Monday, November 14, 2011

How To Produce Textile Screen Printing Screen?

If you want to process the fabric screen printing in your textile industry or if you like to know about the screen printing mesh, then you have to know about – “how to produce the screen printing screen.”
There are different ways for screen production. But the most famous textile screen producing method is Photo Chemical Process.
In this post I will tell you the screen production by photo chemical process.

Steps of Producing Textile Screen Printing Screen

1. Firstly take a piece of Screen Fabric or screen printing mesh.
2. Now stretch and attaché the screen fabric with a metal or wood frame strictly.
3. Now take the photochemical polymeric materials and coat these chemicals in the screen fabric.
4. Dry the fabric in order to stable the chemical in the surface of fabric.
5. Now a negative of Screen Design is attached on the surface of the Screen Fabric. Provided that, the printed portion of the fabric would be exposed to the light.
6. Now pressure is to be applied on the screen fabric by using foam.
7. Now expose the screen fabric to the UV (Ultra-Violet) rays for 4 – 5 minutes.
8. Now rinse with the cold water.
The steps mentioned above are the screen printing screen producing methods. It is worth mentioning that, the screen fabric is made of Glass fiber or Nylon fiber.
When you will choose the screen fabric; then there are lots of options for you. But be careful on choosing the screen fabric because every single screen fabric might have different threads per cm. For instance, Terry Toweling is 19 – 34 threads/cm and for synthetic fabrics are 55 – 100 threads per cm.
The open area of Screen fabrics is different in various fabrics. For example, if you choose the outlines, half tones and fine design then the open area of screen fabric would be 41 to 34.  Choosing the design of Small Motif applied the screen fabrics open area to 41 –34

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Organic Cotton


Organic cotton is generally understood as cotton and is grown in subtropical countries such as America and India, from non genetically modified plants, that is to be grown without the use of any synthetic agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers or pesticides. Its production also promotes and enhances biodiversity and biological cycles. In the United States cotton plantations must also meet the requirements enforced by the National Organic Program (NOP), from the USDA, in order to be considered organic. This institution determines the allowed practices for pest control, growing, fertilizing, and handling of organic crops. As of 2007, 265,517 bales of organic cotton were produced in 24 countries and worldwide production was growing at a rate of more than 50% per year.

Ecological footprint

Cotton covers 2.5% of the world's cultivated land yet uses 16-25% of the world's insecticides, more than any other single major crop. Other environmental consequences of the elevated use of chemicals in the non organic cotton growing methods consist of:
  • High levels of agrochemicals are used in the production of non-organic, conventional cotton. Cotton production uses more chemicals per unit area than any other crop and accounts in total for 10-16% of the world's pesticides (including herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants).
  • Chemicals used in the processing of cotton pollute the air and surface waters.
  • Residual chemicals may irritate consumers' skin.
  • Decreased biodiversity and shifting equilibrium of ecosystems due to the use of pesticides.

Advantages

Cotton growers who make the transition to biologically based growing practices expect not only to offer a healthier and cleaner product, but also to benefit the planet. Some of the contributions to the different ecosystems include:
  • Protecting surface and groundwater quality (eliminating contaminants in surface
  • Reduced risk in insect and disease control by replacing insecticide with the manipulation of ecosystems
  • Long-term prevention of pests through beneficial habitat planting.
  • Conservation of biodiversity
  • Eliminate the use of toxic chemicals used in cotton
  • Organically grown crops also yield soils with higher organic matter content, thicker topsoil depth, higher polysaccharide content, and lower modulus of rupture; therefore reducing considerably soil erosion.

Organic certification

In the USA is required by the law that any producer wanting to label and sell a product as "organic" must meet the standards established by the Organic Food Production Act of 1990, enforced by The State organic program (SOP)This act specifies the procedures and regulations for production and handling of organic crops.

