Some Common Challenges Faced by Garment Industry

The fashion industry is fascinating to look upon and to work in. Like other industries, they also have everyday challenges. And, when you are working in the B2C industry, things are way different. Things shape by keeping a huge audience in mind, their choice, their behaviour, their psychology. People from fashion industries have the responsibility to bridge the gap between the admirers and their idols. On one hand, the garments should suit to the choice of vast audience and on the other hand, it should have been tested for user’s safety to justify its cost.

Everyday Challenges

Procuring perfect quality raw material – Getting the right thing at the right price is quite difficult. In order to save money, some manufacturers are using blended fabric, natural + synthetic. This reduces the price of the garment but shows some negative behaviour. Low tear resistance, low crease resistance, colour bleeding, pilling (hair ball) etc. For instance, a low-quality fabric is used, while testing it with snap button pull out tester, it would get torn with the tension applied by the machine. And, this happens in real life as well with snap buttons. A low cost blended fabric can cause skin irritation and excessive sweating. This is why procuring good quality at low cost is a major challenge.

Colour matching – What is appearing lime to me might appear chartreuse to other. This difference in perception is very natural. Due to interference from external light source and vision, the colour appears differently to different people. This is why colour matching is becoming a concern. There are many devices that quantify the colour tones and help in eliminating the discrepancy. For the layman, who have very little knowledge of colour management can use colour matching cabinets to match samples with a master in different lights.

Testing of accessories – For big brands, every tiny aspect matters. They incorporate different testing procedures to make sure that garment quality is justifying its price. Snap button pull out tester is one such machine that tests the strength of buttons. Not only snap button, other varieties like two / four-hole flat buttons, hook and eye fastening, shanks etc. can also be tested with this machine. With a little modification, it can be used for testing of zips etc.

Pilling – Pilling is the phenomenon of hair ball formation due to friction. This is a very common problem in natural fabrics. If the threads of the fabric are weak, they tend to break due to friction and forming hair balls or lint. This eventually degraded the surface of the fabric and making it look appear abraded. Sometimes pilling also results in a change in colour of the area. To avoid this, natural fabrics are blended with synthetic to some extent.