I've been sewing for almost seven decades, and this was a much-appreciated look at how the fabrics I've taken for granted all these years are printed. Thank you.
This is a master piece mini documentary. Straight to the point with many pictures and demonstrations on how it all works. Thank you who ever put this well done video together. Kudos mate.
Excellent video! I worked at a fabric store for six years and had always wondered how fabric was printed. Never could I have imagined the machinery and many steps involved. Thank you!!!
Everyone that delves into the fiber world should see such a documentary. It is very well done and helps to appreciate all the work that goes into producing fabric. Like many have already mentioned, I find it concerning that the workers have no protective gear, so thank you to the workers and shame on the higher level management for not appreciating their own employees.
I'm an art student majoring in surface pattern design and so far, nothing I've learned beats your videos. Thank you so, so much for openly sharing your knowledge. Having real-world reference to how things are actually done is invaluable to me. Thank you!
I will be a freshman in college of next year and was trying to go into fashion and design but was wanting to major in something that teaches and show me how to design fabric and was wondering what exactly do I major in for surface pattern design? I really hope you see this and can reply to it, I really need help and no one seems to understand what it is that I wanting to do or what I should major in. Please & Thank You.
@@Rafarish1 hi , Im from java Indonesia . Im making special designs in 100% handdrawn batik . We can do even only 3mtr one design exclusively on 100% cotton or Silk . Contact me at dharbinder178@gmail.com
This is unbelievable. I had no idea the power consumption, chemical usage, and overall complexity of making printed fabric. I'm an avid quilter and sewer, but I'd never thought about how the fabric itself is made. Just wow.
Add that to the extreme waste that the fashion industry is known for, as much as 40% in some lines, the clothing supply chain is an environmental disaster :( the only answer to take your money to better suppliers.
Wow ???? i am more concerned by the environmental issues here. All the chemicals and dyes end up in the rivers polluting them. I have seen those factories, nothing is retreated and filtered, it all goes straight into the water streams .
Are they paying for their modernization with their health? Much respect to our forefathers who may have also worked in difficult/unhealthful conditions.
Thank you for the inside look at a fabric factory. I feel like some simple design changes like raising the worker's tables to an ergonomic height, providing gloves and venting outside thru a filter could make for a lot less long-term health issues.
Thank you for uploading this video. I have sewn all my life and had no idea about the production of printed fabric. Talk about being in the dark, and doing it willingly... I feel sorry for the 800+ workers in this factory. The heat, moisture, dyes and chemicals must take a huge toll on their health. The effects must last for years, well into old age (if they live that long) and I'm sure there isn't any compensation for such misery. I learned about how printed fabric is made, all right, and so much more: the truly dangerous conditions the workers are laboring in.
I remember being taught to screen print in Graphic Arts, but I never realized it was the same method used to print fabric. This was a very informative video from which I actually learned something useful.
I"m glad I looked up how fabrics are made. Because several times I complain about the prices of clothes. But now seeing all the work put into just making the fabric and imagining the air quality in those sweat shops, now I know why they are called that, and that those workers get little pay, I won't complain anymore. The designers, the name of the clothes don't deserve all the money they make tho. That I will continue to complain about. I never buy designer clothes, can't afford it and don't want them any how. But this was very interested in how a print gets on fabric. Thank you for that!
