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Showing posts from December, 2016

AQL Charts for Quality Inspection

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You may be aware of the AQL which stands for Acceptable Quality Level. Some sources abbreviate AQL as Acceptable Quality Limit. If you have researched about the AQL chart, you might have seen a different form of AQL charts in the various sources.

That is because, shipment inspection in done at various level - like level-I, level-II and level-III. Also, the sampling of the shipment lot is done as - single sampling and double sampling. Further AQL level is categorized as AQL 0.1, AQL 2.5, AQL 4, AQL 6.5 etc.  When you prepare AQL chart with all these combinations, you will get various AQL charts.

Here we will be talking about AQL chart used for shipment inspection in the apparel industry. In the apparel industry normally single sampling is followed.


AQL Chart: Sample size and AQL level

Also see: How to read AQL chart
AQL Chart: General Inspection Plan In this chart shows single sampling. Number of pieces to be selected as sample for the specific lot size of the shipment are shown. Like, i…
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What Does 2.5 AQL Mean in Inspection?

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AQL 2.5 is a common criteria while we talk about shipment inspection and status of the shipment inspection. Garment exporters and apparel buyers used to say AQL 2.5 to define their quality performance. If any company is meeting 2.5 AQL first time, it is considered that the factory's product quality is very good.

What does this AQL 2.5 mean? How many defects and defective pieces in a shipment is allowed if the inspection is done at 2.5 AQL. In this post, this question is answered a simple way.

First thing first - AQL stands for Acceptable Quality Level. The AQL table is developed and used by the American military. We are following that AQL table in garment quality inspection.

Let's look at the AQL chart (shown below). In the table, there is a column named AQL 2.5 (red boxed). So when you are doing shipment inspection at 2.5 AQL level, you need to know your shipment lot size, sample size and follow the 2.5 AQL column.


For example, you have two shipments that your need to inspec…
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7 Brands for Automatic CNC Fabric Cutting Machines

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The modern cutting rooms in the garment factory are equipped with automatic cutting machines. Automatic fabric cutting machines help factories improving cutting accuracy, and improving cutting room production.

There are many brands those manufacture and supply automatic CNC fabric cutting machine to garment manufacturers. In this post, I have listed 7 automatic CNC fabric cutting machines brands/ companies. In case you are looking for an automatic cutting machine for your factory look at these machines.
1. Lectra systems Lectra is one of the very well known brands in the CAD system and cutting room solutions including automatic cutting machine and auto-spreader. Vector is the new generation automatic cutting machine from Lectra.


Learn more about Lectra systems
2. Gerber cutter Gerber is another popular name in cutting room automation and technology. Gerbercutter is widely used CNC fabric cutting machine. Learn more about Gerber cutter.

3. Morgan Tecnica Morgan Tecnica spa is Italy bas…
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Direct Garment Printers

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Printing is one of the components of garment manufacturing. You can say part of the garment business. Starting an apparel brand goes a long way from concept to consumer. The lead time needed for converting a product from the concept to the consumer has come down with the innovations of machines. Digital textile printers, also known as direct garment printers one such technology, that help brands to bring the printed apparel products in the market quickly and with a better quality of prints.

Also read: Sublimation printing process

If you are running a t-shirt business or custom print t-shirt business, you might be thinking of reducing your production time and finding a flexible printing solution. A digital garment printer is a solution to your need.

There are many good brands for digital apparel printers (direct to garment print), like Anajet, Epson, Omniprint, Kornit, and Brother. We are just sharing the technology of direct garment printing.


In this post we have shared the features a…
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How Innovations Help Manufacturers to Stay Ahead the Competition

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This is a guest contribution from Charm Rammandala.

It is often discussed that apparel industry has become very competitive due to an excessive number of manufacturers from a range of countries. Buyers have many suppliers to choose from range of countries hence suppliers really should be creative to retain the current buyers and to attract new ones.

