Garment Production

[surri]

Howdy,

I've been lurking on here a while and noticed nobody really talks much about garment production, product development etc. That's why I thought......

I currently work at a garment factory and have access to production, sourcing, etc. Would people on here be interested to know little bits of info on production, etc, mistakes to avoid, useful info for wannabe designers? We have a lot of people on here that love design etc, question is, do any of you appreciate what goes on behind the scenes? Do you guys want to know?

It is a knit factory that does woven pieces also.

If I put up info would you guys be down to comment, participate. Would it be of any use to you lot. Let us know and I'll do my best to provide info. The rest of you who already know this can chime in.

What do you think?

[Vampyrvargfesten]

Howdy,

I've been lurking on here a while and noticed nobody really talks much about garment production, product development etc. That's why I thought......

I currently work at a garment factory and have access to production, sourcing, etc. Would people on here be interested to know little bits of info on production, etc, mistakes to avoid, useful info for wannabe designers? We have a lot of people on here that love design etc, question is, do any of you appreciate what goes on behind the scenes? Do you guys want to know?

It is a knit factory that does woven pieces also.

If I put up info would you guys be down to comment, participate. Would it be of any use to you lot. Let us know and I'll do my best to provide info. The rest of you who already know this can chime in.

What do you think?

Why did you choose to work in a garment factory in Indonesia?

What are some little bits of info on production?

What mistakes can I avoid?

What is useful info for wannabe designers?

What can I appreciate that goes on behind the scenes?

Can you provide info?

[surri]

Why did you choose to work in a garment factory in Indonesia?

- family business

What are some little bits of info on production?

- I can run through what we do here.

What mistakes can I avoid?

- production mistakes, fit problems

What is useful info for wannabe designers?

sourcing away from china, hookups. I'm trying to get people to recognize the quality that comes out of Indonesia.

What can I appreciate that goes on behind the scenes?

repair work, tricks of the trade, etc. dealing with suppliers

[surri]

I also don't speak much on this thing because I have major interest in scrutinizing looks from designers. I'd rather fall back to the core of production/making clothes. More interesting.

[HOLY]

Is this threak about CHOCOLATE MILK?

[surri]

Lucky enough to originate from a family of strong garment manufacturers, I started out young packing goods and helping to sort out merchandise for shipments overseas. Our factory does amazing product. We make sleepwear for Saks Fifth Avenue under the Cottonista brand. It's beautiful stuff. The factory has about 500 workers and we're considered responsible apparel producers. It is predominantly a knitwear factory. However, I've taken over two lines to really study and understand this business. I've taken this time to go back to the core of fashion; which is making pure, good product.

Quality in Indonesia is brilliant. It sure beats working in China. Hopefully the orders get filtered back to Indonesia in due course. Communication is also much easier. Costs are reasonable although higher than China.

I'll pick a few topics in relation to the project we're a part of. Anyone from different parts of the world let us know what you guys think, i,e production in Europe, The Middle East, etc.

We first started making garments for our boutique in Singapore. For some reason we decided to start out producing in China. I've always had this belief that despite all the inconveniences, production in China was the way to go even though I come from a manufacturing background in Indonesia. Strange, I know. No need for a reminder. Since many of the labels in our store has goods coming from China, I thought i'd follow suit.

At this point our family had tracked my progress. Despite all their efforts to coerce us into shifting, I stayed loyal to manufacturers in China.

After several runs of product and many nights/days of stress, delays, mishaps, overcharges, undershipment, I decided enough was enough. We looked to investing into machines for woven garments including triple needle machines (for triple needle shirting, workwear, swimwear), buttonhole machines, double needle machines (for shirt side seams, etc). We started off basic. But with the help of the floor staff, our product quickly rose to a quality that we felt was ideal for the price points we were intending to charge. In fact, some of the quality surpassed products that usually fit into that price tier.

That's it for now. I'll start with a solid post that involves the fundamentals of creating a "good" product. For those of you that would like to ask questions, feel free.

Seems like there are quite a few of you folks that are interested.

If you'd like to chime in, let us know what production in America and Europe is like. I'm particularly interested since I've noticed the guys at Albam are doing stuff out of Portugal, London, etc. I've always wondered how different it is working with Western production houses. Also with guys like EG and the like working out of the US.

Best,

[dimpra]

apa kabar surri? i'm indonesian too

actually this thread could be a very interesting, please just post us some wealth of information and i'm other's will flow and follow

[surri]

Sorry for the brief hiatus!