There is VERY little variation between clothes you can buy in your kmart or target and brand name stuff now. There's only one word i can use to describe all of them and that would be "CRAP" they're all made from bad materials and all have shoddy workmanship written all over them and the worst thing is.. the price... how much you pay for this crap nowadays, i bet you the actual workers who make those $100 polyester (or poly-cotton) crap clothes don't even get as much as dollar out of it, you're much better off buying old tailor made clothes which are sold at reasonable prices, such as military stuff, it may be like 50years old, but it was made to last and will probably outlive even us, of all its made out of heavyweight wool or heavyweight cotton at least you know you're getting good quality then and getting your moneys worth out of it
EggiTheShadow Sometimes yes and sometimes No! A lot of old clothes are full of microscopic bed bugs(that one day ARE not microscopic) and out of style and smell like Moth Balls and Now clothes like that are totally expensive too because Vintage is SO in. And well sure the styles are totally outdated and ugly and the colours RUN and you have to spend money on dry cleaning these relics of the pas to get the OLD SMELL out of them, that sometimes NEVER leaves...., and the clothes are soooooooo heavy to wear and not very comfortable, ( i know cause i used to buy this stuff years ago as a teenager, it was cool back then- but i found a lot of it was TOTAL CRAP- definitely cause it was old it wasn't meant to last forever and well It didn't- i find better quality clothes now, for less money) ....its a waste of money and not worth it, and buying brand names clothes today is ALSO a waste of money and Not worth it either, but somethings are ok still. You can buy nice stuff out there that doesn't cost much , but we live in a world that is go go go and it's busy out there and there isn't time to be so fussy about clothes all the time. Everyone needs to work and its different in other parts of the world etc. but in the end Nothing has really changed since the industrial revolution and children still work and PEOPLE still work for nothing etc, (and NO NO NO,.... I'm NOT saying that is right or cool cause I"TS NOT. - but it happens) even in civilized countries that are considered First world countries this type of abuse still continues, whether you are college or university trained or a high school drop out. I know cause i worked in a fashion factory fresh out of fashion school (that cost me $35,000 to train for and i have a university degree in art history and world culture and society) and i stayed there to pay off loans and my apartment and in 12 yrs of working there i got only $3 raise, hourly rate was : $12.00 (but i was so desperate for money , it was better than nothing) $500 in benefits for one year for medical, no eyecare or anything else, didn't get paid sick days, if i didn't got to work NO Pay. RENT WAS $800, and it came with ant infestations and bugs and a few mice. And i had it better than others there believe me. I looked for other jobs, Market was terrible, it was better this job than NO job. And the owners were super rich, had houses all over the country and USA and all of us worked for nothing and the owners OWED us everything for working so hard to meet the demands of their clients, but they always maintained and told everyone " IF you don't like it, Nobody forces you to work here or stay, you can leave any time,you know where the door is"...God only knows what they'd say behind out backs. We were always so replaceable in their eyes and they never valued their most precious resource-the employees. A small group of us did inquire with the Labour Force and Equality section with our government office about these polices and to see what the rate of earning was for the time, the % of raise per year allowed to each employee on a yearly basis, the benefits allotted etc, and Everything this company did was completely within the bounds of accepted working conditions and standards to employees. So the owner was smart and just stayed within the minimum bounds to Not get sued by anyone. Still that this all exists is appalling. Nobody can live and work below poverty level for so long, yet people do making ends meet however they can, but it's mentally exhausting and stressing and scary to live with so much insecurity on a daily basis. The owner always boasted about his kids going to off to be doctors and lawyers or the younger kids going to camps that cost $30,000 for 2 months in summer etc, you could sense how little regard and respect they had for us, his kids didn't respect the workers either and came to work in the summer to bother people there and just mess around and not be serious about things, blaming others and getting them fired. We hated summers cause we knew the kids came, sure it was a relief when they grew up more and left for University. Yeah, Thanks for the support and NO they would never give references to anyone who worked there either. I left after 12 yrs, NO reference and others that left after NO reference. Yah, i can't even begin to comment. The owners knew they had the upper hand on us cause the economy was bad. LOL ... at 3% x $12.00 you're at $.36 cents a year in raise. How is it possible that in our days someone can get paid like that. Its just such a slap in the face. Its been like that/this forever in the world, this is heavily studied and documented in English society (as well as in many society in our present world and times of the past) from the upper crust, to regular house hold servants to the unfortunate souls who ended up in the workhouses of England or in mental