Technology in Apparel Manufacturing by Prof. Biswaranjan Ghosh SVPISTM, Coimbatore
Aug 16, 2015
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:
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Pattern Making
CAD systems store style information such as:• Flat sketch• Size spec• Trim requirements• Size grade charts
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• 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
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
Sewing machinesComputer controlled, Direct-Drive, High-Speed, 1 Needle, Lockstitch, Zigzag Stitching Machine with Automatic thread trimmer. Automatic Pocket Welting 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.).
Lockstitch Automated Pocket Welting machine with corner cutting device, 10 different patterns can be stored as stitch length, sewing speed,
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.
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.
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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
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customer
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