Organic system plan

Producers must elaborate an organic production or handling system plan which must also be approved by the state certifying agency or the USDA. This plan must include careful explanation of every process held in the plantation, as well as the frequency with which they are performed. A list of substances used on the crops is also necessary, along with a description of their composition, place where they will be used, and if possible documentation of commercial availability. This inventory of substances is important for the regulation of allowed and prohibited material established by the SOP. Organic cotton growers must also provide A description of the control procedures and physical barriers established to prevent contact of organic and non organic crops on split operations and to avoid contact of organic production with prohibited substance during gestation, harvesting, and handling operations .This production plan can also be transferred to other states as long as it has already been approved by a certifying agency.

Production

Production requirements are specifically the set of changes that must be made to field and farming practices in order for a crop to be considered organic. To begin with, organic fields must go through a cleansing period of three years, without the use of any prohibited substances, before planting the first organic crop. Fields must also be equipped with physical barriers and buzzers in order to prevent contact of organic crops with any chemical substance product of surface runoff from crops nearby. Producers must also strive to promote soil fertility through cultivation practices while maintaining or improving the physical, chemical, and biological condition of the soil and minimizes soil erosion. Organic growers must also implement practices to support biodiversity. Such practices include integrated pest management (IPM), which consists of the manipulation of ecosystems that benefit both the crops and the organisms that live around it. In addition to these practices, producers may only apply crop nutrients and soil amendments included on the National List of synthetic substances allowed in crop production.

Handling

Handling procedures are all the processes related to product packaging, pest control in handling processing facilities among others. The SOP allows the use of mechanical or biological methods for the purpose of retarding spoilage of products,but at the same time it prohibits the use of volatile synthetic solvents in processed products or any ingredient that is labeled as organic.

Pesticides

Since organic cotton is grown without the use of synthetic pesticides, it should contain fewer pesticides than conventional cotton. Pesticides used in the production of conventional cotton include orthophosphates such as phorate and methamidophos, endosulfan (highly toxic to farmers, but not very environmentally persistent) and aldicarb. Other pesticides persisting in cotton fields in the United States include Trifluralin, Toxaphene and DDT. Although the last two chemicals are no longer used in the United States their long breakdown period and difficulty in removal ensures their persistence. Thus even organic cotton fields may contain them since conventional cotton fields can be transitioned to organic fields in 2–3 years.

Expanding industry

Diverse institutions and campaigns are now educating the community about organic cotton and supporting growers on the switch to organic farming. The Sustainable Cotton Project is helping farmers in the transition from chemically dependent crops to more biological sound approaches. This institution has launched the Cleaner Cotton project, which promises to produce cotton with 73% less use of chemicals. The Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) also joined this effort since 2003. Their purpose is to educate farmers and the public about biological farming techniques and the importance of reducing chemical use in fiber and food production and supporting local farmers. In 2003, SCP joined the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) to strengthen its operations and reach other farm and consumer audiences. CAFF and SCP provide growers with information about biological farming techniques and educate the public about the importance of reducing chemical use in fiber and food production and supporting local farmers.

Regional

Organic cotton is currently being grown successfully in many countries; the largest producers (as of 2007) are Turkey, India and China.
Organic cotton production in Africa takes place in at least 8 countries. The earliest producer (1990) was the SEKEM organization in Egypt; the farmers involved later convinced the Egyptian government to convert 400,000 hectares of conventional cotton production to integrated methods, achieving a 90% reduction in the use of synthetic pesticides in Egypt and a 30% increase in yields.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Understand Yarn Count



The aim of these pages is to attempt to unravel the mystery surounding those numbers.
What does 2/32's mean? Is it thicker or thinner than 30 tex? and what is 60/2 Nm?

The section begins with a general overview,
then looks in more detail at the various count systems,
continues with some conversion and comparison charts
and ends with a look at machine sewing threads.



Most handknitters are used to thinking in terms of ply when considering the thickness of yarn and thread.

However the word ply only describes the number of single ends of yarn
that have been twisted together to form a useable yarn.

Ply does not accurately describe the thickness or thinness of yarn.
It must be appreciated that one brand of 4ply yarn can be vastly different in thickness to that of another brand of 4ply.
The thickness or size of a specific yarn or thread, is known as it's Linear Density.

This describes the relationship of yarn or thread length to it's weight
In order to calculate
linear density a given length of yarn is measured and weighed.