institutions. Slave labour still exists in the most rawest of forms and in "proper' societies as well, with well educated people. Its a big big topic with horrible consequences for society because it's crumbling the human spirit and shaking us to the core. People say, BE STRONG...we are, but there is only so much a person can take when they are doing everything in their power to make ends meet and still you're not meeting them and you have terrible bosses breathing down your neck and you're facing eviction and feel hungry. (just like 1800's english society where you're facing the possibility of dying in the workhouses of England at an appealing fast rate due to poor health and malnutrition and from flea bites ) It's horrific and appalling. Nothing has changed, its all just masked differently and because NOW education and other laws have changed so much and we have health care etc...well it looks like its all changed and in many respects it HAS completely changed but in many cases it has not. There are many things still the same that are in direct parallel with the crazy ideals of the early industrial revolution where kids were used as chimney sweeps and died trapped in chimneys or died of consumption due to blackened lungs and poisoning from the fumes burned etc, or kids were used in fabric mills and trapped and destroyed in machines or mutilated or people where trapped in factories with the doors locked and with the windows Covered (or no windows) to confuse them as to the direct time the day, where they didn't know day from night or hours worked, from never ending shift work that consisted of 14 to 16 hours of work daily with almost no break in between for lunch and rest etc. Lots of people work through lunch and dinners and important family occasions to meet deadlines today at undervalued and poorly paid jobs. This type of mentality still thrives in our 2015 world and society. And way back when, regarding all this vintage clothes a lot of the clothes were created by people working in terrible factory conditions all over the world, and the fashion laws changed over time, Just read about the : Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in Manhattan NYC, On March 25, 1911, where 123 women and 23 men (garment workers )died from a fire and jumping out of the building. They were working in appauling conditions and they had to change the standards for factory work after that. Its was very sad. And what about all the clothes and fabrics from even further back, cotton farming, hemp, etc, sugar, all those made and created through the TransAtlantic Slave Trade. I'd rather wear clothes of today than wear clothes of the past that was seeped in blood and through the hands of greedy crazy slave traders and rich plantation owners who had no regard for human life, who viewed people as property. This is a HUGE topic i guess, so ill stop now, But the history of our woven and printed garments and fabrics goes so way back, in glory and beauty and heart break and human suffering. The fabrics were always beautiful that WE KNOW, but how they were made etc, and the brutality of the Industrial revolution, fabric and wool mills and the colonization of the Americas is a nightmare of human suffering. To believe and understand that the Education of Children has become a law just a little under 100 yrs is insane. Way back when, Victorians didn't accept or allow educated sevants in their homes, for fear of them being TOO smart to work, same for slaves...Rich Whites didn't want learned slaves or servants for fear of reprisals. But the human heart and brain (whether you read and write) knows brutality and kindness and understands feeling. So NOOOOOO those people weren't in the dark. Only after 1900 kids started going to school when they could etc, when other duties where not present, but after about 1940's NOT SENDING your kids to school was a considered a crime, unless work deemed a much greater effort and advancement to the persons in question for not attending school. A lot changed in our world after WW II., but in farming communities deeply entrenched where schools were quite a few miles and miles away (and working on farms etc, was more important) illiteracy was still very prevalent in many states in USA and Canada, and of course as well in Rural Europe and various parts of the world. But that is where homeschooling came in. Another story for another day. LOL Education and Knowledge is one of our most precious and prized resources. But over the yrs i've heard a lot about different industries and BIG careers. I have lawyer friends that are jobless for a while now. Its crazy out there and life gets more expensive daily with no respite from the hardship. Trust me living on tunafish cans, lettuce and wonder bread for a few years cause you need to pay rent and get to work is NO cup of tea. Better when your teeth hurt too and You can't afford a dentist. OUCH!!! eventually credit cards go up, so does debt, so does interest and you're further in the hole. Vicious cycle. Our world is consistent with this type of ongoing flux. never ends. Sorry for writing so much but this topic and the topic of inequality and standards is always very dear and near to my heart. I hope things in our society and all societies regarding all this improve, but i doubt it because it hasn't changed in thousands of years and even if it changes it changes in ways to mask other issues but the same issues are still always there, just presented differently. Sorry as well for so many typos etc, I'm so tired of writing essay style perfect university papers that i don't care so much for a few errors here and there. Please forgive me. I wish you a great and blessed day.