Most manufacturing countries are experiencing inflation and raw material suppliers naturally increase their prices to keep the margins. However, manufactures not seeing much price increase due to the competition hence facing a tough situation.

I have noticed over the years that apparel industry in South Asia is somewhat lagging behind when it comes to embracing new innovations and technology. With exceptions of few companies, most manufactures still use the same basic industrial sewing machines with basic functions first introduced in 1980s. Let’s look at one of the recent innovation which will help to reduce the manufacturing cost and imp…
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An Introduction to Quality Assurance for the Retailers (Book by Mehta P. V.)

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There are very few books written on quality management in the apparel industry. The book An Introduction to Quality Assurance for the Retailers by Pradip V. Mehta is one of such books. This book does not written specific to the apparel industry, but principles outlines in this book are applicable worldwide.

Apparel retailers as well as garment manufacturers can refer this book for managing quality in the readymade garment industry.

Buy this book from Flipkart / Amazon.in store


Find more books on apparel industry.

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7 Check Points for Cutting Department for Starting Bulk Cutting

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Do you have the checklist for bulk cutting? If you don’t have, you can follow this check list.

The garment manufacturing process from sourcing of fabric to fabric testing, fabric quality inspection and audit to cutting of fabric are performed by different teams. All changes and update requirement must be communicated to the right person on time. If there is gap in communication between two departments, there might be chance of making mistakes and consequences might be resulted in a big loss of revenue.


To avoid delay in production, and quality issues you must look at following 7 check lists prior to starting bulk cutting. You can say these are requirement for starting cutting.

1. Bulk fabric approval Approval of fabric quality in terms of fabric weight (GSM), its shade, shade band, lot variations (if any) and there are many other fabric quality parameters. All parameters must be matched with the buyer's requirement. You don't need to know everything about fabric parameters - …
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How to Calculate Hourly Production Target

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In apparel production, you may often need to calculate hourly production target for a given style for setting up production target and production planning. The hourly production target is calculated for individual operators as well as for a line as needed. 
In this article, I will show you
How to calculate hourly production target for an individual operation How to calculate hourly production target for a production line. Hourly production target calculation is a part of an operation bulletin preparation and daily production report. In an OB production target is calculated for each operations.

Following formula is used to calculate hourly target.

Hourly production target = (60 / Operation SAM)
An hour is equal to 60 minutes. Divide the 60 by the operation SAM. The end result of this calculation tells you the number of pieces can be produced per hour, which is the hourly production target for the selected operation.

Let’s take an example. SAM of an operation is 0.5 minute. Hourly prod…
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Operation Bulletin of a Polo Shirt

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In our industrial engineering tutorial series, we are sharing operation bulletins for various products. In today's post, we are sharing an operation bulletin of a Polo Shirt. You can refer to this operation bulletin to learn about various operations involved and machine requirement in making polo shirt. If you are wondering how to make an operation bulletin read the process of making an operation bulletin.


Operation Bulletin of a Polo Shirt An operation bulletin of a polo shirt is shown in the following table. In this OB, operations list, Estimated time, machine requirement, manpower requirement and hourly production target quantity at 80% efficiency are shown.



Disclaimer: The estimated time (SAM) shown in the above table will vary according to the product design, method followed and machine and equipment used in actual production. So be careful while you use the above estimated time against each operation.
Full form of machine name.  In the above table short name of sewing machin…
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Operation Bulletin of a Boxer Shorts

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In our industrial engineering tutorial series, we are sharing operation bulletins for various products. In today's post, we are sharing an operation bulletin of a boxer shorts. You can refer to this operation bulletin to learn about various operations involved and machine requirement in making woven boxers shorts. If you are wondering how to make an operation bulletin read the process of making an operation bulletin.


Operation Bulletin An operation bulletin of a boxer shorts is shown in the following table. In this OB, operations list, Estimated time, machine requirement, manpower requirement and hourly production target quantity at 65% efficiency are shown.

