How T-Shirts Are Made In America | From The Ground Up

today we made it into downtown LA home of the fashion district where creative entrepreneurs brands and businesses come to shop and sell the latest styles now whether you guys are consumers or actually in the fashion industry chances are you've seen rolls of fabric like these which actually go on to become the products that you wear now virtually every brand and business gets their start with a simple t-shirt crew neck and hoody and more importantly is a very interesting fact is they don't actually manufacture the products themselves in fact a lot of the times are being manufactured in large facilities so as a consumer you need to know that you have the option and the choice to impact the world at large by the businesses that you'll go on to support so in this video I want to peel back some layers and actually show you guys how products are created on a mass level and I thought it'd be really interesting to start with how these fabrics are actually made cotton the most popular fabric in the world is created from the ground up before being made into the fabrics you wear it begins in the field where it has grown and picked by industrial equipment and shipped to be processed during the processing stage the cotton is cleaned up removing impurities and then the soft fluffy cotton you see becomes a strong fiber the process here is designed to create combed and ring spun cotton that has a softer feel this type of fabric goes through an innovative spinning process that's designed to thoroughly soften and straighten each fiber the strands will then tightly knit and woven together to create a raw fabric that is now strong enough to be worn next time you're choosing a shirt take a look at the fine details to see this for yourself once the fabric is completed and then gets transported to a dye house where the fabric is dyed to the color specified by the manufacturer the process we're showing you here is unique to Bella canvas which is the largest cutter and dhyryam apparel in America we take you guys inside of the state of the art facility to show you what it takes to make quality apparel for millions of people all over the world as you see once this fabric is dyed it gets transported as these fabric rolls which are then laid out across large cutting tables the fabric is stacked up to a hundred and fifty layers before it being mass cut inside of this factory they cut three million units a week and I personally always wanted to see how these machines layout the fabric so let's take it out for a spin what's the worst that can happen so right out of the gate there's this machine here and it has like all of these different settings and I see this little this thing so I could just move this and it works I'm going to reverse though huh let's let's crank this thing up but the whole thing my privado I messed up this fall I dig I think I did a bad job that's that's that's bad huh - push the button there that is odd this buddy right here tightens up the rope shameless crap okay I'm gonna try it again how much right right you know at first glance these machine seemed to move themselves but what I found out is that it actually requires some skill in order to tighten the tension of the fabric as it's being laid out the faster you go the faster that trigger fingers got to be in order to keep up once the fabrics are laid out the cutting machine arrives to cut the fabric in the shape of the required design this is the cutting machine that essentially takes all the digital patterns that are created during the design stage and they input it into the software which allows this machine to just automatically cut the panels which are then shipped to the facilities where they're going to be sewing right here I don't know if you guys can see the screen but it's literally showing you where it's going to be cutting next and as it's cutting it's actually vacuuming the entire operation so it vacuums that in order to make sure that the seal and the fabrics lay very flat so there's no differences when it's actually cut these robotic cutting machines ensure every single piece is cut precisely as it follows a designer's blueprint keep in mind not every factory has something like this these machines make it possible to get a consistent fitting shirt every single time once the panels are cut they are placed on carts and move to the next part of the process and so just wanted to take you guys behind the scene here as we as we show you guys where this fabric is going before it's being sewn and it got my boy Brett got the man see right over there but guys an interesting thing that we saw here is as you can see right here these are actually not moving so it makes you wonder how is that moving right so I wanted to show you guys something really quickly here in between these lines here there's actually lasers so there's a laser guided system that actually brings the fabric as soon as it crosses a path it activates the new beams here so let's check this out moving not moving and moving haha check this out go check this out bring the camera a little closer moving not moving and moving yeah this is how the fabrics are transported in masses in order for them to be bundled and finally cut so what oh you would have thought these two crashed right now but they didn't because of the way that everything is being automated and I feel that automation in the sewing process and in the manufacturing facilities such as this that's based in Los Angeles with American workers it's it's the way well it really is the way of the future and companies like Bella canvas are able to still produce a USA strong while being able to sew in different countries and put out a quality product so this is the way that things are moving and like this fabric let's get moving over to the bundling stage we can show you guys how that works so these fabrics back here as you guys can is the bundling machine so it's it's making sure that the fabrics are safe as they're being transported to the next facility which actually does the selling them investing into these types of logistics allows them to keep a quality product from the beginning all the way until it's done the scale of this operation is huge guys and as you guys can see from the forklifts to the cutters to everybody that's that's a part of this operation it really is something that requires a huge investment in the production as well as the logistics and the team behind it thousands of people are employed here in order to get this to actually work so you could imagine that it's it's easier to cut corners than it is to do things right so when a company invests in doing things the right way it really makes a difference in the market and it really makes a difference in the world with rap fabric ready to be transported these containers play a logistical role in transporting materials needed for various parts of the production process globally these containers travel and carry mass quantities of gray's goods which come from all over the world which are then