Reduction of material consumption for garments from checked fabrics

Abstract

The use of CAD/CAM systems have greatly optimized material utilization of garment styles from plain fabrics. Processing of intricate pattern materials is still work and material consuming. Increased material consumption is obtained because of two reasons: necessity to match pattern on ready garments and unfixed textile material structure. The fabric loss related to the pattern matching necessity is the most difficult to reduce. A style of classical women jacket was tested to compare efficiency of plain and checked fabric markers for sizes 36 – 54. It was determined that marker length is dependent on the conformity of the size of the checked fabric repeat and the length of the longest components placed in a sectioned marker. Reducing the length of the style slightly it was possible to reduce marker length considerably for certain size markers. Marker length, fabric consumption and, with it, product costs can be reduced conforming the length of the style to the size of the checked fabric repeat. Length tolerance – acceptable slight variations of the length of the style which does not change design and visual perception of the style should be determined by designers. Specialized software could be developed to vary the length of the style in the interval of length tolerance to reduce fabric consumption and with it product costs of certain production orders. Improving manufacturing efficiency and reducing fabric use, the styles from checked materials could be included in garment collections more often.