Disclaimer: The estimated time (SAM) shown in the above table will vary according to the product design, method followed and machine and equipment used in actual production. So be careful while you use the above estimated time against each operation.
Full form of machine name.  In the above table short name of sewing machines …
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Operation Bulletin of a Hoodie (Fleece Pullover)

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In our industrial engineering tutorial series, we are sharing operation bulletins for various products. In today's post we are sharing an operation bulletin of a Hoodie (fleece pullover). You can refer this operation bulletin to learn about various operations involved and machine requirement in making a hoodie with kangaroo pocket, draw cord. If you are wondering how to make an operation bulletin read the process of making an operation bulletin.


Operation Bulletin of a Hoodie An operation bulletin of a fleece hoodie is shown in the following table. In this OB, operations list, Estimated time, machine requirement, manpower requirement and hourly production target quantity at 80% efficiency are shown.



Disclaimer: The estimated time (SAM) shown in the above table will vary according to the product design, method followed and machine and equipment used in actual production. So be careful while you use the above estimated time against each operation. The number of machines and manpower…
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11 Apparel News Websites to Follow in 2017

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News is part of our life. Every day we spend some amount of time in reading news on the internet, or on mobile app. Also we read trade magazines to keep updated. Now all major news channels have mobile apps and we can read news on the go. What about the apparel news, fashion business news and market update of the fashion industry and news on technology up gradation?

Here is list of top 11 news you can read and follow in 2017.

Around the world there are many websites and print magazines those publishes latest news, market updates and brand's press releases covering apparel news and garment industry updates. There are few apparel news sites those have mobile application and mobile responsive websites.

Do you want to receive update of latest news feeds? To receive latest update in your mail box you can subscribe their news by new category.

1. Fibre2Fashion.com

Fibre2Fashion Pvt. Ltd. is a market driven B2B portal that marked its existence in the year 2000 and since then, has consist…
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Different Types of Fabric Cutting Machines Used in Garment Production

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Cutting is one of the processes in garment manufacturing. In bulk garment manufacturing, multiple fabric layers are cut at a time by means of cutting machines. Different types of cutting machines and equipment are available for cutting fabrics and machines are used as per requirement and production volume. Semi-automatic and automatic improves cutting room productivity and improves cutting accuracy.
Different Types of cutting Machines Cutting machine and equipment can be categorized as following
Manual cuttingSemi-automatic cutting machineFully automatic cutting machine1. Manual cutting
Hand scissors are used for cutting fabric plies manually. Hand scissors are not machines but very useful cutting equipment. Factories may have semi-automatic and fully automatic machines for fabric cutting, but can’t avoid use of hand scissors in cutting section. Scissors are common tool in cutting process and hand scissors ha many use in cutting room.

2. Semi-automatic cutting machines
 Straight Knife cu…
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Global Wage Report 2016/17 by ILO.org

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On 15th December 2016, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has released the Global Wage Report 2016/17.

The 2016/17 edition examines inequality at the workplace level, providing empirical evidence on the extent to which wage inequality is the result of wage inequality between enterprises as well as within enterprises. The report also includes a review of key policy issues regarding wages.


I am sharing this Global wage report because the readymade garment industry is also part of this report. The garment manufacturing industry is a labour-intensive manufacturing sector and manufacturing destination depends on the labour wages of the country. I think you may like to know and understand the global wages.

Following two paragraphs are extracted from the report and we can link the readymade garment industry with the report.
At the international level, some enterprises have highlighted the difficulty of raising wages at the enterprise level in a competitive environment where buyers …
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Garment Textile Fashion News App from Fibre2Fashion

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Fibre2Fashion NEWS app is knowledge-based mobile application that generates informative updates on global happenings, industry movements, latest trends, and upcoming technologies in garment-textile-fashion industry with just a swipe

Fibre2Fashion News App, designed for both Android and iOS devices, brings news on fashion, textiles, garment, technical textiles and more from its global portal. It brings news in a short and crisp format to help the reader stay updated with the latest news quickly, on the go.

