How T-Shirts Are Made
There is something special about how comfortable t-shirts can be. But have you ever considered how it is made and the process that takes place before you see a t-shirt for sale somewhere? It’s quite an interesting cycle that typically begins in a cotton field.
The cotton fields in India or the United States are responsible for the majority of the raw material used in the process of created t-shirts. Even if the t-shirt you are wearing is not 100-percent cotton, it will very likely be a cotton blend of some kind where cotton is combined with other durable material such as polyester.
The Six steps for how T-shirts are made:
Step 1 – The Field to The Gin
Cotton balls are collected from the field and put into a machine called a gin. The gin separates the useable cotton for waste such as seeds and chaff. Depending on the design, gins contain cleaning cylinders and cutting saws that speed the process up considerable from doing the work by hand.
Step 2 – The Spinner to The Loom
The cotton fiber is baled and taken to a facility where it is combed, carded and blended. Carding is where the cotton fibers are separated into long strands. The spun cotton is then knit on a loom, which is a weaving machine. The loom converts the cotton into a grey-colored fabric.
Step 3 – The Wetting Process
Heat and chemicals are used to treat the fabric and it is from this process that it ends up looking as we commonly recognize cotton fabric to appear. The processes used in this phase include printing, dyeing and bleaching. This is also where the product is feed through an inspection line for grey textile.
There are three general steps as part of the inspection. They include preparation, coloration and finishing. When the cotton fabric has reached the desired color and softness, it is considered finished.
Step 4 – Cutting and Sewing
Although the fabric is considered finished at this point, it ends up on a long trip. This journey takes the fabric to a sewing facility which is typically located a fair distance from where it was treated to enter this phase. The blank garments that sewers create from the finished product produce a bit of waste in the process. Roughly 15-percent of the fabric will end up on the cutting room floor.
Step 5 – The Printing Part
A screen printing facility is the next stop for the now-completed t-shirts. This is where design specifics for the print that will be applied to the t-shirt are finalized. This step includes colors, sizing, placement and ink type. Once the screen printing has been completed, the t-shirts, after they enter a drying stage, are packaged and labeled for shipment.
Step 6 – The Final Step
The shipments of finished t-shirts go to various locations. For example, if you purchase you t-shirts at a retail location, shipments would have gone to them. The packages would be opened, the t-shirts would be priced and added to inventory. Some would go on display on racks for customers to see.
If you order your t-shirts online, the packages would go to the online supplier. When you order your t-shirt from one of them, it is pulled from the inventory and packaged again. Then it is shipped directly to you.
Order Your T-Shirts Online From YayPrint
It’s far too easy to order your t-shirts online from us. All you have to do is to download our app check out the inventory and order anytime as our online store is open 24/7. It couldn’t be any easier!