Orient fashion 1. Introduction Company Machines Space Buyers Specialized machines Printing or embroidery 2.

Processes How are you doing 3 garments not necessarily from fabric to finish

Introduction Company profile Orient Fashions is one of the premier Apparel Export Organizations in India. It was established in 1973 and is a design driven company specializing in creating and manufacturing apparel for some of the leading names in the industry. It has consistently grown over the years not only in turnover but also in infrastructure, portfolio, human resource and most importantly, product specialization. As of now its turnover is around Rs.200 crores. It has 6 factories around Delhi and NCR.

Capacity
Operating out of 6 production centres in New Delhi, they have streamlined the process that each of the factories are dedicated to a specific group of customers. These factories are equipped with the latest machinery, and have a production output of over 265,000 pieces a month. On an average they receive an order quantity of 5000 pieces of a style. For the company, the product is the single most important factor and compromise of any kind is not even a consideration. Years of focusing on enhancing products quality produces an end result that will surpass all expectations. Their keynote is to remain open minded in this ever evolving industry. Their priority is Vertical integration, ISO Certification, Capacity expansion and training. The factory which we visited is located in Gurgaon, Plot No.-488, Udyog vihar Phase-3. It has its head office at E-45/13, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-2, New Delhi-20 The process of fabric inspection, lab testing and embroidery are done at the Okhla unit and then the passed fabric is transported to the Gurgaon unit. Fabric Grading Procedure Major defects Defect 1-Holes with 1/4 width or more 2-Center Selvedge 3-Printing 4- Color mismatching 5- wrong yarn usage 6-Big stains Action taken If after every 10metrs cut & used More than this reject Cut & use & inform supplier Up to 10% Cut & use If more than this return to supplier Send back to supplier Return to supplier Return to supplier

Minor defects 1-Bad selvedge- Loose or tight edges 2-Broken Ends- Warp yarn Missing 3-Coarse End or Pick- Warp yarn with large diameter 4-Mixed Yarn- Yarn that differs from that normally used 5-Slub- An abrupt thickened location in a yarn. 6-Tight edge Self - descriptive 7- Torn selvedge 8-Oil or Grease Marks 9-Off printing 10- pin holes Length of defects in inches Up to 3 3to 6 6to9 >9 Demerit Points 1 2 3 4

Method of application
Grading of fabric as per Point System

Points/100 square yard 40points 80 points >80 points

Grade First quality Second quality Unusable

Remarks Issue to production Raise deviation Do not use for Garments

Method of grading the fabric

Defect points assigned*100*36 = Pointsper100squ. yard Length in meters* 1.09*Width in inches Machines The company has a huge variety of machines that we saw in the factory which can be explained as follows: The Okhla unit uses 4point inspection system for inspecting the fabric for defects. The testing laboratory has the following testing equipments:

1. CROCK METER- Crock meter is equipment widely used in the textile industry to test color fastness of textiles particularly, printer fabrics to dry or wet rubbing. The primary function of the crock meter is to examine colorfastness of fabrics to crocking, that is, the rubbing off of dyes from a fabric surface onto another surface. 2. ELMENDORF TEARING TESTER This type of tester is used to test the tear strength of all kinds of woven fabrics, thick paper, plastic sheets, and electrical tape. 3. BUTTON/SNAP PULL OUT TESTER This test is designed to test the snap strength of buttons/rivets to ensure that it is meeting tolerance and safety levels, particularly in bay clothing and is also used to prevent the separation between the snap and the garment. 4. PH METER - A pH meter is an electronic instrument used for measuring the pH (acidity or alkalinity) of a liquid (though special probes are sometimes used to measure the pH of semi-solid substances). A typical pH meter consists of a special measuring probe (a glass electrode) connected to an electronic meter that measures and displays the pH reading. 5. COLOR MACHINE CABINET - The Color Check Cabinet was produced to answer visual color matching needs. Used for assessing color changes under different light sources, to determine suitability of materials for industrial applications where there is the need to maintain color consistency and quality. 6. HOT AIR OVEN - Hot air ovens are electrical devices used in sterilization. Generally, they can be operated from 50 to 300 C (122 to 572 F). Their double walled insulation keeps the heat in and conserves energy, the inner layer being a poor conductor and outer layer being metallic. 7. ICI PILLING BOX In ICI pilling box the samples of cloth are wrapped around tubes and tumbled in a cork lined box. A major issue that arises with ICI pilling system is mainly the control of properties of the cork linings of the box. 8. TUMBLE DRYER A tumble dryer is used to remove moisture from a load of clothing and other textiles, generally shortly after they are cleaned in a washing machine. 9. IFB (FRONT LOADING MACHINE) - The front-loading design or horizontal-axis clothes washer, mounts the inner basket and outer tub horizontally, and loading is through a door at the front of the machine. 10. WHIRLPOOL (TOP LOADING MACHINE) - The top-loading design or verticalaxis clothes washer, the clothes in a vertically mounted perforated basket that is contained within a water-retaining tub, with a finned water-pumping agitator in the center of the bottom of the basket. Clothes are loaded through the top of the machine, which is covered with a hinged door.