Hi Dimpra. Baik baik! Good to see other Indonesians on here.

Firstly let me introduce why I'm here. I run a garment operation that focuses on making quality, thought-out garments. The focus has always been on refining the product to make it better than before. Our emphasis is to closely work with procurement people to make the product better, not make the concept stronger, if that makes any sense. More simple garments that use good fabrics, cleaner stitching, etc. We've also geared the business towards a slightly more mass distribution not only at our boutique in Singapore but at a local department store, where the retail game is completely on a different level.

This is why I'm always back in Indonesia and why majority of my hair is white. Numbers, efficiency per square foot, skus per square foot, etc etc, quarterly grillings, etc. Selling to a boutique as opposed to working at a department store are vastly different scenarios.

Selling to a boutique requires a collection, but selling at a department store requires both a collection and fillers. Fillers are what we consider our story-free garments that are priced competitively and that have a loyal following. They do however, have a right to be there just as much as collection-specific products. Also, these are produced in high volumes.

I'm actually in Jakarta at the moment working on filers for our upcoming Chinese new year period so I'll be posting on here on a regular basis with lots of photos. I've been in the factory all day so I now have a lot of good photos going. My wife just handed down her old Ricoh so you're all in luck.

See you back here soon.

[dimpra]

^ man, are you the one that owns sifr and K.I.N?that's a really cool&good brand!

[chrisj]

havent posted here in a longgg time / mebe throw up some waywts --- miss the hours lurkin in supertrash

[sawyer]

bump, this thread needs attention

Viberg:

Raleigh Denim:

Stone Island:

Pointer:

[sawyer]

[surri]

Thanks sawyer, great videos and great articles.

I wonder if Uniqlo engages with WRAP factories (worldwide responsible accredited production).

We are working on ours now to be able to work with bigger buyers. Lots of paperwork and protocol to go through but all should work out well in the long run if it goes through. The audit can be a nightmare but it is good to follow through to keep standards up.

[Magsåvningsreserven]

i agree, we faced similar problems but a simple bribe cleared things up.

[sybaritical]

I got given a bunch of blank Bamboo tee shirts from the place I work at & they were very nice, so I checked the wholesaler out here & discovered they were a member of this lot.

[Paul T]

Thanks sawyer, great videos and great articles.

I wonder if Uniqlo engages with WRAP factories (worldwide responsible accredited production).

We are working on ours now to be able to work with bigger buyers. Lots of paperwork and protocol to go through but all should work out well in the long run if it goes through. The audit can be a nightmare but it is good to follow through to keep standards up.

Hi Surri,

great you're here. It might be worth having a look in superdenim, where there tends to be more interest in production, with quite a few threads about the cotton mills and, for instance, the prospects for Harris Tweed.

Why don't you talk us through some of the raw materials? Where do they come from and what are some of the key variables?

[surri]

Hi Surri,

great you're here. It might be worth having a look in superdenim, where there tends to be more interest in production, with quite a few threads about the cotton mills and, for instance, the prospects for Harris Tweed.

Why don't you talk us through some of the raw materials? Where do they come from and what are some of the key variables?

Hello Paul,

I have checked out the superdenim thread but they focus greatly on denims, and since I wasn't focusing on denims I thought to stay away before getting chased out.

What about raw materials? Fabric, trims? Well our factory deals mostly with knits so we buy a lot of knits locally in Indonesia as well as from China. However, we're able to work on sample yardages for our small production runs. We work with a factory http://www.asietex.co.id/ and they operate like a small county. It is quite amazing. I saw a lot of stripes and yarn died knits down there and they seemed familiar. Upon questioning a few people I found out they actually make those patterns for Uniqlo and Gap, etc. We do a lot of business with them as we produce a lot for http://www.carolehochman.com/ (sleepwear company).

A lot of the stuff we do is less fashionable but more applicable to the mass markets. However, I've been able to come in and kind of do my own thing in our own family factory. You'll notice me in the T-shirt thread on supershopper as well. I focus a lot on that stuff using Pimas from Indonesia or other cottons from Japan. We're a bonded zone so we're able to import fabrics from overseas where most other people from Indonesia are not able to do that. It's a competitive advantage that's a great blessing to our business.

We buy a tonne of trims from China simply because nobody holds stock of the stuff in Indonesia. Minimums are quite high. The Indonesian Garment Industry is quite a mass market industry which is why we opened our own small (15 Machine) Sample Room to produce some of our garments in smaller but quality runs.

What key variables are you specifically looking to find out about. I can help.