Shirts are the unanimous choice, whether it is for a formal meeting or for a casual meet up making up a great fashion element from the pauper class to the urban high class. It is a choice that most men are fond of, and they have at least one to plenty of them for sure. But what’s more important is the manufacturing process a men clothing manufacturer undergoes.
A shirt is made in a tailoring department of a men’s clothing manufacturing department. Making a shirt includes a set of processes, which includes:
- Getting an order
- Sourcing of the materials
- Cutting of fabrics
- Stitching all of the shirt elements- placket, button, yoke, sleeve, collar band, collar, etc
- Final finish and packaging of the shirt lot
- Shipping of the shirt lot
How an order is received?
Brands, international purchasers, and retail merchants place orders with shirt manufacturing firms. Where tailoring shops get customer orders directly. Manufacturers go through a variety of preproduction stages before making export orders. For instance, shirt samples, fabric creation (factories cannot just acquire fabric from the market; they must create fabric to customer specifications), lap dip approval, pre-production sampling, fabric and trim approval, and trim development. Orders are received for a variety of sizes (S, M, L, and XL), as well as a size-specific order ratio.
How materials are sourced?
Customers select the fabric and submit it to the tailor to have a shirt custom-made. The proprietor of the shop sourced additional materials such as sewing threads, buttons, and fusible interlinings. Due to the absence of formal packing in this instance, no packing equipment is ordered.
In Factories: In most cases, factories make hundreds of similar shirts using the same fabric and design. They develop and manufacture shirts for both the international and domestic markets. The material needs for the order are determined, and the order is then placed directly with mills and fabric suppliers. All materials are purchased by the producer, including woven textiles, trimmings, and accessories. At the factory, fabric procurement takes around one month.
How materials are inspected?
Fabrics and trimmings are inspected by professional inspectors in the men clothing manufacturer industry. Defective materials are separated from those that are outstanding. Following sewing and polishing, the goal is to obtain high-quality shirts. In industries, fabric checking machines are used to speed up the inspection process and increase the effectiveness of the quality control system. Occasionally, businesses acquire materials that differ in colour. They organise and classify the various colours. Subsequent pruning is carried out on a shade-by-shade basis (lot wise). The goal is to minimise colour variation in shirts.
How patterns are made?
Shirts are tailored to the wearer’s measurements in a tailoring business (Made to Measure). Each shirt is one-of-a-kind. As a result, tailoring shops do not often produce shirt patterns. Rather than that, tailors (masters) mark and cut fabric instantly.
Patterns are crucial in factories where hundreds of identical garments are produced. To confirm the accuracy of the patterns, sample shirts are prepared first. Due to the manufacturer’s requirement to produce shirts in a range of sizes, pattern grading is performed and patterns for all sizes are prepared. Grading patterns can be created using a CAD system.
How the fabric is trimmed?
After obtaining the fabric and preparing the pattern for use, the fabric cutting process begins. On the table, the fabric is laid flat. The fabric is divided into many layers (fabric plies). Outlines for shirt components are created using paper designs. The fabric is then cut with a cutting machine following the marking.
The most expensive component of a garment is the fabric. Thus, before cutting, markers are strategically manufactured to maximise fabric use. Markers can be created and cut using computer-controlled machinery.
Customers desire matching checks and stripes throughout the shoulder and sleeve, the left and right front panels, and even the side seams. Trimming garment components to match checks is required.
Fusible interlinings are used to cut the collar and cuffs. Components of the interlining are fused to the collar and cuff components.
How a shirt is stitched?
In a clothing manufacturer, the sewing operators stitch the shirts using sewing machines.
- Shirt components: the front parts and sleeves are made separately 1st. And then the backside yoke and the labels are attached.
- Shirt components are assembled 1st. At least 40-45 tailors are required to make a shirt.
How the final shirt is made?
These pieces feature buttonholing. Thread tails that have not been cut are trimmed. Additional finishing sub-processes include stain removal, shirt modification, and pressing. If washing is necessary, factories wash shirts to achieve the ideal hand feel and aesthetic appearance.
Final step: Inspection, packaging and shipping Shirts are inspected before packing to ensure that no damaged shirts are supplied to the buyer. If a defective garment is found, alteration or repairing is done. Packaging is the last step once it is inspected for the last time. All the final inspected shirts are packaged into poly bags and packaged into the cardboard box and packaged according to the brand’s instructions.