universal Backend Database

3 Database of partipating stores

2.1 Portal terminal

2.2 User home desktop

4 Selected apparel of best fit

Store A

Store B

Store C

5 Shopping centre

Generates list from database

Generates list from database

Selected item shipped

Collection of item

Guess, Levis, Oakley, etc

Suppliers

7

customer

6