Michelle Gauthier It's not fair to blame the designer, yes they get the money , BUT NOT ALL THE MONEY, and being a fashion designer is NOT all the glamour you see in magazines and designers get the money to promote a lifestyle, to promote a brand, and they get a portion of the money ( a huge portion so no crying game there in the least just like actors who fume of having no privacy) thus a lot of pressure and loss of privacy and all that LEADS TO: THAT the Money that is made through the Fashion Industry is a collective of many things combined and well of course its all about marketing and making money. That its right, NO Its not right but its called BUSINESS and business is full of Greed but still the Designer is a product that companies are trying to push and make money from (just like movies try to make money from actors and push their image and the same with musicians etc- its all image and branding and lifestyle pushing to make consumers buy every single product imaginable that has the latest apple of their eye on it, be it a cup, a bag, a cute pillow- its called branding and licensing- the industry of selling products and imaging at volumes per unit). At first many designers, most have assistant and affiliated designers that work under the Head designer But ultimately the designer is never in control as per say, it's all based on a governing body of standards and public trends. The issue really needs to be addressed with the factories and the poor conditions they have and use to employ people. That the designer makes money again, yes they do but really They are using the designer and Brand name to sell and promote the Lifestyle to the consumer. Its a vicious circle one could say. But who's at fault, the designer or the consumer, the marketer, the factory owner, the magazines, the governments that allow all this and know about all these practices and standards and turn a blind eye. The world is full of corruption that is endless and unchangeable. People say it will change, that it could change, that it should change, BUT NO it won't because the thirst for money and greed is too great for and from all parties involved on every level, from schools, to churches, to governments, to anything that is created to make money (and nothing is free and anything that is too good to be true is BECAUSE It is too good to be true) and generate money and sell products, services or lifestyles. MONEY is at the end of it all, that generates economy and so forth. NO its all NOT bad, and a lot is Good and Necessary but there are loop holes and problems and underlying bureaucracies that will always persists and are impossible to change. Change and challenge are possible but its takes years to change things and something WILL NEVER CHANGE. There are many fingers to be pointed here Than just pointing a finger at the designer. And going to design school NO matter what is TONS of money, work and dedication etc., I'm sure if you had studied fashion design etc, you'd understand the dream in a designers heart and their passion for creating and working with fabric etc, like the dream of a young child wanting to sing and dance, or an actor, or athletes wanting to win a gold medal for their country. Regardless, whatever you studied in college or university YOU know the hard work and dedication and money that it took for you to succeed and a lot of people seen and unseen Had a hand in the making of your career and your education as a human being, so i know you can appreciate all this. And besides no matter what is bought, and no matter where it comes from at some point something, one little detail, even through the strictest of standards or whatever will be contaminated with the seed of a sweat shop somewhere in the world where there is no regard or care for human life. Somewhere along the lines, fashion is always tainted with something, sweatshops, marketing, greed, soft porn, anything that will make the selling of clothes and lifestyle easier. THE SAME is applied to all other forms of products and things we buy daily, from food/farming, to makeup, bedding, shampoo, cars, computers, books etc. Lots of products are Gorgeous and truly functionable but made in bad and unacceptable places where people lose a lot more than they gain for next to nothing pay but have to be there out of whatever small necessity their toils cover. Lots of plastic products are made in sweatshops and places where conditions are bad and appalling yet we enjoy these products on a daily basis in a million different ways and have no choice because the bottom line and dollar will always win. I think about that every time i eat ice-cream with a tiny plastic spoon. Plastic, who knows how many hands that went through before it became a spoon for my ice cream. Make it for $1 sell it for $100. Rich get richer/ poor get poorer. AGAIN, PLEASE don't misenterpret my comments BECAUSE I DO NOT AGREE with it, NOR think it right that people are abused in such a fashion. It's very sad. I've worked in fashion before, so i know all about this and studied Fashion Design and art history and world culture and society and have had to write soooooooo many essays on these kinds of subjects that I'm thoroughly entrenched in these kinds of topics and can talk about this and write about this literally forever. Best of luck. God Bless!
