Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine February Issue 2019 | Page 49

types, we get 24x2=48 different ways
to sew only three operations in the
men’s shirt. Although, the total number
of operations in a shirt is nearly 40+,
if hypothetically 6 of the operations
can be done in 3 different ways, the
total number of variations will be a
mind-boggling 36=729. Every different
variation has different SMV and
different USP or style feature (although
often unnoticeable) for any brand. The basic characteristic of a standard men’s shirt is that
there should not be any visible protruding edge inside
or outside of the garment; all seams should be flat as far
as possible. A standard men’s shirt is assumed to have
double piece yoke, armhole joined by flat & fell seam and
two needle chainstitch sewing of lap seam (using feed of
arm) at side and sleeve.
Variation in
manufacturing
process Table 1: Operational variation in sleeve placket and front placket
Apart from variations in construction
process, the manufacturing process (the
division of labour and material handling
between two sewing operations) also
differs on many accounts. Shirt sewing
can be traditionally broken down
into six sections: front, back, sleeve,
collar, cuff, and assembly. While some
manufacturers incorporate all sections
in one sewing line, others maintain
separate sections as separate sewing
lines. The sectionalisation is also not
standardised; as some manufacturers
(large order quantity) create only three
sections, namely small part preparation
(collar and cuff sections combined),
large part preparation (front, back
and sleeve section combined) and
assembly section, and prefer to work
with different sections where these
sections are managed by different
line supervisors with separate targets
and huge WIP is maintained between
different sections, while companies with
short run (low volume order) prefer to
combine all sections into one line.
Presented here is the operation
breakdown of men’s dress shirt from
five different sources (Table 2); one is
mentioned by an Italian consultant in
an article published by StitchWorld; the
second one has been mentioned by an
Indian domestic manufacturer; the third
one is from Binran (Juki); the fourth one
is by an Indian export manufacturer;
and the fifth one is a 12-minute shirt
from Kogos. The total number of
operations varies from 41 to 53, which
although in some cases is inclusive
of final press and in some cases is
Operation
Sleeve placket
making I
Description
Left front placket
making
Seam
Diagram
Description
Variation 1 Diamond-shaped top
placket of wider width
and separate down
placket of narrow width Imitation continuous front
placket with two step
lockstitch operation.
Variation 2 Diamond-shaped top
placket of wider width &
down placket of narrow
width by folding sleeve
slit edge Imitation separate front
placket with one step
double needle chainstitch
operation
Variation 3 Diamond-shaped top
placket and continuous
down placket; both
having same width Downturn unstitched front
placket (button holes are
keeping the fold together)
Variation 4 Continuous top and
down plackets of
narrow width Continuous downturn
hem placket with one
step lockstitch/chainstitch
Variations 5 Separate bound seam
placket with one step
double needle chainstitch
operation
Variation 6 Separate patch placket
with one step four needle
chainstitch operation
Seam Diagram
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