11. LAUNDERO METER- It is used for a machine with rotating containers for testing the color fastness of the dyed clothes to washing solutions or the efficiency of washing solutions in cleansing soiled clothes. 12. DIGITAL TENSILE STRENGTH - Digital Yarn Tensile Strength Testers that come with limit switch for auto stop at lower end and upper end, which provides overdrive safety. Manufactured using mild steel, these testers are extremely durable. Moreover, these strength testers have powder coated body to provide resistance against corrosion. 13. MICROSCOPE - Microscope is an instrument that is used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. 14. WEIGHING BALANCE A weighing balance is a measuring instrument for determining the weight or mass of an object. The balance measures mass specifically gravitational mass. 15. PICK GLASS Pick glass is the glass that is used to determine the reed and pick of woven fabrics. Reed is actually number of ends or number of warp threads per inch and by picks we mean the number of picks or number of weft threads per inch. 16. HEATING PLATE Heating plates are often used as an alternative to the burner. Some hotplates have a stirring mechanism as part of their design and allows for faster dissolving of some solids by heating and stirring at the same time. 17. BURSTING STRENGTH TESTER It is basically used to check the bursting strength of the knitted fabrics. Bursting strength of a material is defined as the hydrostatic pressure required producing rupture of a material when the pressure is applied at a controlled increasing rate through a rubber diaphragm 18. GSM CUTTER MACHINE It is basically used to determine the GSM of knitted, woven and non-woven fabrics. It is available in various prices, colors and specifications. It easy to operate and proved to provide accurate results. The GSM Cutter is circular fabric sample cutter with which uniform circular fabric is cut without measuring. 19. SHRINKAGE TEMPLATE This is used to find out the exact shrinkage in fabrics and garments. This very much determines the shrinkage in all the types of fabrics and garments. 20. GREY SCALE- In photography and computing, a grayscale or grey scale digital image is an image in which the value of each pixel is a single sample, Grayscale images are often the result of measuring the intensity of light at each pixel in a single band. .

Production department has a total of 550 sewing machines which can be categorized as under: 1. Single needle lock stitch 2. Single needle lock stitch with underbed trimmer 3. Kansai chain stitch machine with five thread and three thread 4. Button attach machine 5. Underbed trimmer 6. Single needle edge stitch machine 7. Edge cutter machine All the sewing machines belonged to Siruba, Juki and Pegasus The factory has two floors for production and a total of 550 sewing machines. One floor had only assembly line production and the other had a combination of Unit Production system and Assembly line. Each line had atleast two checkers: one inline and one endline. There were 2 sets of 40 work stations of Unit Production System The sewing machines had RFIDs Sean Card System in which every operator would log in with his log in identity. This helps the company to make a record of a fair figure of how the workers are working in terms of the number of hours and the number of leaves taken. This system avoids all types of arguments between the operators and the managers in the factory. The washing department had the following machines: 1. This department has 4 washing machines from which 3 are of Ramsons and 1 of Fabcare. All of them have a different capacity which are 150kgs, 100kgs,75kgs, 35kgs. 2. There are 4 tumble dry machines of Ramsons. The capacity of the machines is such that 1 is of 120kgs, 1 of 100kgs and 2 of 50 kgs each. 3. The factory has 2 hydro machines of Ramsons which have a capacity of 20kgs and 28kgs each. 4. There is a single drycleaning machine which has 2 parts of 18kgs each. It is also known as the PERC machine as it uses the chemical perchloroethylene for drycleaning. The brand of this machine is Renzacci.

