Integral Garments: Properties, Uses, Advantages and Disadvantages

Last Updated on 11/02/2021

An Overview of Integral Garments

Afsana Rahman
Dept. of Fashion Design
KCC Women’s College (Affiliated by Khulna University)
Khulna, Bangladesh
Email: pakhirahman123@gmail.com

Integral Garments:
Integral garments is a next-generation form of fully-fashioned garments that adds the capability of making a 3-dimensional full garment. Different parts of integral garments have been knitted and knit-assembled by the knitting machine. Unlike other fully-fashioned knitting, where the shaped pieces must still be sewn together, finished complete knitted garments do not have seams. Integral garment knitting lowers make-up costs (including cutting), shortens throughput times, reduces work in progress and provides the opportunity to introduce new styling features. The knitting machines, however, are more complex and expensive and may be more restrictive in their operation and patterning scope.

Properties of Integral Knitted Garment:

1. Have no joint/seam.
2. Cannot cut and shape in different size.
3. Labor cost and wastes is low.
4. Knitting machines’ computerized instructions direct movement of hundreds of needles to construct.
5. Connect several tubular knitted forms to create a complete garment in a single production step.
6. The garment was generated and constructed round.
7. Some were made complex because of the heel pouch or separate knitted toes.
8. It is a 3-dimensional full garment.

Advantages of Integral Garments:
The complete garment system’s advantages lie in:

1. A further reduction in materials beyond even fully-fashioned production by eliminating seam allowances.
2. Faster time to market by eliminating the need for sewing any components. These factors increase cost-effectiveness.
3. One might also argue that cutting down on wasted by-product selvage makes complete garment better for the environment.

Disadvantages of Integral Garments:

1. The earliest known garments are socks, which were made without seams and closed loops. They displayed all the techniques of the integral knitting. For this, shaping garments, like- swimwear, and sportswear cannot make with this construction.
2. Caps, gloves and hose are also knitted without seams and to approximate the shape of the body allowing stretching the garment to provide a perfect fit. So, different items in shape and size cannot make.

Uses of Integral Garments:

1. Socks,
2. Hose,
3. Gloves,
4. Woolen cap,
5. Baby woolen jacket,
6. Stockings,
7. Pantyhose,
8. Tree-quarter hose,
9. Men’s half hose,
10. Toe socks etc.

An integral knitted whole garment technology implemented and adjusted to the production and business system in a company, can reduce lead times dramatically and respond quickly to the rapidly changing fashion market. The principle advantages of this integral knitting technique include savings in making-up machinery, space and labor, and reductions in the production sequence.

You may also like:

1. Hosiery Yarns: Types, Properties and Uses
2. What is Hosiery | Different Types of Hosiery Garments and Machines
3. Important Factors which Influencing Knitted Fabric Quality
4. Specification of Various Knitted Fabric Structure

Mazharul Islam Kiron

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.

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