dyed in an eco-friendly way in Los Angeles a fun fact is that the USA China and India produce over 50% of the world's cotton this business chooses to die unprocessed fabric in Los Angeles in order to reduce the environmental impact commonly associated with Daiya fabrics in other parts of the world once they are cut and dyed the majority the production is transported to Central America where they are sewn up and shipped back to the US a fulfillment center since we know how fabric is being dyed and transported for production we are wondering how they ensure the sewing factors are taking care of their people and environment we spoke with Xavier to get the details you know Bella canvas is making sure that every factory that is part of our supply chain is 100% certified by ara which is a certification that is granted to companies that are fully in compliance with labor laws and regulations in the different countries where we operate the efforts that we made to make sure that you know the workers that are part of our supply chain are being treated fairly not only in terms of other compensation also but you know all the social benefits that they receive recently we were approve also to become a participating company with the Fair Labor Association which is like at the gold standard for our industry we are in the process of certifying the entire supply chain is a it's a lengthy process and it will take some time but eventually the company will be fully activated with the VFL a North America is made up of multiple Latin American countries and although sewing also occurs outside of the USA Bella canvas promotes a USA strong initiative which employs thousands of workers in the USA while also producing a line of apparel that is made here in the Los Angeles facility so as you guys to see right here in this sewing factory they have literally over a hundred and fifty employees skilled employees actually sewing the t-shirts in right here as you guys can see on this stack these are the cup panels we were showing you guys earlier more importantly I just wanted to share with you guys some of my thoughts in and some of the things that happen in the factories such as this the skill that's required to actually do a job like this so this is my man Felix right here and I won't I won't disturb his work that much but as you guys can see it requires very skilled thought so with that being said a lot of workers actually only do one part of every garment which then goes on to the next person to complete it and funny enough to show you guys like how difficult it might be my brother actually over here my brother actually knows how to sew and we were discussing like hey are you okay so you're already making excuses do you think you can do it or not alright so Felix get a mpirica ladder como la so this machine is like it's this is a Pegasus w6 and it's very beefy so they have two needles so right out of the gate we see that there's there's a reason why workers are actually focusing on one task so there's a lot of little pieces to the garment and if you were to try to sew everything yourself you'd probably screw up the entire shirt or a won't be as efficient so my brother Caesar here is is skilled in this if I were to try I would have probably lost my finger but look at this guy he's actually doing it what's going on here guys you're holding up my line we got it good thank you guys for bringing us behind the scenes here and our that my brother slowed down the production line now you have to get can yeah but but overall you guys seem to be running a really tight ship how many units do you think about the canvas is producing on on any given day so about a week we're showing about three million units three million t-shirts so the average of about 600,000 teachers per day oh yeah that's crazy but what would you say is like is one of the things that the workers here need to have in order to be successful in this career how many years have they been sewing for so some of these people have been working with us from the beginning so about you know 10 15 years they've been here it's people that I come here every day they're being they're been here ever since at the beginning you know what type of fulfillment do you think they find in the sewing do you think they need to have a passion to work in a factory like this you definitely have to you definitely have to enjoy it but as you can see everybody comes in here and everybody's pretty happy you know not sad faces yeah yeah it's definitely something that it's part of our culture now you know we're a big family what's the products are sown they undergo a quality control process that ensures every t-shirt meets their test it's pretty crazy to see that there are real people working on every single t-shirt that you wear so this is one that passed the test right here yeah this is one that can go out to a customer yeah definitely ready to go and I think that's the beauty of like what a lot of people don't get to see is the fact that even though things are being mass-produced there's real people are like handling you're populating it and there's real love that goes into it or a real passion you got to have a passion for sewing and you got to have a passion for this industry in order to stay in it with what 15 years yeah so it's a lot of time and energy that goes into one garment and it's a lot of people that handle that one garment yeah it's about from the beginning to the end there's about 13 13 people that but you know the teacher goes through into it's completed not counting people into distributions in there yeah literally hundreds of hands are going into the making of your product that you get at home and I think a lot of time we do miss the fact that there is a personal touch to every single garment you guys whether it's mass-produced or whether it's this is could be considered handmade I mean it really is because somebody's making it with their hands so with that being said I wanted to leave a little note here you think I can leave a note in this box yeah there's like made with love regardless of whether the finished garments come from their Central American manufacturing facilities or in LA they ultimately arrive at the fulfillment center where they are responsible for organizing and shipping to distributors and brands all over the world many entrepreneurs and small businesses rely on Bella canvas and suppliers like them to stock t-shirt blanks that can use to sell their designs now this company doesn't stay in business by simply selling random designs and a bigger challenge that they also have is the fact that they're selling to customers of all shapes and sizes so design wise they have to cater to a very large market so want to go ahead and actually show you guys the behind the scenes of what it actually takes to design for a mass markets for millions of customers all around the world and we're actually going to see how they choose the colors that are guaranteed to sell through to a large audience let's check that out man right out of the gate so this is where you