Ella Marie Wow... that was such a large response. Quite informative as well though i'm afraid i cannot do it much justice in my reply as i don't know as much about working conditions and such although I agree with most of your points especially the fact that inequality and slave labor that goes on, which STILL goes on in fact, its just that the companies are better at hiding it now and i believe they are just as bad as they ever were working their workers like machines. Although with the advent of technology most of the tedious repetitive jobs have been overtaken by machines anyway which is probably the only reason those jobs are in minority in "developed" countries. Although when i talk about the old clothes.. i'm not talking about that far back (vintage dyes are dangerous), i'm talking about clothes from mid 20th century, to essentially to avoid any synthetic materials, because there's absolutely no way you will be able to find a modern garment made of pure wool.. absolutely impossible, usually its a 60/40 wool acrylic mix even with the modern military jackets, they're made from a cotton/poly mix (depending on the country) while the older M## (eg M65) jackets or greatcoats were made from either pure cotton or pure wool. Even modern shoes and boots.. often use polyurethane (fake leather) which your feet sweat like hell in, although if anything is made of real leather the shoes are wrecked by the addition of a synthetic lining like polyester or nylon which is comfortable in store but you also sweat like hell in and because that lining/cushioning is so thick the leather doesn't conform to your feet as it should so its hard to wear in your boots properly at all. Not to mention the standards, which have dropped drastically, bad materials, bad workmanship (because of bad wages and deadlines), though exponentially increasing prices, its ludicrous. Even though companies are making tons of money implementing these new technologies/fabrics none of that money goes to the workers, and goes straight into their pockets... greedy bastards while in the meantime.. the government who are supposed to help the people are doing the exact same thing, doing the bare minimum just so that the people don't revolt. By the way, what kind of job do you do now, do you get reasonable wages from it? Or are you still stuck in a rut Anyway, thank you for your reply its always good it hear it from people who experience this sort of thing first hand, also sorry if i didn't reply to everything i've taken it all into consideration though. Have a good day miss :)
Hello, sorry it took me forever to get back to you. Yes things got better, i don't work there anymore. But still there are things that happen everywhere but the pay is a lot better these days. LOL. I know there are still a lot of problems out there in the working world of factories etc. It not going to change ever. I wish i could be more positive but the world turns as we speak and look anything up and you will see sad sad stories related to so many things full of injustice. Definitely there are good nice Old vintage pieces out there, but a lot of the nice stuff is a bit pricey still, but oh well., mostly i just trying to keep my life as simple as possible and know that nothing last forever, so i try to take care of what i can, and accept to let go of what I cant .... LOL...i guess thats the rule of life. Thank you for getting back me. The topic really caught my attention and inspired me to write something. I hope you are well and having a great day. All the best. Take care~ Ella
Thank you ! This was fascinating and very informative. The video was very thorough. I have been sewing for 65 years and now I have an overall view of the fabric process. Again, Thank you.
The video is really informative! I had no idea it is this complicated to produce printed fabrics. I'm going to appreciate my fabrics more. Thanks for the video.
I have been sewing and quilting for over 40 years but this is the first time i have seen in such detail how we get the finished product of beautiful fabric. What a wonderful, informative video you have done Richard Gross!!! I have watched it twice to be sure i didn't miss anything. I was a little surprised at the amount of dust, dirt and lint all over that factory but it doesn't seem to affect the finished product and i also didn't realize how much "hands on" human involvement there is. I wouldn't want their jobs. Watching this video also makes me understand what i sometimes considered to be unreasonable high prices or a yard or meter of fabric. Let me say again----wonderful video!! Thank you
Thank you for showing this video..now I finally know how my husband who always come home complaining he do tired .always sleeping and alot of health issue.he used to work for a cotton Jean factory that was around in the 90s..but it has got out of business in 99..we should all appreciate and pay what they're for ..
Thank you for an excellent and informative trip around the factory, I have been sewing for about 55 yrs, and I find this very exciting to watch. You have made my day, thank you, very exciting. barbUK
thank you for making this documentary, it has really opened my eyes to how good the work environments are in Australia and the US . I can barely imagine having to worry about choking on steamy, chemical filled air all day; while simply performing my job.
As a Fashion Design Major I have dived in even deeper in the process of the material that will make my career become a reality! And I have a lot to thank these hard working people for what their hands literally create, and yet so unappreciated. Even top designers and design companies give their thanks to them. Also watching this show I just kept looking down on my bed sheets and thinking "Even though it is a simple print (hound's tooth) I can only imagine what it must have been like. Thank you for the Video!!!!
Well, the thanks are not enough for their lives wasted! U know? They do not live with thanks. It is important but thats how the rich men of the world live on the back of these hard workers who will die soon because of the chimical conditions. So, thanks are not enough! Start with paying them correctly , the rightt price for losing their lives! Do u have a price for a life? I doubt! Thanks? Make better conditions for these poor! Thanks? They will never be enough! Think that a life taken in injust way will be payed somehow with the lives of ur babies..
Very informative - I had no idea!! I will be seeing fabric through new eyes now! EggiTheShadow, I appreciated your response. I had a similar reaction. I also noticed how much exposure the workers had to the steam etc (I didn't notice any protective masks etc). I can't imagine that working in such an environment is good for people's health. It does raise questions for me, like: i LOVE beautiful fabric, but if it comes at the expense of someone's poor health, can I ever just take the real human & environmental costs of beautiful fabric for granted again? I'm not sure. So yes, I don't want us to lose our ability/knowledge to make simpler (beautiful) fabrics. I think it could be compared to buying local, organic produce - it's more expensive (sometimes); it's grown in smaller quantities - but it's far more tasty, nutritious, the farmers live reasonably close by, you feel more connected to your food, & who knows, you might even be inspired to try growing some of your own vegetables/meat.