The company is a manufacturer of kids, ladies and gents readymade garments. Space: The unit in Gurgaon is very spacious with a floor area of 1000 square metre Buyers Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) is an American retailer that focuses on casual wear for consumers aged 18 to 22. . Founded: New York City, New York, United States June 4, 1892. It has over 300 locations in the United States, and is expanding internationally.

J. C. Penney Company is a chain of American mid-range department stores based in Plano, Texas, a city north of Dallas. The company operates 1,107 department stores in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Founded: Kemmerer, Wyoming, U.S. (1902)

Monsoon was founded in 1972 by Peter Simon. Monsoon is a design-led retailer that retails a wide range of women's clothing, Monsoon children's wear, fragrance, shoes and Monsoon Home

Belk is a department store chain founded in 1888 in Monroe, North Carolina, today part of the Charlotte metropolitan area. After the founding of the first Belk store, the company grew in size and influence throughout the South

Juicy Couture is a contemporary line of both casual and dressy apparel based in Arleta, Los Angeles, California founded by Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela NashTaylor in 1996.

Kohl's Corporation is an American department store chain headquartered in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, operating as of September 2011, 1,089 stores in 49 states. In 1998, it entered the S&P 500 list, and is also listed in the Fortune 500.

French Connection (UK) (also known as FCUK) is a retailer and wholesaler of fashion clothing and accessories. Founded in 1972 by Stephen Marks it is based in London, is listed on the London Stock Exchange and operates globally

Specialized machines in the factory are as follows: 1. Kansai chain stitch machine 2. Joker tag machine Printing/ Embroidery machine This unit initially had embroidery facility in the same room as that of the cutting department but now it has been shifted to the okhala unit, from where the embroidery is done and again transported to the gurgaon unit.

Processes observed in the factory Garment no. 1 In the fabric store the first fabric that we observed was for a short navy blue floral print skirt which had discharge printing. It was being manufactured for Hollister, which is a sub brand of Abercrombie and Fitch. The skirt had a lining of cambric fabric of 100x288 which had a width of 52 inches. The lining was such that ruffle was also made in it from the cambric fabric. The shell of the skirt was of poplin 40s count and had a width of 56 inches. The shell fabric came in variety of lengths from the mill like 460 inches, 279 inches. This fabric had was given a peach finish. Their fabric is sourced mainly from Aalok Industries and Vardhaman mills. This skirt had a small patch of thread work embroidery of the logo of Hollister, which is a bird. The embroidery is done at the Okhla unit and then sent back to the Gurgaon unit in a days time. The various trims used in this skirt were as follows: 1. Main label with size: it was a twill weave label 2. Wash care label: it was in satin weave 3. Elastic: used as a waist band 4. Thread: they used Tex-27, ticket-120 thread for stitching the garment 5. Fusing: it was used at the waist to give it more shape 6. Labels: the labels used were all buyer nominated and generally from Hongkong and China 7. White thread on the waist band: it was a water soluble thread which would dissolve in water after wash 8. Navy blue thread: it was the cotton ploy thread used on the various parts of the skirt to match with the color. The various parts of the skirt are: 1. 2 panels: 1 front and 1 back 2. 4 inners 3. 4 frills 4. Belts: 1 in front and 1 at the back 5. Bottom patti: 1 in the front and 1 at the back The various machines that were to be used for this skirt were 1. Single needle lock stitch 2. Kansai: 5 thread overlock machine 3. 3 thread overlock machine