The News app enables users to share latest textile, garment and fashion related news over SMS, Whatsapp, email, facebook and other sharing and networking apps. The bookmark feature enables readers to bookmark news stories to read them later at their convenience.

To facilitate all these, the app brings to the forefront some exclusive features, which include but are not limited to:
App provides news on Fashion, Textile, Garment, Technical Textile, Textile Technology and more categorie…
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What is Operation Breakdown in Garment Industry

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Each garment is constructed by number of stitching jobs and non-sewing jobs. Jobs or activity involved in making a garment is known as operations. In industrial garment manufacturing, prior to making the garments, the sample is studied and list of required operations for making the approved design are made. The operations are written in a sequence of actual process flow to be followed while making the garment in the shop floor. 
What is operation breakdown? The method of preparing operations' list in a sequence is called as operation breakdown.  The sheet of listed operations of a style is also known as operation breakdown. An operation breakdown includes information like
Sewing and non-sewing operationsName of the machines to use for doing the specific operationsEstimated time to do each operation for one unit
One sample operation breakdown of Polo shirt is shown in the below image.
The garment operation bulletin is also called as operation breakdown. An operation bulletin includes…
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OCS Got a New Look

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Finally the day comes to say good bye to the old look of OCS.

It took a long time to change the look and the layout of Online Clothing Study site. At last we made it.

The new design is mobile responsive. Page load time is improved in the new design. We have added mega menu. In home page you will category wise sections.

Explore the new site and send us your feedback how you experience the new layout and design.

While exploring the new site you might have experienced that some links are not working. In case you found some links are not working please let us know by writing at prasanta@onlineclothingstudy.com

We are still working on fixing issues having in the new design and we will make sure that everything works fine with the new design and layout.

In the brand new web design you can easily connect to your favorite reading topics, share it with your network and post your comments. We have added multiple comment sections for your ease to share your thought and comments.

We hope you …
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The Need for Open Labor Costing in Apparel Sourcing Business

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This is a guest submission from Charm Rammandala.
We all understand the need for a universally accepted system to cost apparel to ensure buyers as well as manufactures feel comfortable. Even though, it is being in discussion for over two decades, still we find both buyers as well as manufacturers complaining about the challenges they face when it comes to negotiating prices.
Just recently I had a discussion with a friend who runs a buying office. He explained to me how some leading buyers/retailers such as NEXT and M&S use online auctions to decide prices and to find manufactures. I am sure if you ask them they will tell it’s a totally acceptable method to find most competitive manufacturer. However, I would argue this is not the right thing to do.
Lets discuss why I said that. My friend was explained how much pressure and a tense situation it was to be in front of the computer and bid. Every time he put a lower price, somebody else from another company would outbid him. So if you…
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Top 10 Fashion Colleges in India

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Top 10 fashion colleges in India are listed below. This list is based on India Today ranking for the best colleges in India. 4 Branches of NIFT is included in the top 10 list.

1. National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi
1. National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Mumbai
3. Pearl Academy, Delhi
4. Pearl Academy, Jaipur
5. National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Chennai
6. National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Patna
7. Symbiosis Institute of design, Pune
8. Amity School of Fashion Technology, Noida
9. Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology, Bengaluru
10. Northern India Institute of Fashion Technology (NIIFT), Mohali

Visit college website and learn more about the courses provided by these fashion colleges, Course duration, and Tuition fees.

[NIFT][Pearl Academy][Symbiosis Institute of Design][Amity School of Fashion Technology][Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology] [NIIFT, Mohali]

Also, see the overall rank of these colleges in previous years 201…
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Kidswear Manufacturing Setup: A Project Report and Guide

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At OCS we are working on a new project. We will be publishing project reports and guides for setting up small and medium scale garment manufacturing unit. These guides would help interested individuals to understand man, machine and material requirement; space requirement and more information for setting up a garment manufacturing business.
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