I love brightly printed fabrics but had never ever even thought of how they are made. This video was well represented about the process of how they are made. Thank you.
I just ran across this video. I'm not personally interested in fabric production, but I watched it. I do like seeing how things are made. Very interesting, well presented, and certainly showed about every step of the process. Thanks for a well-done video!
"the sealing machine was pretty cool" - said by someone who was here for the printing but lost interest at the end. The ideal documentary. Love this narrator.
I think this is why I'm so addicted to fabric. I love sewing but I love picking out fabrics even more. You might even call me a fabric hoarder LOLOL I love watching these videos. I also like watching the videos of the designers whose art gets printed on the fabric. It's so awesome. Thanks for this video.
Thank you for making this video, it is so very well done and explains and illustrates all the myriad steps required to bring fabrics to the entire planet. What a long process it is, too!
Wow! I managed a fabric store years (and YEARS!) ago and had absolutely no idea about how the fabric became fabric!! This was really interesting, TYFS! MK
Since there's so many chemicals in the air in the factory I'm surprised that the workers aren't wearing masks to protect them from breathing in the chemicals.
That's such a great video to watch. I thank you so much for making this video concerning fabric treatment before it's ready to print. I have been familiar with this process since I was in my vocational school majoring textile industry.
I've been sewing for 65years and after watching this, I appreciate the employees and the process. Cotton is my favorite fabric, even if I do have to iron it.
Amazing video! Thank you for sharing this, not many people can make a video like this and even fewer are actually prone to share this kind of information. Thanks again for this! Cheers from Mexico ;3
Thank you so much for making this detailed video. I always appreciated the work that went into designing a fabric, but had always wondered about the execution of that pattern on the fabric itself. The science of it all was great to see! I appreciate what goes into my quilts just a little more because of your video. Thank you!
All the washings and steamings the fabric goes through in its printing process explains why I really don't have any shrinkage when I make clothing out of quilting cotton. In fact the only shrinkage I usually get is from knit fabric. Thank you for showing and explaining the process for us.
@Damien Moonsamy - and to think this is just the printing. They didn't show the people in South America and Egypt who still pick the cotton. I think countries who are high consumers should all have to experience how our clothes and food are made. Videos like these really help bring that to life.
I agree to this factory...its old and not of todays technology. Like having a kitchen sink with cleaning water to living in places where you have to work the whole day to go get dirty water and lug it home to clean it all day.
Why is it that none of those workers have lung protection? I saw none of them wearing breathing masks or anything. How long before those workers come down with cancer or other lung disorders?
melatina66 , the employers only cares about making money, employees are just robots to them. It makes me really upset watching this video. I’m an Army vet and I’ve experienced and realized I was serving the corporations not the American people who I sworn to protect and defend. Corporations are the disease of the world. Most of them are, not all of them.
awesome video, i have been sewing for a long time, and even worked at Wal Mart, fabric and craft, never in my life have seen this process and now i appreciate what it takes to print beautiful fabric. thanks so much
@@marcatteberry1361 Screw the workers , i am more concerned by the environmental issues here. All the chemicals and dyes end up in the rivers polluting them. I have seen those factories, nothing is retreated and filtered, it all goes straight into the water streams .
stumbled here upon trying to figure out how to weave a pattern in home conditions. glad I came across this video. very informative and made in such a sophisticated way. thank you very much
The chemical steam does cause health problems, particularly in the lungs and sometimes skin, but because a lot of the fabrics factories are in china and other areas of poor air quality it is hard to blame the factories alone for the health concerns. As for the waste water, I am unsure of the treatment processes for this plant. In many cases it goes down drains and into the water system of the city.
Wow! 😯 Thank you so so much for taking me through this process of printing fabrics. I have always wondered, and I am flawed by this process. The masterminds that created these massive machines, and the workers that do the work... Wow... Cudos to them all. Thank you ⭐👍🌹
Lolo Ireland Full faced mask with mechanical filters at that. Unfortunately, these workers are in no place to complain or demand PPE because they can be EASILY replaced.
spoken by people whom have never worn PPE for a full shift, much less worked in a factory setting. But you know way more than the local health officials. FACTORIES DON'T WANT THEIR WORKERS TO GET SICK. Wearing a mask all day is horrid.
