21 Apparel industry – Importance, status, various departments – sampling, cutting, sewing and finishing

V. Krishnaveni

1. INTRODUCTION

The Apparel is nothing but the material is used to wrap the human structure of any men, women children by 3D form. Apparel industry makes ready to wear clothing including headwear and footwear and accessories. Apparel industry plays a major role in the garment manufacturing in which the fabric samples are made to cut in several pieces and then stitching is done to develop various types of apparels for all genders. The requirements of apparels are mainly for Protection of human body from environment, weather, enemy, etc, Decoration for beauty purpose, feel comfort, express social status and save human body at different work place. This article explains about the functions of each departments, importance, and their specific roles in current scenario of apparel industry.

2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lesson you will be able to
Know about the importance of apparel industry
Current status and developments of apparel industry
Understand the outline of various departments of apparel industry with its functions

3. IMPORTANCE OF APPAREL INDUSTRY

The clothing or apparel is one of the basic needs of every human being. So the apparel plays a very important role in the

Highly important to meet one of the basic human need
To create or provide international linkages through export and import business
To improve the societal economy
To satisfy the customer needs based on colour, texture, design, quality and fit
It also provides employment for more than 10 million people.
It makes to feel comfort and helps to lead a civilized life.

4. HISTORY OR OVERVIEW OF GARMENT INDUSTRY

Textiles and clothing plays a major role in the development and industrialization process of countries and their integration into the world economy. The history about the garment industry as follows

First in olden days, all the garments are stitched by hand using thin stitch. After that the first sewing machine was developed in the Victorian era period by Charles Fredrick. Then , few garments were stitched and sold in the market by individuals. After some time 1829, the first garment industry was developed with 80 sewing machines at paris to develop uniforms for military people. In the period of 1851 , the Commercial sewing developed by Issac Merit Singer and it was used by all the people in all over the world . that , in 1856, the person John Barren was started a new garments industry in England. Then the garment industry is well known to every individual and the small tailoring unit of Garment store was started in 1960 at Dhaka. In 1973, they have renewed their industry with multi lever export of producing 10,000 pieces of men’s Shirt was sold to Paris at a time unit and named as M/S Reaz Garments & export in Bangladesh. After a period of gap, theBangladesh exporters promoted their garment business to 1million in 1981-1982..

After that in 1998-1999 slowly, the RMG sector has increased the export earnings of $5.51 billion which was 77.57 of total export. After some period, the industrial revolution was boomed in 19th century, all the industries are willing to develop infants garments with technological advancement. At a subsequent period, the new pattern engineering sector was boomed in the in the early and mid-20th century. In the industries the masters are dedicated to orient the pattern making procedures to apprentices who were called as designers. Then they started to develop new creative design styles in the early 20th century. The country of paris was created many new design collections and styles to develop various garments at that time and many other countries are alos copied the paris styles. Then some period of gap, the designers were created booklets for teaching the pattern making in a systematic manner with the mathematical calculations that book named as pattern drafting with mass production. After all the countries they followed the same book procedures for developing various kind of apparels to children, men and women.

5. STATUS OF APPAREL INDUSTRY

The Indian textiles and apparel industry plays an important role in the counrty’s economic growth. India is one of the second largest textile fibre producer’s in the world mainly because of cotton and jute. Cotton, denim and silk from India are highly popular around the world. About 12 million tonnes of fibres is produced in 2016 – 17. At present, textile sector contributes 15 percent of total exports in India. The textile industry employs about 51 million people directly and 68 million people indirectly.

The Apparel Industries are classified in to three categories

1) Woven garments factory.

2) Knit garments factory.

3) Sweater factory.

The factory producing garments from woven fabric is called woven garments factory. The factory producing garments from knit fabric is called knit garments factory. The factory producing sweater is called sweater factory.

6. .OVERVIEW OF THE APPAREL PRODUCTION PROCESS OR APPAREL MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

In industry, the apparel manufacturing process starts from order receiving an end to the dispatch of goods to the shipment.. The sequential order of garmenting process and techniques involved in the manufacturing of apparel in large scale sector is known as garments manufacturing technology. The design development and construction of apparel is a complex process used to develop a new fashion and its requires an enormous contract of planning and preparation for a first step to start. Each step along the way has its own set of considerations and requirements that should be addressed and fulfilled before moving on to the next phase of development. The readymade garment manufacturing process is mainly depends on various steps and methodologies to be followed. The clothing creation running actions and methods included in the developing personal outfits for the huge of creation of garments in company time frame is known as outfits developing technology.

