Essential Equipments for Garment Pressing
Mayedul Islam
Merchandiser at Fashion Xpress Buying House.
Badda, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Email: mayedul07@gmail.com
Garment Pressing:
Pressing is a finishing process done by a cloth to heat and pressure with or without steam to remove creases and to impart a flat appearance to the cloth or garments to the customer in attractive condition suitable for sale. It is also known as ironing. The pressing process influences the final garment appearance and hence the garment appeal. Finishing and pressing equipments contour the semifinished garment panels as well as finished garments by bringing down the fibres in the fabric to an elastic state and then deforming and setting them. There are various machines are used in garment industries. Among them Stem iron and Stem pressing machine remarkable.
Pressing equipments play the role of making garments in a presentable form free from creases and crushing. Pressing operation plays a major part in creating finished garments. The aesthetic appeal of the garment is increased with pressing.
Functions of Pressing:
The functions of pressing are-
- To remove the unwanted creases and crush marks
- To induce creases to the garment based on the design requirement
- To enable the garment fit to the contour of the body
- To enable further sewing by preparing the garment for next sewing operation
- To finally finish the garment for packing
Categories of Pressing:
Garments are divided into various classes according to the amount and kind of pressing required.
- Garments, which require no pressing – Foundation garments, stretch swimwear, bras, briefs and underwear.
- Garments requiring minimal pressing – Single ply garments such as slips, nightgowns, knitted synthetics and T-shirts.
- Garments requiring the use of an iron in under pressing and final pressing – For the opening of seams and creasing of edges and for pressing garments with gathers and fullness and in situations where style change is frequent.
- Garments requiring extensive under pressing and final pressing –Men’s jackets, trousers and waistcoats, women’s tailored jackets, skirts, top coats. Style change in these garments is infrequent.
- Garments requiring pleating or ‘permanent press’ finishing.
Necessary Equipments for Garment Pressing:
There is a large range of equipment available for the pressing of garments, from the simple hand steam irons to the sophisticated vertical front and back pressing robot manufactured by the Viet Group for the pressing of jackets. The development of this machine has the advantage of making the pressing operation more pleasant for the operator as well as reducing the skill level required. In garments industries the following pressing machines are used:
Steam iron or hand iron:
The most frequent but least productive pressing equipment is the hand iron, which is appropriate for executing a large number of jobs in processing with the aid of moisture and heat. In house hold operations, normal electric irons are extensively used. But today steam irons are used for industrial purposes. In stem irons, the iron is heated up by steam which is supplied from a central boiler or a mini boiler. The supply of steam is regulated by a hand regulated button. This steam is supplied to iron from the boiler through a pipe and is let to come out through perforations under the iron. These irons are triangular in shape and their weight varies from 1 to 15 kg. For pressing this iron, ironing bed or table is required. With the bed there should be a provision of air suction system. After ironing, a foot regulated switch is pressed for air suctioning which removes the moisture and heat as well from the pressed garment quickly. To operate steam iron, skilled and experienced operator is required because the proper regulation of air and steam supply depends on operator’s skillness.
The two basic kinds of hand irons used today are:
- Dry iron: These are lightweight irons weighing about 1.4 kg with 70°C–240°C heating range along with electronic temperature controls. This kind of iron is made in various shapes and is mostly used for smoothing of finishing operations where steam is unnecessary.
- Electric steam irons: These are generally used as a kind of hand iron which could carry out numerous operations, specifically concerned with under pressing. Normally, the electric iron has a heating element, and steam is passed from a central or independent boiler into the steam chamber at the base of the iron.
Steam pressing machine:
A steam pressing machine consists of a static BUCK and HEAD of complementary shape, which closes onto it. Thus sandwiching the garment to be pressed. It has a frame carrying the BUCK which is generally round in shape. Besides this, it has linkages to close the HEAD, pipe system to supply steam to HEAD and BUCK, a vacuum system to provide suction through the BUCK, a table around the BUCK to aid the handling of the garments and foot control for HEAD closure and vacuum. The cycle of operation of this pressing machine for pressing a garment (like skirt, shirt, trouser, etc) is as follows:
In the case of manually operated press, the duration of steam supply, pressure and vacuum are left to the skill and judgment of the operator.