Have you seen the same places in the USA? American industrial workers have it just as bad, if not worse. We need to wake up from the delusional propaganda that we're being fed and realize the horrors right here in the USA.
I sew, but I'll never look at fabric with the same eyes again! I'd never thought that it takes SO MUCH effort and with so many actions to produce wonderful and colorful fabrics. I guess in the back of my teeny tiny brain I envisioned a huge ole rubber stamp, slathered with different colors and plonked onto colorless fabric to get all the beautiful designs I see! It's amazing how small designs all line up SO PERFECTLY so as to not look blurry or misprinted! What an eye opener...I wonder how it works when fabric's not screen printed?
And all the chemicals and dyes end up in the rivers polluting them. I have seen those factories, nothing is retreated and filtered, it all goes straight into the water streams .
@@NFS305 Yes this is a disaster. And we are long past polluting the world now. We are literally killing our planet . Our generation will be remembered as the one which knew what was wrong and the consequence of our actions and yet kept on doing it for vanity. If a civilization of alien finds this planet they will not hesitate one second before exterminating us and we deserve it.
Prior to the existence of these sorts of textile factories (which began in Engliand in the 18th and 19th centuries - and use the process called Taylorization), nice prints were not affordable to the average person. Now everyone can afford to own such clothing. Poor people had to live in rags and experienced malnutrition and diseases. Today, modern medicine and textile factorys and industrial agriculture and moden construction methods ensure that even the poorest have basic needs met in industrialized countries. Consumerism is both a good and a bad thing for humanity: we have basic needs met, but also some desires that are frivolous and wasteful. It is true that there are serious concerns regarding labour and environmental standards, due to industrialization, and these concerns need to be addressed through apporpriate regulations and by voluntary industry standards where possible. China is now undergoing its industrial revolution (as we can see in the video) but at least there is no child labour there - as there is in India, for example - and we know that as the GDP improves, work conditions will likely improve. The solution to these problems is not doing away with factories, but greater collective affluence. This also contributes to population rate decrease over time. On the whole industrialization has been good for humanity. The only real losers from it may be future generations, if anthropogenic climate change is not solved, and animals -- who are produced, suffer, and die in the trilliions due to inhumane industrial farming methods. Ideally, industrialized renewable energy, energy efficiency products, and plant-based foods (e.g., soy milk, veg burgers) will solve these problems, i.e. the eventual triumph of green capitalism, which would make our existence on this planet more sustainable (currently it is not). The fact is that short of a worldwide economic collapse -- which climate change could precipate -- industrialization is here to stay, so we must come to terms with it somehow.
I really enjoyed this film! Thank you. I do have a question, though: How is the ink prevented from smearing, as it goes under the next screen, where the next color is applied? I would think that when the next screen presses down to apply the next color, there would be color transfer from the previous colors of wet dye onto the screen that would eventually make a mess! Thanks for answering.
Yes smearing can present a major problem, not only flatbed, but also rotary printing. Usually depends on 3 causes: first and foremost the colors. Black (or dark) color is infamous and will easily smear the lighter colors. solution can be readjusting the order of the colors; adapt viscosity of one or more colors; tape off all screens that follow the dark color. Next: make sure the print is in register. If they are off, even slightly, screens will pick up dye of other colors, visibly as outlines of the printed color. Lastly: the fabric is not sticking well enough to the belt. That means it will move in between the printing colors and affect register problems and also smearing problems.
politically I was outraged. Billionaires work these people like slaves. than get rich here in the US. what happen to bring back factory jobs for a living wage
None of these factories are in the US . They are in countries that don’t care about the people that work there. Chinese sweat shops is where the big box stores get their fabric . Quilt Shop Quality fabric is from South Korea and Japan, much more modern factories and better conditions for workers
Thanks so much for this amazing video Richard. It's very informative and complete. My 4 year old wanted to know how the printing on our bedsheet was made and we found your video. We really enjoyed it. Thanks
This is China...no pensions, no public health care, no insurance. No ear plugs, eye shields, safety helmets. No safety devices on machines. No compensation if you’re injured. Not much has changed from Victorian times, in many ways, and all because the West likes cheap clothing to briefly wear, then throw away.