Garment no.2 In the cutting department we observed a tie and die, light blue and white colored fabric for a mamma size shirt which was being manufactured for JC Penny. The fabric was being laid by manual spreader. The lay length of this fabric was 10meters 85cms and width of the fabric of the fabric was 1 meter 10cms. The fabric was laid nap way because there was a specific design for the top and the fabric had to be cut in a specific direction. There were 100 plies that were laid together and a paper was placed after one lot of fabric was placed so as to differentiate amongst the different lots such that there any sought of confusion could be avoided during the process of bundling and stickering and to avoid mismatching of the parts. The ratio in which the sizes were being cut ona single layer were 2 pieces of 1x size and 2 pieces of 2x size, which means 100 plies would give 400 pieces of the top. There was another set of the same fabric being laid which had 100 plies on which 3x size was being cut and had a length of 3meters 28cms. The third set of same fabric that was being laid had a length of 5meters 51cms and 100 plies for cutting 1x and 2x sizes. The marker that was made for this garment had a length of 10 meters 80 cms and a total of 4 markers were made with each lay having 2 pieces of 1x size and 2 pieces of 2x size. One marker yields 4 pieces. The length of the marker is always lesser than the actual lay length of the fabric. The fabric was cut using a straight knife. Also the top had a collar for which fusing was used. The machine Fuse Master was used for attaching the fusing to the collar. The fusing was attached at a temperature of 145 degree celcius with a pressure of 2.5kgs and it took 12 seconds to attach 1 fusing on the collar. The bundling and stickering process here at Orient Fashions was very organized. The various parts of the garment were stickered as per the sizes and similarity of lots and then bundled according to a card which had a barcode and a number which said about the number of pieces in a bundle.

Garment no.3 Sewing department In the sewing department we observed a navy blue skirt of Hollister which is a a sub brand of Abercrombie and Fitch. The skirt was being manufactured in various colors like navy blue, red and green. The washcare for different colors was different and was specified on the shade card which had the thread which had to be used for each color. This garment was made using four kinds of macines: 1. Single needle lock stitch 2. Single needle edge cutter 3. Three thread overloack machine 4. Kansai five thread overlock machine These machines belonged to Siruba and Juki. This part of the department had 15 overlock machines, 8 edge cutter machines, 50 under bed trimmer (UBT) and 47 single needle lock stitch machines The skirt was being manufactured through both Assembly line and Unit Production system and both of them had the same number of operators but the time taken by the Unit Production System was much less, had better quality control and was 25% more productive than the Assembly Line system. There were 25 operators involved in making the skirt. The steps involved in making the skirt can be explained as under: Step1 Joining of the side seam of the shell. Step2 Shell bottom pressing Step3 Attaching of the bottom patti of the skirt Step4 Edge stitch is done on the bottom patti Step5 Marking with a magic pen for balancing of the edge Step6 Finishing the bottom facing Step7 Attaching the washcare label, which is done at the bottom of the skirt on the wearers left side. Step8 5 thread overloock machine of Kansai is used for attaching the two parts of the lining Step9 Bottom hm stitch is done with the help of folder Step10 Before attaching the ruffle on the lining three thread overlock is done. Step11 The gathers are adjusted as per the measurement Step12 Then marking is done as to how the frill is to be attached Step13 After the marking is done, the frill is attached Step14 After this the operator makes a centre notch on the waist part and attaches the shell and the lining. Step15 The waist band is then pressed to get it to its normal size Step16 Then it is joined with the waist seam Step17 The waist band is then attached on the waist part Step18 After the waist band is attached then the place is marked where the main label is to be attached and simultaneously the main label is attached Step19 After this the elastic is attached on the back side of the waist Step20 Edge stitch is done on the waist band Step21 The waist band is finished Step22 And finally waist band Kansai chain stitch is done. This thread that is used is water soluble is dissolves in water during wash.