A finished garment has to undergo several processes from its order receiving to shipment of final product. In the prime stage of apparel manufacturing, a complete set of process flow chart with detailed descriptions are required to develop and complete the order in a successful manner. This process flow chart depicts the clear idea about the garment manufacturing method and how the raw materials are transformed into the 3D form of wearable garments.

6.1) THE LIST OF VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS IN APPAREL INDUSTRY

In apparel industry, the garment manufacturing is done under the functioning of various departments and it is also responsible for better productivity. The list of various departments in the apparel industry includes

Merchandising department
Marketing department
Exports department
Finance department
Materials department
Production department
Finishing department
Sampling department
HR department
Quality control department
Production planning department
Maintenance department

Among the all these departments in apparel industry, the major four departments should be the most significant section of apparel industry and each of their roles can be the highlight of any apparel production..

6.2) FUNCTIONS OF SAMPLING DEPARTMENT IN APPAREL INDUSTRY

This is the most important heart step of apparel manufacturing industry than designing and pattering. The correct sample has been developed and also various size of graded patterns also created in this section. The Sampling is an important process in apparel industry to attract the buyers to entertain the export orders based on the quality of the samples and . give the great prominence to industry. It determines the approval of future orders from buyers and fetches the new target business for a garment export company.

The Sampling process are done in industry by referencing the details includes

Style code reference number,
Color palate specifications
Type of fabric,
Fabric composition,
Description of fabric details
Quantity requirement ,
Suitable embroidery,
Accessories of buttons, zippers,

There are many people who are involved directly and indirectly in the process of sampling. The merchandiser, designer, buyer, quality manager , individuals are engaged in sourcing and procuring and also the other personals like production ,quality control and costing at different levels are also worked intimately on the sampling process of garments.

The raw materials and accessories required for developing garment process will covers a wide range of unique products start from new fibers, fiber blends, new yarns, fabric structures ,finishes and surface effects and all types of made up products such as woven , knit wear, hosiery, cut and sewn garments, household products, technical and medical products are analysed in the sampling process. There are two different phases of sampling technique is followed in industry which includes first phase should concentrate about the development of concept idea and get the approval by the customer and the second phase depicts, after getting the acceptance of the first prototype sample then they carry out the functions of sourcing and ordering component, testing the product and carry out trails once the finalized sample specifications has been drawn up.

After the sampling process, the various types of samples are checked and developed in the apparel industry before going for bulk production of garments and then send the same samples to the buyer for approvals are

Proto samples or fit samples
Photo shoot samples
Salesmen samples or promotional samples
Size set samples
Counter samples or reference samples or approal samples
Pre-production samples
Online sample
Production samples
Shipment sample
Counter samples or reference samples

PROTO SAMPLES OR FIT SAMPLES

This type of samples is done after getting the new order from the buyer. These samples are needed to check the measurements, style and fit. So they can be made in available similar fabrics but in the actual measurements and specifications given by the buyer. The finalized proto samples are sent to the buyers and they will conduct the discussion meeting over the samples and then the comment and review about the sample will be given us.

PHOTOSHOOT SAMPLE

In this category which deals mainly with the real fitting pattern on garments. The buyers will conduct photoshoot sessions with the samples that we have sent already. After that we get the fitting requirements and problems in the same measurements by photo attachments.

SALESMAN SAMPLE

The buyer needs these samples for getting the orders from their customers. The salesmen will book the orders from their customers, by showing this photocopy of samples. Buyer will place the order to us according to customer attractiveness towards the sample and are made with original fabric, trims and accessories.

SIZESET SAMPLES

These sample are done after the salesman sample. In SMS we will sent samples in one size only. Hence size set samples are done to check the grading of all sizes are accepted

COUNTER SAMPLE OR REFERENCE SAMPLE

These are the sample which are made as same as the other samples. We will sent samples to the buyer and keep one of the same sample for our reference. By getting acceptance from the buyer, we can precede the work according to the reference sample we have with us for a reference.