Each yarn is then labeled with a numerical value.


Sounds simple, but unfortunately that is not the case.
Over the years several different methods of making these calculations have evolved
leading to confusion and misunderstanding,
making it difficult to compare yarn and thread sizes from one source, with those of another.
However all these different methods can be said to fall into
one of two basic, but distinctly different classifications.

either the
fixed weight system or the fixed length system
Fixed weight system
Fixed length system




In 1956,
The International Organisation for Standardisation ,
decided that it would make more sense if there was only one universal system.
It was suggested that the TEX system,
which is a fixed length, direct system, should be adopted world wide.
Many spinners and manufactures have adopted this method as their standard
but large sections of the industry have not, and still continue to use the traditional methods.

However, over the last few years support for the idea has grown,
and the Standardisation Organisation is confident that in the not too distant future,
the
Tex system will be accepted as the world wide standard.

THE FIXED WEIGHT SYSTEM


The fixed weight or indirect system is divided into 2 sub-systems
yarn count and metric yarn count.

yarn count

metric count (Nm)

For all fixed weight systems
the lower the number the thicker the yarn.

But what do the numbers mean?


The indirect count numbers are written as two numbers separated by a forward slash, for example 2/30's

For
most counts the first number states the number of single ends that have been plyed together,
so in the case of the example 2/30's count, we are looking at a 2ply yarn.

The second number is the number of hanks of single ends that weigh one pound,

our 2/30's yarn would mean that 2 single ends of 30's yarn plyed together weigh one pound,
to a produce a final yarn of 15's (remember lower number, thicker yarn).
A 4/60's yarn would be 4 ends of 60's plyed together, which would also produce a final yarn of 15's.
Therefore 4/60's and 2/30's yarn are the same thickness

Why did you say most counts?


Because for some odd reason in the cotton count system and the metric (Nm) system,
the numbers are written the other way round.
The same number in cotton count would be written as 30/2(Ne C) and in metric count would be 30/2(Nm).

THE FIXED LENGTH SYSTEM

The fixed length or direct system is very straight forward
there are 3 values,
Tex, dtex and Denier

Tex
dTex
Denier

for all direct counts
the higher the number the thicker the yarn

But what do the numbers mean?


The direct count numbers are usually written as one whole number,
for example 30 Tex or, dtex 303 or 15 denier.

Sometimes the number will be followed by the number of plys contained in brackets,
for example dtex 300(3).

Unlike the indirect count, the Tex or dtex number describes the final yarn.
In other words dtex 300(3) means
that after the 3 ends have been plyed together to make a yarn,
10,000 metres of the finished yarn weighs 300 grams.

The Tex system is a logical and direct number system,
a TEX 30 yarn is twice as thick as a Tex 15 yarn

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Definition of Fashion Merchandising

     Fashion merchandising is the promotion of apparel sales and involves all of the tasks necessary to deliver the clothing requests and meet the needs of potential customers and designers. Developing campaigns, displays and advertisements, directing manufacturing and marketing, and creating sales strategies are all part of the job. Fashion merchandising also refers to the necessary preparation that must be done in order to ensure that the merchandise is accessible and appealing to the customers it's intended for.
 
Significance
Fashion merchandising is where business and style unite, so in addition to having a flair for style and knowledge of textiles, business skills and market techniques are also needed.
 
Features
The merchandise quantities must be correctly ordered, priced and marketed at the right time and place.
 
Identification
Fashion merchandising entails the connection of different fashions to related consumers and ensuring the merchandise appeals to the targeted consumer and anticipating the future trends that consumer will follow.
 
Function
The key to fashion merchandising is to promote and obtain the goods. This can involve going to international fashion events, buying fashions and negotiating with merchants, manufacturers, retailers and designers.
 
Effects
Fashion merchandising also includes the marketing of fashions to assorted retail stores, boutiques and wholesalers.
 
Careers in Fashion Merchandising
There are particular careers within the fashion merchandising realm including fashion buyers, coordinators, merchandisers, retailers, market researchers, public relations and advertising executives, fashion event planners, operation and store managers, fashion editors, product coordinators, developers and importing and exporting agents.