guys do fittings yeah this is our fit room we spend a few hours a week in here with models and styles and we just make sure that the styles fit on our base size models the best the best we can interesting what is so like as I walked through here I felt like my equilibrium was almost off because it obviously there's a sound panel but we'll the purpose for a sound panel enjoy cool well no this is actually the Ellsworth Kelly from 1956 it's a sound barrier yeah he's a California abstract painter it's actually the exactly just absorb sound like so we're not bouncing around the room and little easier to tolerate each other I thought I had like a real like I thought it was a real pain I mean I don't think I'd be behind a glass door if that were the case of a real pretty cool so this is where you guys fit your models because you guys designed for millions of people different body types all right we did we tried right you try we're trying our very best so so how can you walk us through how how you are able to do that we want to fit on multitude of body shapes and sizes we'll start with a base size size medium men's for instance for a unisex t-shirt 3001 we'll start with our men's medium he's our basic block and so we start fitting on him when we have it tuned up the way we like the way it fits the drape performance will go on to the next size so we'll fit eventually a full size run so if there's a small all the way to like 4 XL let's say we'll fit every single size yeah so we're trying to take those silhouettes into consideration so you mentioned earlier that you like to work directly with the manufacturing team so as a design director how does working with the manufacturing arm make sure that what you guys are creating is going to be something beneficial for the world at large working on the ground level just getting to the factory we have a communication line that help is build product the delicate design programs that we have we try to make sure that there's no pieces in between our sewing and our brains or the to the design vision and the sellers are kind of on the same page we develop fabrics and samples we send them back and forth until we alekhya them exactly the way we see them fit in a production setting and that's important to us so that's part of the reason we have that connectivity tissue between sewing and the design vision is that we close the gap on all the pieces that would go wrong by seeing each other in person by working together as a team so far as that this is super detailed process they are very meticulous about what they do and the whole team is here to make adjustments in case there's anything to be done so this isn't the first sample set that they had to actually fit this is actually a rendition so what they're doing is essentially making sure that it all goes to spec before it hits the mass production okay so we're just gonna run through the specs again really quick and like for instance the shirt I'm wearing this is actually one of you guys is more later styles so this is something that you and your team came up with yeah so what what what inspires you for new designs and how do those like how do you guys kind of maybe make sure that they stay in the market for a while versus it just being a trend yeah this might be a trend you know it's a raw edge transcends like I can't say this will be in the word forever is very scary fashion forever don't really jive certainly so what we'll try to do is what I like to see is like make the very best styrofoam cup that you can see at every single coffee station forever without it leaking it's keeping its heat all those other components that the Styrofoam cup would have but ours is a basic t-shirt we can dress it in skin it in different ways that speak to different trends like raw edge seam work or pockets out to the side or however we want to address it the core block that you see is our crewneck sweatshirt which we feel very comfortable selling to a large community people can buy them print on them embellish them in that market but in this case they can buy the normal crew of pullover with raw edges everywhere it's may get slightly more trend forward or fashion forward it's not enough to have a great designer fit today as consumers we need to ensure that our purchasing decisions do not support things that are unethical and oppressing others that's where businesses such as these are raising the standards by not only giving people an amazing product but by being transparent and doing things differently from how they treat their workers to the green initiatives in place that are minimizing the environmental footprint on the other hand there are real problems happening around the world with apparel manufacturing the constant drive to compete on price in order to sell garments for pennies on the dollar as a resulted in producing in unsafe environments where buildings are failing and chemicals are being spilled into the environment the way your favorite products are being made today will drastically affect the way our world looks like tomorrow now as we wrap up this video I hope you enjoyed the process that we shared and how to shirts are made in America as you guys can see this operation is huge and the brands of businesses that you support also go through a process like this now the ones that are just getting started the ones in your community that friends and family are be are actually creating are able to leverage resources such as bela canvases infrastructure to actually make their brands and businesses without having to spend the millions of dollars that is required to do something like this but more importantly as a consumer you have the power to choose the way that the products are being created you see where you spend your money is what ultimately is gonna dictate what the market and businesses such as these create so next time you go shopping or next time you're about to consider a brand keep that in mind and more importantly if you guys enjoyed this type of video I highly encourage that you guys hit that subscribe button right down below and turn on post notifications for the newest episodes coming to this channel this is episode 1 of a series that we're starting in 2020 and I'm pumped to show you guys more things and more importantly to continue to educate and inspire and empower entrepreneurs brands and a community such as yourself so I appreciate you guys I'll see you on the next one

Channel: John Santos

Views: 1,422,882

Keywords: how t shirts are made in america, how t shirts are made, made in america, how t shirts are made from the ground up, how apparel is made in america, how t-shirts are made, how to make t-shirts, how its made, how to make, manufacturing process, t-shirt production process, t-shirt, manufacturing, how stuff works, t-shirt factory process, t-shirt manufacturing, factory, production process, factory made, how do they do it, from the ground up, john santos, production line, johnxsantos

Id: RaBffG1zLL8

Length: 22min 26sec (1346 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 28 2020