PRE-PRODUCTION SAMPLES

These samples are almost like approved samples based on that the mass production was carried out on the same fabric with bulk trims. Buyer may check these samples for everything with wash test also. After that we get only ‘OK’ signal from the buyer.

SHIPMENT SAMPLES

These samples are to be sent just before the shipment. They should be sent in actual packing with all labels and tags. Even if we get some comments from buyers like changes in price tag or changes in the assortments we can adopt the changes in the process but it’s not the risk for the supplier.

Hence the sampling processes only the deciding authority to expand the business in all over the world. So the sampling department is the heart department in industry to proceed any export order.

6.3) FUNCTIONS OF CUTTING DEPARTMENT IN APPAREL INDUSTRY

The cutting department is a second key role section in the apparel industry and it is accountable for cutting the fabrics and feed the cut samples to the sewing department with lots based on the feeding requirement of the sewing process. In the cutting department, the different persons who are all responsible for setting namely department head, cutters, spreaders, quality checkers and helpers for sorting, ply numbering and bundling sequences. The activities of the cutting department are explained in a broad manner such as

1. Take fabric from the fabric store:

First the cutting department gets a cut order from the production manager. Before take the fabric the cutting in-charge develop a fabric requirement chart as per the cutting plan and issue the requisition slip to the fabric store to issue the required amount of fabrics.

2. Relaxation of fabrics:

After the issue of slip, the type of fabric to needed for garment construction is analyzed then the fabric is selected. If the Knitted fabrics is selected send the knitted materials to relaxation before cutting. After receiving the fabric from the fabric store, the cutting department opens the fabric bundle from the fabric roll and lays it on the table for relaxation for a period of some hours before cutting.

3. Cut order planning:

In this step, the cutting master plan the number of markers they need to prepare and the size combination to be set for each marker and the number of plies to be laid in each marker should be finalized .

4. Fabric layering:

According to the level of mass production, the multiple layers of fabric are to be cut at a time. So the spreaders are lay the fabric in a multiple layers on a cutting table as per required total marker length and height.

5. Planning markers:

After laying process, the cutting master should make a plan for marker type ,marker length and the numbers of plies to be laid in each lay of fabrics .

6. Making markers:

Marker making is a process of outline of garment patterns are laid on the fabric sample for cutting the different garment components. After the layering process, the marker paper should be laid on the top of the fabric layer.

7. Cutting fabrics:

The marker planning is done after that the necessary pattern should be cut based on the requirement. Different technologies are commonly used to cut the fabric by layers either by manually or using the straight knife, band knife and computer-controlled automatic cutting machines for mass apparel production.

8. Sorting, bundling and numbering of garment plies:

The cut fabric layers are sorted in a different manner by size-wise and colour-wise with lots.Each of the sample plies are tacked and made numbering using stickers with different colour. .

9. Inspecting cut components:

The quality standards are used and maintained for cutting the garment components and also checked randomly after the cutting by quality checkers. If any defective components are identified , then they replace the particular defective parts with markings.

10. Sorting printed and embroidery panels:

As per order requirements, the printing and embroidery is done on the cut panels. Size-wise sorting is done after receiving printed and embroidered panels.

11. Re-cutting panels:

Re-cutting process is rarely done for garment components if required. they replace the samples in the bundles. The Re-cutting requests are received only from the sewing department to change the defective garment parts.

12. Fusing garment components:

Fusing process is the last stage done in garment components used to stiffen the parts of a garment. The fusing process will vary according to the type of garment production.

6.4) FUNCTIONS OF SEWING DEPARTMENT IN APPAREL INDUSTRY

This is the Third vital stage of manufacturing apparel in industry . In this stage, all the cut pieces of fabrics are assembled together by various sewing operations and after sewing, the inspection also done on the each samples. All the cut parts of fabric samples are sending to the sewing department for sewing process and parts are joined together with the use of diverse types of industrial sewing machines, threads and needle. The fabric cutting and garment finishing are the important key area of garment production department. The various sequences of functions will be carried out in the sewing department. The major tasks of this department are described below.

1. Style Analysis

In this step, line supervisor will analyze about the garment construction style to be loaded to the sewing line. Then calculate the sewing machine requirement for the particular style and it is based on the type of garment manufacuring..

