Hey hows it going guys John Santos and today I'm here at BELLA+CANVAS headquarters
which is one of the industry leaders of off the shelf blank apparel now what
they do is they actually control their entire operations so you're able to get
quality product and they actually allowed us to come in film and go over
their entire process of what it takes to create quality garments now in this
video we're going to cover the entire process meaning a design, pattern making,
grading, cutting, to sewing, fulfilment so you guys are really able to see the
entire gamut of the operation I hope you guys enjoy lets get it!
The design process starts
with a simple sketch one that you draw with the build of the shirt in mind
meaning you know exactly what angles the shirt might be when it's completed and
really keep the dimensions and unique features that you're working on as
you're drawing it now this is something that could be done on any simple paper
and once you get it done you're ready to start actually putting it together start
it off with your sketch here with the sketch that you created and obviously it
a the sketch did stay this way it evolved to become pattern this is gonna be that
perfect so we'll check that out to show you guys how this this thing went to
this for those of you guys that are watching this is a CAD based program
where all the patterns are created and actually developed and from here you
guys take these and you actually start grading on the sizes right and first we
want to establish the correct base size and fit and then we would grade from
there so remember we were talking about the sleeve shape being a European sleeve shape
so this is the entire front side of it, thats the front of the shirt
yes front panel and then over here is our cad and gives you like the goal with our
shirt should look some of our cads are
fantastically similar to the silhouette they just created the patterns over in
the computer and now they're going to print it onto this plotter and what this
plotter is it takes whatever was there and it creates the pattern for you to be
able to cut it out and actually cut out a sample of whatever you're working on
now we're going into the actual sampling side of things we're going to take them
to the cutting where you guys will see everything being cut and I'm got to be
kind of loud because it's loud in here but it'll be cool Summer there awesome
the man thank you for joining us a lot of fun the bella canvas
headquarters in LA houses the largest cutting facility in the USA this is
where they do their mass productions and process more than 2.5 million shirts per
week now that's a lot of shirts so you guys just saw us print the plotter now
were taking it to this area want to tell us a little bit about the fun and intricacies
of this exact process sure well it's not as fun unless you have a pair of
scissors this is Elmer, elmer is our sample cutter so we're about to cut this sample
from the pattern you just saw earlier all right elmer so we're take this pattern and
we're going to spread some fabric you have a heavyweight jersey available this
is our 5.5 heavyweight Jersey we do process dyes for our own colors so we
actually do control the whole supply chain so the dotted line is actually
called seam allowance and he's cutting on the cut line so when those pieces get
cut we're going to sew it inside out and sew the seam allowance goes away
because you'll have to use that seam allowance for your sewing operation and
we'll see that in a minute and he laid a piece of paper on the bottom of
the fabric yes there's two things one is stability also helps him
maneuver the fabrics and the cut piece on the table but it's also good for
labeling and other pieces like protects the fabric from getting dirty there's a
lot of purposes actually this is a castle notch the castle notch
allows you to know where to set the sleeve in a sewing process so that's why
not just exist for a location its for sowers but you have to be mindful of how you
spread fabric certan fabrics are delicate that requires a very delicate
skilled hand to cut now that we have the cut pieces we are ready to start sewing
up the first sample this sower knows exactly how everything is put together
so what you guys are going to see here is a very quick process and she didn't
have too much time to explain she takes the cut panels pieces them
together and now she goes on over to the shoulder tape the shoulder tape goes
across the shoulder and around the neck band it stabilizes the width so the
shoulders don't peak out and it also protects the back neck from the overlock
being exposed overall it helps shape the shirt and it's something that most
t-shirts do have so next time you guys wear one just check it out you'll be
surprised by the details that's in it
she then irons it for you so you're ready for a night out with the homies
now just kidding it helps keep the dimensions and it ensures that it
doesn't curl up while she is closing it up in sewing now the final piece of
the process is in closing up the shirt this is where the castle notch comes into
play it helps align the shirt to make sure that it's closing at the right
points
as you could see she was very experienced in the process obviously
when you go onto the production side of things everybody is set into a specific
position which from there creates that efficiency throughout the entire process
so you just saw what it takes to create a sample of a t-shirt now once the
sample is completed they're going to size it can make sure it fits according
to what they envisioned there's any changes they're going to make it and
after the changes are completed and the patterns are finalized it goes into
production so right now what we're going to do we're going to go in and talk to
the head of the production who's going to give us some information that you
guys could take forward and really know what goes into a quality garment alright
lets get to it these patterns then get checked from her they take these out to
the table and we do on the cutting what they call a dry run so basically that
they pass the information from in here they'll upload it to the computers on
the cutters and then she'll pull these markers out and then they'll just drop
paper on top and then the paper will cut the pattern and then they'll come and
check the hard pattern to the paper so one of the things that the tech is here
is doing is he's plotting a marker here and then basically what he's checking is
the consumption of the fabric so once he's put all the pieces in there he has to go
through and make sure that the number of pieces add up to the to the amount of
cuts that will be on there you don't want to leave out a sleeve or something
once he's assured that every all the numbers match and it will begin
plotting after the fabric is laid out this advanced machine which actually
costs a couple million dollars takes the information from inside of the computer
and pulls it into the system now this allows the cutter that's
operating the machine to simply pull up the cutting specs and from there you
just hit start and the Machine starts cutting it according to the details that
were inputted now this machine is really cool and one
of the key things that blew me away was the fact that I actually vacuum seals
everything before it's cut now what this essentially does is it allows every
single cut to be precise and prevents some shirts from being a different size
in another it cuts everything accordingly and it's
always the same cut as you guys could see they got a really very pro setup
when it comes to everything now once all the patterns are cut out
they are sewn up together during the sewing process for production each
worker is assigned a specific task and once it reaches the last person the
garment is fully completed now at this stage is where they actually do some
quality control make sure that everything was sewn up right there's
no loose threads or anything that's going to cause a return or a bad product
after it is sewn up and inspected it is ready to be shipped to customers around
the world now I want to show you guys how they operate the fulfillment side of
their business so you can visualize and see how you may be able to streamline
your operations at the bella canvas facility in LA they handle all sides of
the order from small online orders to large distribution once the orders come
in they assign the order to a staff member the member will pick the order
and they'll bring it to the packing area from the packing area that will double
check that the order is correct once it's approved it's ready to go somebody
wants to place an order online what's the soonest and the latest they can
place it and get it if they place the order online and we get it this ware
house by 4 o'clock it will be out the door that same day this is where receiving and this
is the conveyor system we're going to have pretty much up and running by next
month and again this will allow us to take a full container of about 1100 to
1200 cartons offloaded to sort it segregate and receive it in with less
than an hour and then as soon as that's in then we're putting it away and it's
going to put away it's available for sale so there you have it guys I hope
you guys enjoyed the entire process I wanted to cover the entire gamut for you
to better understand what it takes to create your own line from scratch now
look these are years of experience and know-how and millions of dollars
invested into this equipment you can also take a similar approach if you're
looking to start your own clothing line in a similar manner but for those of you
that don't want to spend a year's time energy to learn all of this you could
always find these items directly on their site the links are down below I
also highly suggest you subscribe to the YouTube channel you're able to see a
little bit more details as to their entire process in terms of printing and
how they get everything ready for you guys to order so also be on the lookout
for additional videos which are going to be releasing over the next few weeks but
we dive into a little bit more of those details and really interview a lot of
those people in detail to give you guys more content I just want to make sure
you guys got this video first so you get the entire overview and then we're going
to jump into those details so make sure you subscribe to this channel comment
down below if you guys have any questions more than anything
let's get it talk soon bye, wake up and win