@@alisn.7998 LOL "the West"... so then you think the only people who wear clothing are over here in the Americas (The North America and South America continents are the "West") ??? Just a little fact check for you.... ASIA is the largest continent on the planet with a population of over 4 BILLION (over 4 times the population of the West) and last time I checked... they weren't all running around naked over there either.... or clamoring to pay high prices for their fabric. Your comment blaming the West is indicative of a uneducated nincompoop with no real understanding of the world, the economy ... or anything else. Let me also add this (Since you probably aren't bright enough to pick up on it by yourself), I'm not defending the abysmal factory conditions for the workers in this video... ONLY your asinine comment that the West is to blame.
EXCELLENT SUPER AMAZING VIDEO, FANTASTIC EDUCATION!!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR PUTTING THIS ONLINE, I HAD NO IDEA OF THE PROCESS OF FABRIC MAKING, ESPECIALLY THE PRINTED FABRIC. I SURE DO HAVE A MUCH GREATER APPRECIATION AND RESPECT FOR FABRIC MAKERS NOW!!
I grieve to see that these fabrics are being made in a factory in China. There are almost no factories left in the United States anymore. Fabrics that my mother and grandmother used are just not available anymore. Consequently, our workers have no job and their families don't eat like they should and don't have the proper clothing for school. Also, our fabrics don't have the quality that they used to have. I am a seamstress and cannot get the quality of fabrics I would like. This is just going to get worse when the trade commission starts charging the taxes and import fees they should have been charging years ago. Unless we start manufacturing like we used to in the USA, we are not going to be able to afford fabrics.... I am off my soap box now...
You should look into the custom fabric printing and shops in NYC garment District. Some houses still do on-site printing, weaving, and dying. The website is garmentdistrict.nyc I wish manufacturing would come back to the US also, but we can't have affordable manufacturing because we have unions, laws that protect workers, benefits, retirement and enforced minimum wage. Our industrial age is long gone and companies will always seek to make products in places they hardly have to pay people.
TheMinnie419 the saddest part to this comment is even though it is true. Most Americans would not take a fabric factory job. The mind set is not there for most people. Many people do not view manufacturing as a skilled trade, even though if there are components that are.
Shetasen factory jobs where there is a union are really well paid for the work. Even without a union wages are decent. It's so much easier than working a fast food job.
TheMinnie419 totally agree! Somehow sweatshops can make a shirt, ship it and sell it to you for $2 but that same raw fabric is $11.99 a yard in the US.
@tripicanahana I was watching the workers in this factory thinking shouldn't they have at the very least paper masks on their faces if not more. And shouldn't there be better ventilation.
@@lightdark00 Ha ! I admit it looks deceivingly comfy when everything is running as it should, like in this video clip, but I will assure you, it can get to a mild crisis in no time! So many things can (and will...) go wrong in a machine this complex and mostly also all at the same time! Take the guy at 12:00 for instance, looks like he could easily do 2 jobs in a day and still not be tired. But instead this guy has to be sharp all the time. How? He does the first quality and color check of the product and alarms the printer when things go bad. Remember at the rate this machine is running and the length from start to end, any fault discovered amounts to at least 100 yards of 2nd choice product. A guy like him saved my ass once, when I accidentally placed a color drum of dye at the wrong screen. ( when printing reactive dye the color changes quite substantially after drying and steaming, and only the guy at the end of the line sees the colors as they should be.) The boss will not be amused if you printed a couple of miles in the *wrong* color ! The printers day can be not so easy when there are lots of short batches with different prints. Some customers want trial prints, to check on colors e.g. That means print 50 yards, then take all the screens out, clean them, change colors, put screens in again or different prints, get them in register, adjust the pressures, 50 yards stop and do that all over again ......
My mother and grandmother own fabric factories around the world, in total about 27. I want to create a factory with 50 diff types of fabric. Some with prints, some with 3D designs, and etc.
I am working today as a service technician in a faktory in Bangladesh and know a lot companies around the world. I tell you that the heat and the airborne fibres are the biggest problem. Formaldehyde is not part of the process, but a lot of other chemicals you wont like to find in your body. No one in germany or amerika would work under these conditions anymore. Please excuse my poor english.