Working process of steam pressing machine
Steam from the BUCK is applied
↓
The HEAD is locked to press the garment
↓
Further steam may be applied from HEAD or BUCK
↓
Heat is released
↓
Vacuum is applied to cool and dry the garment
Steam air finisher / form pressing machine / dolly press:
Form presses are used largely for off pressing operations, the final pressing operates on the manufactured apparel product before it is packaged and distributed to the retailer. All the form presses used in the apparel manufacturing are based on the principle of expanding a collapsible bag, made in approximate form of the finished product, with steam or air. Rigid form presses such as the metal sleeve forms are comparatively rare in use. The exact construction detail of an expansion bag form press varies with the type of product for which the press has been designed.
Regardless of the product, all form presses consist the following components: machine frame, steam distribution system, air distribution system, the form bag with size and style adjustment, gauge for steam and air pressure, actuation for steam and air release, regulation for steam and air pressure and timer for steam and air cycle.
Steam air finishers have separate steam and compressed air distribution system housed in a frame and a canvas bag pressing form in the approximate shape of the garment to be pressed. These finishers are also known as a ‘puffer’, a form press or a ‘dolly’ press. It is called as a finisher instead of a presser due to very less pressure exertion during pressing and the entire garment is pressed at the same time thus reducing the time in positioning and repositioning the garment. These finishers are fitted with controls for steam and air release. Timers are used for controlling the steam and air cycles. The garment is pressed by putting it on the form from above and then expanding the form to its full size and shape with steam being blown through it from inside. A cycle of 8 s steaming is followed by hot drying and also by blowing from inside. Steam air finisher removes accidental creases and it cannot be used for forming creases. It is useful for pressing daily wears like night gowns, T-shirts, etc. However, there will be a need for pressing hem separately with a flat press or steam press.
Tunnel finisher:
This equipment comprises a conveyor fed unit through which the garments are moved while being steamed and dried. A smaller capacity form of this equipment is known as a cabinet tunnel, which could process separate batches of 4 or 5 garments at a time automatically. The production capacity of cabinet tunnel machines are about 10% of that of a larger version of a tunnel finisher and are typically used by small garment industries.
The construction of a tunnel finisher with its salient features.
- Conveyor and hook systems
- Air curtain entrance avoids condensation from forming, eliminating moisture drops on garments
- The cotton care unit is used to moisten the garment
- Roller unit
- Exhaust steam is recycled and reclaimed
- Preconditioning module
- Variable steam quality while processing natural fibers (moist steam) or synthetics (dry steam)
- Condensation traps
- Self-regulating valves
- Lower steam shut off position for normal-sized garments to increase energy efficiency
- Reduction of condensation by means of improved steam tube configuration
- Airlock provided
- Extended air circulation module with blowers
- New BUS control
- Blower system combines high performance with energy efficiency
- Steam doll effect is achieved by airflow from the bottom, thus inflating the garment
- Hook system
The main objective of the steam is to relax natural fibres. With the garments on hangers, the tension due to gravity removes the wrinkles, and the turbulence of air blowing gives additional energy to remove wrinkles in woven fabrics.
Pleating:
It is a special type of pressing used to produce a range of creases in a garment. The pleats may be smaller which are made by means of machine pleating, or it can be larger which are produced by hand pleating.
There are two principle types of machine pleating known as rotary machine pleating and blade machine pleating. In the case of a rotary machine pleating the rollers are built-in with paired dies similar to gears. The tiny pleats such as crystal pleats and accordion pleats are created using this machine.
In a blade machine pleating, the pleats are created by the thrust action of the blades. Then the pleats are fixed or set by means of application of pressure and heat as it passes through a pair of rollers.
Permanent press:
Permanent press is mainly used for crease recovery after washing for cellulose fabrics. The usage of permanent press involves treating the fabric with a post-curing resin during manufacturing followed by drying and then making garments out of it. However, the usage of permanent press gradually reduced with more polyester/cotton and polyester/viscose blends coming up as polyester helps in crease recovery and as known to all, it imparts good strength also. Once the garments are ready, they are passed through the ovens where the resins in the garment are cured at high temperature. Then the garments are washed and dried and it results in the fabric returning to the required shape. Permanent presses are used in the case of trousers as there will be requirement to form creases in the seams, hems and pockets.
References:
- Apparel Manufacturing Technology by T. Karthik, P. Ganesan, and D. Gopalakrishnan
- Garment Manufacturing Technology by Rajkishore Nayak and Rajiv Padhye
- Apparel Machinery and Equipments By R. Rathinamoorthy and R. Surjit
- Advances in Apparel Production Edited by Catherine Fairhurst
- Garments And Technology by Professor M. A. Kasem
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Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. Mr. Kiron is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.