2. Estimating labour cost

The Line supervisors always calculate the estimated cost per operation of samples. In the piece-rate-production system, the supervisor discuss and set the piece rates for stitching each operations and also calculate the direct labour cost for each sample.

3. Planning and scheduling floor level production

The line supervisors and floor in-charge of both the persons should discussed and plan the daily production output. They have to plan accordingly to the upcoming orders from merchandisers and also plan the manpower and machine requirements in advance.

4. Setting the lines

The line supervisors are the responsible for setting the sewing line for new orders. Setting of line involves the tasks of placing sewing in a sequence, by allocating operators to each machine based on their skills, giving work to operators and helpers and giving instructions to operators on how to undertake the single and multiple operations .

5. Stitching garments

The sewing department stitches the garments and makes clothes for any individual. Operators are used to sew garments using different types of sewing machines with single or multiple operations to sew.

6. Balancing the assembly line

The line supervisor only decide the line balancing for maximum production rate and also adding the additional operator, or clubbing of operations.

7. Marking parts

Marking is done on the wrong side of the garment component needed to point where stitching is to be done by using marking chalk and magic marker.

8. Ironing garment components

The garment components are some time might need to be folded and ironed prior to stitching to improve seam quality by portable irons

9. Checking stitched garments:

The checking of garments is to reduce the defect and the end-of-line checker segregates the defective pieces separately from the lots

10. Stitching alteration

After the segregation of defective garments are sent then back to the stitching section and the changes are made by re-stitching process.

11. Managing documentation

Different types of logbooks and record details’ are maintained in the sewing department to know about the incoming and outgoing of cut parts from cutting department and to send the stitched garments to finishing department.

6.5) FUNCTIONS OF FINISHING DEPARTMENT IN APPAREL INDUSTRY

After sewing, the samples are sent for finishing section. In this section the different types of finishing and ornamenting works are done here like Ironing, Folding, Packing, Arranging and Final inspection. The various functions of finishing department in garment industry are as follows

The final stitched garments has to go for finishing process in the finishing department. The finishing activities are done prior to the packing of garments into poly bags. The major activities done on the finishing department includes thread trimming, checking garments and ironing process by folding and tagging . The main activities of the finishing department are

1. Thread Trimming:

In stitching department the thread trails and thread chains are not trimmed at a time neatly. So the helpers are used for trimming process to remove the uncut threads and thread tails

2. Checking garments:

All the stitched the garments are checked thoroughly at the finishing stage for visuals and measurement techniques. Finishing checkers are normally check the complete garment inside and out with garment detailing such as care labeling and trims.

3. Button attach and Butting holing:

The required trimmings of button, snap button, eyelets are attached in the final garments in this finishing section.

4. Removing stains:

The stains and spots are removed by using a hand spot gun or by using a stain removing machine prior to the application of pressing and the dust and stains can be removed by machine washing method by tumbling process.

5. Repair work and mending

The defective garments are identified separately and then it is repaired for stitching and fabric defects.

6. Ironing garments:

Remove the creases in the garment by using a steam iron and especially for knitted garments the measurements are set by steam press method using the vacuum pressing tables

7. Folding and tagging:

The stitched garments are pressed are folded in a specific dimensions by tags based on the buyers requirement. The different types of price and hang tags are mostly used for the garments by kimble gun or threads.

8. Packing of garments:

Finally, the properly folded garments are packed in a careful manner into poly bags as per requirements of the customer and sometimes the individual poly bags are then packed into bigger cartons.

9. Preparation of packing list:

The person who is responsible for packing will prepares a packing list of products for the shipment. After packing process is completed for an particular order, the finishing department informs to the concerned merchant about the details

Internal shipment audits

The Quality check department always perform to the internal shipment audit in the finishing department and the audit is done prior to final inspection.

Documentation and reporting

The finishing department is normally maintained the production records for pressing packing and shipping.

SUMMARY

Apparel industry is the current booming industry with lot of styles and innovations. Apparel industry has developed many new adoptions and time saving techniques, processes and machinery for the effective mass garment production . The function of all the departments plays a vital role in the garment manufacturing process in industry. The most important new technological development of computer aided designing and manufacturing process which enables the designer, pattern maker, merchandiser, marker and grader to do their jobs perfectly and precisely to develop the apparels in a effective manner. In future, apparel and fashion industry play a vital role in world economy.

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