Understanding the Local Garment Supply Chain

Do you have any idea how many steps it went through to finally end up on your back?

It all begins with a farmer, not a garment maker. He plants seeds, helps them to grow and harvests the cotton crop. Already the fiber in your shirt has been through a whole year-long process.

The raw cotton goes to a mill, where it is scoured and processed to turn it into thread. The thread is then woven into a fabric. The fabric is then pre-shrunk and treated with dressing and softener to give it a good handle. It is shipped out in rolls to various wholesalers and retailers.

A fashion designer walks into a fabric Wholesaler and purchases the cotton fabric. He goes back to his studio and makes a sketch of his idea. Then, he develops a pattern from the sketch. He makes a sample to check the pattern for fit. If necessary, he will go back to the drawing board and make improvements. Improvements will be sampled again. Once he is satisfied, he will grade the pattern into different sizes for mass production. Pattern making and grading are often also outsourced from a pattern maker, adding another person to the supply-chain.

He goes to a CMT company (Cut, make and trim). The fabric is rolled out onto a long cutting table. It is laid one layer upon another. The pattern pieces are carefully laid out for the most economical use of the fabric with minimum waste. A Cutter uses an industrial cutting machine to cut out the panels of the garments.

Garments are not usually sewn together by one single person. Instead, a factory production line will have the first person ironing in the fold, the second person will stitch a seam, and the third person will sew just the darts, and so on until the garment is complete. In this way the production line works out more time-effective. It also eliminates errors. Each person gets to perfect their little task.

Yours is a special garment though. It has been finished with custom dyes and prints. The surface of the fabric is covered with intricate block prints over hand dyed backgrounds.

The dyer works on the fabric before the printer. It is washed to remove any residual chemicals from the mill and oils from the factory that might affect the dye process. Then it is manipulated and folded. The folds are fixed in place with tight elastic bands and string. The fabric is submerged in hot dye and left to stand overnight. The next day it takes many washes to remove all the excess dye. The garment is dried indoors for best results.

The choice of color, finish and design usually lies with the fashion designer. The printer and dyer are very often only technicians. A graphic designer or textile designer is employed as a freelancer at this point to design something unique if the fashion designer has no ideas of their own.

The printer takes the image that the fashion designer supplies and creates an original block which will be used for stamping the print onto the fabric. The design is traced onto the block and then it is carved out by hand with carving tools. The block is inked up with a roller and placed on the fabric ink-side-down. A rubber roller is used to apply pressure to the back of the block and push the ink into the fibre of the fabric. The ink is left to dry and then it is heat-set with a press.

The journey of your shirt is still not over.

It goes back to the factory for finishing, which involves steaming and pressing out of all creases, packaging and labeling.

The fashion designer collects his shirts and distributes them amongst his retail outlets, where you buy one.

Imagine how much more complicated the process is if your shirt is shipped in from another country. Once you realize how many hands have handled it before you did, you will make sure you wash it before you wear it when you get home from the store.