Using the lateral stretch length to enhance the design capacity, production quality and marketing competitiveness of knitwear industry

Preparing sample in knitwear industry is time-consuming due to lack of garment weight data for different material on different gauges machine, merchandisers and buyers usually spend a lot of time in sampling. Sometime may even end up with high material wastage due to improper loop length used for the improper machine gauges. Therefore, with the help of the data base we established in this project, the merchandisers can work out the sample with their buyers more quickly with more accurate garment weight. In turn, the material consumption can be controlled at the very first stage. Besides, using the right lateral stretch length value for production, there will be less machine stoppage due to yarn breakage or drop stitches which improve the efficiency and quality as well. In other words, shorter production lead time can be achieved.

This project will focus on getting a range of desirable loop length data and its lateral stretch length values. Common materials on difference machine gauges will be studied and tested for performance. By establishing such data base information, knitwear merchandisers or buyers can able to work out quickly the desirable garment weight at the very beginning for higher productivity with less unwanted wastage.