The garment or clothing sector remains one of the world’s biggest manufacturing industries, generating over $2.5 trillion in global annual revenues in 2021 and employing over 300 million people (One Ocean Foundation, 2021).
The fast growth of this sector is remarkable. In 2022, this industry achieved more than double the economic profit made between 2011 and 2020, except for one year (McKinsey & Company, 2023). In 2023, the global textile market was valued at $2,637 billion, but the sector is still expected to grow, with current data estimating a compound annual growth rate of 7.4 in revenue. These high statistics are due to the constant demand for more apparel and the incredible success e-commerce has had in the last decade (Grand View Research, 2024).
China, with its large-scale production capabilities, continues to dominate the global manufacturing landscape. Other key players in the garment industry include India, Bangladesh, and Turkey, with Asia leading the way in clothing production (Textile Value Chain, 2023).
Producing clothes is a complicated and long manufacturing process encompassing several steps, from the cultivation of raw materials such as cotton to the creation of yarns and textiles and the final production of clothes. Today, we will discuss the last step of this long manufacturing chain: how factories turn textiles, such as denim, sateen, and corduroy, into final wearable pieces of clothes.
From Fabrics to Clothes Step by Step
Producing clothes from textiles is a long process encompassing plenty of steps, beginning with the creation of a unique design.
Designing
This is the most creative step in the process, and it consists of finding inspiration to create a new, unique piece of clothing. Fashion designers can draw inspiration by composing mood boards, namely a set of images providing the vibes the garment should incorporate, reading fashion magazines, or attending events. They can then draw technical sketches showing each component of their design. A prototype is then created to check whether any manufacturing problems should be addressed before starting with mass production. In this step, fashion designers also choose which fabrics to use for their designs, such as denim, cotton, or velvet.
Designing clothes can take anywhere from a few days to a few months. For instance, it usually takes some months to design an entire ready-to-wear clothing line, while for haute couture, fashion designers can spend months designing a single piece of clothing.
Pattern Making
Once the design is ready, it’s time for pattern-making. This means creating a pattern for each piece of fabric that composes the garment. These will then be used as a template to cut fabrics and assemble the pieces of clothing. Pattern-making can be done in different ways, but the most common method involves using a cardboard or paper template. Factories often make use of computer-aided design (CAD) programs, as these have several advantages. For instance, they can create multiple garments while allowing designers to change the patterns before cutting them in their chosen textile. Most importantly, however, CAD can create 3D models showing how a specific piece of clothing will look and fit digital avatars instead of generating physical samples (Science Direct, 2018).
Grading
Grading refers to the process of creating different sizes of the same piece of garment. For instance, every pattern used to create a simple t-shirt, such as the sleeves, the font, and the back, needs to be made in different sizes, such as small, medium, large, extra large, and so on. Grading can be done horizontally by adding a few cm to the width of the pattern pieces or vertically by adding a few cm to their length. The former is usually easier and is often prioritised by factories. Three main pattern grading methods are now widely used in the clothing industry. Let’s explore each of these.
Cut and spread: This is achieved by cutting the pattern and adding a few mm to its width, length, or both.
Pattern shifting: This method consists of moving the pattern around at a constant distance to redraw the new border of the pattern and then cut a new template.
Computer grading: This is the fastest method and employs the latest technology to create different pattern sizes using both the cut and spread method and the pattern shifting one (Techpacker, 2021).
Spreading & Cutting
It is now time to cut the textiles. If you’ve ever seen a tailor creating a suit, you surely remember him using chalk to draw temporary lines on the fabric before cutting each piece. Of course, industries now have better technologies to achieve maximum efficiency. For instance, spreading machines can now layer the fabric evenly before cutting, improving efficiency while reducing waste and ensuring consistency (Oschima, 2022).
Before cutting, markings are also made at key points, such as seam lines, which will be crucial to assemble the final garment. Automatic cutting machines are then used to minimise waste and errors. Some of the most popular machines used for this purpose are Gerber auto-cutting machines, laser cutting machines, and water jet cutting machines that use high-pressure water to cut through layers of fabric.
Sewing
This is the process by which all the garment parts are finally assembled together, creating the final piece of clothing. For centuries, sewing has been carried out by skilled workers by hand, but nowadays, sewing machines are widely used. Despite this, a typical struggle for clothing factories manufacturing clothes is finding skilled workers able to operate sewing machines properly.
This has led to the creation of new machines, such as robotic 3D sewing machines, that now use a 3D seam. Other good examples include SEWBO and LOWRY SewBots, which can sew an entire t-shirt without any sort of external aid. These machines have completely changed the garment industry as not only do they reduce the amount of work required by humans by 50-70%, but they also cut down costs drastically. For instance, while in the US, producing a denim shirt usually costs the manufacturer around $7.50, with SewBots, expenses drop to $.033 (Fibre2Fashion, 2023).
Finishing
Lastly, the finishing touches are added to the garment. This includes embellishments such as buttons, zippers, and snaps, which can be attached by hand or with specific machines. Lastly, clothes may still undergo several steps, including washing, bleaching, dyeing, and printing. For instance, washing is often done to remove impurities from the fabric, while bleach can sometimes be used to give clothes that candid white and remove the natural colours of the fibres (Britannica, 2024). Dyeing and printing processes are also carried out to give a given piece of clothing more colour and uniqueness. These processes often use chemical substances that, if not disposed of correctly, could be unfortunately detrimental to our environment. But how does the garment industry affect climate change?
Clothes Production and Sustainability
Unfortunately, the fashion sector remains one of the most polluted industries in the world. Textile production accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions and 20% of clean water pollution. To give you a better idea of the problem, washing an entire load of polyester results in the discharge of 700,000 microplastic fibres, which end up in the food chain. On top of this, only 1% of clothes are recycled (European Parliament, 2024). Given these alarming statistics, what can we do to bring more sustainability to the clothing industry?
Better technology
Nowadays, we have plenty of technology able to successfully limit our waste. Factories should invest in renewable green energy and make sure their machines, such as their wastewater treatment ones, operate correctly. But technology should also be used for innovation. For instance, to create new revolutionary materials made from waste scraps or environmentally friendly fibres, such as Tencel, Econyl, and bamboo textiles.
Slow fashion
Industries should also let go of fast fashion and embrace slow fashion instead. This trend prioritises sustainable practices, such as circular fashion, aiming to recycle as much fabric as possible. For instance, some companies now offer life-long repairs to their client or may give money back to customers who return their pieces of clothing after years of use so that they can be employed to produce new garments. Slow fashion also tends to focus on local production to avoid global shipping. This is fundamental as container and cruise ships generate the same emissions as one-fourth of all European cars combined (Just Style, 2020).
Better laws
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