The various pieces are supplied to the operator by hand in an assembly line system whereas in the unit production system which is from Eton , makes use of the machine which passes on the piece from one operator to the other. This system is more productive. The various labels are kept size wise in different boxes and wastage of 5 to 8% is acceptable so an extra of the same amount is given to the operators. There are a minimum of two inspection points in each line: one is the inline inspection point which checks the measurement and stitching and the endline or final inspection point which checks the same and other defects like holes in the fabric during the process of stitching.

Garment No.4 Washing and finishing For the process of washing, finishing and packing, we observed a pleated polka dots skirt from Gilly Hicks, which is a sub brand of Abercrombie and Fitch. It was being made in various colors like green, pink and blue. Washing This skirt is a softener wash skirt. When the skirt came from the production department to the washing area, it was first checked for spots and they were removed with the help of NITI soap solution, water and a brush. After this they went sent for washing in the front loading machine in which 75% garments and 25% water was used. We observed that the skirt was being washed in a 75kg machine in which 100 skirts were loaded at one time. The various steps involved in the washing of the garment are as follows: Step1 At first we put the garments in the machine for 5 minutes in plain water to remove the water soluble thread Step2 Then we add antibac staining solution chemical lubricant to the water to avoid puckering on the elastic and this cycle is for 2 minutes. Step3 Then we give the garments a wash in plain water for 3 minutes to remove the chemicals from the garments Step4 Lastly we give a 2 minutes wash to the garments in a solution of fresh water plus acetic acid and silicon softener. The ratio used in this wash was 0.5gpl of acetic acid and 4gpl of silicon softener. After the process is over we send the garments to the hydro machines to the soak the water from the garments and then tumble dry it in the machine to dry the garment completely. After washing the garment goes for finishing and packing in the finishing department where the whole process takes place Finishing and Packing department This department basically had 34 iron tables of Ramsons. A typical cycle time for ironing the garment is 10-12 minutes. The pleats of this skirt were made using steam iron at medium heat and after the final measurements were done. The various steps involved in finishing the garment involves ironing it, removal of extra threads, measurement checks, removal of stains and spots, attaching the hang tags with the help kimble, passing the garment through needle detection machine and finally packing the garment in the plastic ploy bag or as per the buyer specification and packing in the cartons. For the skirt which we observed the following steps were involved for finishing it: Step1 Ironing of the lining Step2 Spot and stain checking and removal from the lining using a chemical Step3 Cutting of the extra threads from the skirt using a cutter. Step4 Initial checking:At this point we check the defects in stitching of the garment and mark the points of defect with a sticker and then it is sent for correction if there are any defects in the stitching or any other. If the garment is fine then it is sent to the next operator Step5 Lining of the skirt was pressed Step6 The measurement of the skirt is then checked and if its OK it is sent to the next operator, else the stitch is rectified Step7 Again the skirt was sent to an operator for cutting of extra threads

Step8 Then the final checking is done to ensure that the garment has been approved and that now it can be ironed and packed Step9 The garment was then sent to an operator who used an equipment to shed the threads from the skirt such that it attracted the threads from the fabric. Step10 After this a joker tag is attached to the skirt which is a size tag. It is attached with the help of a joker attach machine. Step11 Then the hang tag is attached with help of a kimble. It is basically a price tag of the garment and also tells the brand. The place from where it was sourced was buyer nominated. Step12 After this process was over the skirt was sent for final pressing where the pleats of the skirt were set and ironed at a medium heat Step13 The skirts after this were packed in polybags and packed in cartons and they were ready to be shipped. This entire process involved manpower of 35 INNOVATIONS IN THE FACTORY 1. During our factory visit, the first thing that we observed was that some of the departments like fabric inspection and was done in the their head office in (Okhla industrial area).That would automatically leads to high fuel and transportation cost for transporting the passed fabrics from Okhla unit to Gurgaon.Similarly, embroidery was done in Gurgaon unit,so transportation of embroidery from Gurgaon to Okhla unit. 2. Secondly, in cutting department initially they had embroidery machines ,but at that time they were shifted to Okhla unit and the entire space was left empty.they need to utilize the empty space.In fabric store,some of the fabrics were lying on the floor ,they could probably make proper shelf and racks in those empty area to put their fabrics in proper way.