Sustainable Clothing Manufacturers: What They Want Brands to Understand

Sustainable clothing manufacturers are not just about using an ‘environmentally friendlier’ medium.

In the case of clothingbrands, sustainability can mean rawmaterial+the way of fabric waste during the cutting+the way of production+phase of product+the number of manufacturing.

That‘s the reason signing with a sustainable clothing producer means more than one fabric or certificate.

What Makes Clothing Manufacturing More Sustainable?

There is no one action that can make a clothing production process sustainable.

Materials are important but so are processes, waste, product life, packaging and stock levels.

A brand might use a recycled fabric for example but still produce a lot more garments than they sell.

Much greater accuracy and quality in the design and production process may be achieved by high quality, well designed, longer lasting garments made to more realistic demand, thus avoiding unnecessary replacement and excess stock.

Thus, evolution of sustainability creates a series of choices to be made along the manufacturing process.

Choosing the Right Fabric

The first step for brands is often deciding on the fabric.

The selection of the options varies by product and could be organic cotton, recycled fibers, linen, Tencel and other.

Still, the decision of choosing a material should not always be made by its name.

The fabric has also to be suitable for the product.

Must have the correct weight, strength, stretch, appearance and durability. If the fabric is not up to standard it could affect the life of the garment.

Typically the best compromise will be between product needed and sustainability branding.

Reducing Fabric Waste

A huge amount of material is used 1000‘s of meters of material before the finished garment makes its way into the hands of the customer.

The way fabric is cut and placed in the pattern will impact on the fabric used efficiently.

If one could get the marker planning right, one should be able to minimize the amount of unwanted offcuts, even though it will always be effects of shape of the garment, width of the fabric, the number of pattern pieces and the production demands.

It is only here that manufacturing experience can be exploited practically.

A simple design image can lead to large wastage if the pattern is hard to the cut efficiently.

Making Clothing That Lasts

Sometimes durability is not given enough emphasis when talking about sustainability.

A piece of clothing that wears out after a short period of time cannot be deemed a sustainable product just because the fabric was labeled as good for the environment.

The production, the stitching, fabric staying power, seams, all the buttons and zips, and the final finish.

From a commercial point of view, this is also an important issue for brands.

If it still looks and feels good after wash and repeat, the customer will probably value it more.

Avoiding Unnecessary Overproduction

An other think on the debate is related to the overproduction.

Could leave brands with big stockpiles if they turn out not to sell.

That inventory may ultimately need to be discounted, stored, returned or disposed of.

Beginning production with small, realistic quantities to test the market for new brands in particular can be wise, then building up production if the product is successful.

Having a manufacturing partner in place who can offer repeat production will ease this.

Better Product Development Can Reduce Waste

Waste does not occur only during bulk manufacturing;

It is possible that this too can occur during development.

A badly designed garment can have many extra sample stages. Fabric may be specified before specifications are confirmed. Production have to be altered because key details were not confirmed early enough.

Effective product development can mitigate some of these issues.

A good specification, sampling and dialogue with the fabric Mill and sub-contractor can prevent expensive production errors.

Packaging Is Part of the Product Too

The clothing is not leaving a factory un-packaged.

Are individually wrapped-in packages, a1 bags,a1 cartons, and various other materials.

Brands might also wonder whether all of that packaging is really needed.

For some items less complicated packaging, nature recovered or packaging suited to the needs of distribution may be the answer.

The right one is depending on how to sell the garments and deliver.

There is no point in using complicated packaging just to look more luxurious if it involves wasting needless resources.

What We Focus on at JiuvelWear

JiuvelWear partners with a wide range of clothing brands which are in varying stages of sustainability and manufacturing processes.

During development, we can discuss details of fabric choices, product details, samples, quantities of production, branding, packaging, etc.

We are practical rather than viewing sustainability as a single feature that we can just bolt on to a garment.

For instance, choosing the appropriate material, minimizing excessive production shifts, providing a tough product, and producing to the real demand are the ways to a responsible manufacturing.

The best course of action is dependent on the product and brand objectives.

Sustainability Does Not Look the Same for Every Brand

The sustainability priorities of a high-end fashion collection and a simple daily wear clothing collection could be poles apart.

This could be much stronger there could be an emphasis of excessive on sourcing of materials.

Another might value the forward looking aspects more, such as durability and a lesser return rate.

A expanding brand might be more worried about keeping demand high rather than overstocking.

There is no single manufacturing type that fits all types of business.

What is vital is to realize the tasks in the production process that matter most to your particular product and do this some otherTasks first.

What Brands Should Ask Sustainable Clothing Manufacturers

It‘s the brands who need to know what a manufacturer is really capable of doing before they even start producing.

Which can they provide the materials you need?

Can they supply information about fabric or issue certifications on request?

Can they make samples prior to mass production?

Information not available for complete analysis. How do they dispose of their material waste?

Can they sustain smaller starting pools or repeat production?

Hows can we:

And will it be able to keep quality consistent from each upcoming order?

The answers are more informative than just finding out whether a factory defines itself as sustainable.

Sustainability and Quality Should Work Together

A product being sustainable also be representative of a good product.

Must be functional it has to fit properly, appear good, work as designed and be tough enough to withstand normal use.

If the garment fails to match those other prerequisites then the customer is unlikely to continue wear it.

That is also why sustainability should be seen in its place as opposed to quality.

For a brand, the issue is not only about designing a sustainable merchandize.

It is developing a product that makes sense in terms of material, production, commercial and customer aspects.

Building a More Responsible Production Process

Sustainable manufacturing is rarely anything dramatic.

It usually stems from a number of individual decisions made over the course of development and production.

Selection of appropriate materials.

E.g. Reducing avoidable waste.

Entering the product development stage.

Manufacturing to meet actual demand.

Garment durability Producing long-lasting clothing.

Making more appropriate use of packaging.

These choices can really rack up…

We promote to JiuvelWear brands who wish to have a design, develop and manufacture clothes based on their specific needs, including specific production or ingredients requirement projects.

If you want to source sustainable clothing manufacturing for your clothing brands,please you can send us your design, tech pack,reference sample or material requirements etc. We will view the project and then talk about the feasible options for development/production.