Customers visit our factory with their own designs that they want us to manufacture. Upon receiving the socks design, the experts analyse the design and understand the customer needs and make sure that the design is ideal to go for socks manufacturing. Sample pairs are made to help our customer know about the size, colour, quality and other details. Once the samples are approved by the customer then the bulk production process begins.
There are many production phases such as yarn preparation, dyeing, knitting, quality check, seaming / linking process, boarding, pairing, private labelling, packaging, final inspection, shipping and delivery. Details can be found below.
Production Stages
We buy yarn as per the design of the socks and the requirement of our customers. While ordering the yarn the two most important things that are considered by our experts are colours and composition and our experts focus on the 6 major types of yarns like cotton, nylon, polyester, lycra, wool and bamboo.
Once the yarn is ready, the process of dyeing starts to customers’ pantone colour. There are standard colours available too at the dye, but our experts can also develop fresh and new colours according to our customers’ choice. Dying is a complex process that includes chemicals and is done very cautiously. At the dye house, different tests are carried out to test the chemicals with different dye bases to get the perfect recipe for each and every colour.
Colour accuracy is really important and in order to match pantone colours, the production units get pantone passport, use colour manager or free tool to match the colour you want.
After selecting the right type of yarn for our custom socks design, the socks manufacturing starts with the process of socks knitting project. Certain programmed codes and thousands of needles are used to knit different types of threads into a perfect series by interlocking loops. These loops later create a tube of particular woven material used for producing socks. To help each individual get the right feet and comfort each socks part and size is made with the help of different stitching needles having different diameters.
We use computerized machines for knitting socks and indeed they do their job at a very high speed and the machines can be simply programmed to produce a whole range of socks. The first in-line inspection is carried out during knitting process as well to check for defects if any like interlocking, trimming and length.
Quality check is an important aspect in the entire custom design socks manufacturing process and thus it actually takes place after every phase of our production to ensure quality. Final quality check takes place prior to packaging to ensure that no socks packed are defective or damaged. The product of each order is passed through BV CPS (veritas) laboratory tests and all the purity tests of our customers' own laboratories are done in accordance with our agreements. Although these inspections are carried out, random checks are also conducted by veritas or Tuv if it is demanded by the customers before shipment. The results are sent to the customers and to us simultaneously by Veritas and Tuv.
All parts come out like finished tubes. The great advantage of this is that the finished garments have a minimum number of seams, which allows for better comfort, and eliminates excessive rubbing from bulky seams. After inspecting, we turn individual pieces inside out and do linking and seaming processes. Hand-linking, seamless linking or auto-linking are applied on different type of socks.
After getting washed and dried, the socks travel to the board pairing area. Here they are pulled on flat metal foot forms, where they get formed into the desired shape and size. This gives them the proper shape and smooth appearance.
The last step in this process is a comprehensive quality review, when the finished product is carefully checked, and if there are mistakes, they are traced back to manufacturing process and corrected.
Once inspection is done they are ready to be paired up. Even socks produced from the same machine, using the same yarn and settings, can vary slightly, so the pairing process is important to eliminate problems that can arise at distribution.
This step is all about pairing the socks correctly that is left and right socks are systematically paired. The problem with pairing arises as the socks have to go through different machines. So pairing can help correct these problems.
Sometimes problems occur because of high elasticity and there are slight variations seen, so pairing is an important process to put everything right.
After pairing, the socks are sent for private labelling. You can select bands or hangtags etc. to label your socks the way you want. If you are looking to customize the socks label, you can simply choose a label that you want on your socks and it will be stitched on your socks to help you flaunt your own label to say school, company, sports team etc.
After the socks pass the strict quality control check, they are packed to be delivered to specific client according to their requirements. Packaging is equally important stage just like other stages of production. The following packing materials are checked like band rolls, poly bags, stickers, pallets, header cards, cartons, hooks. The socks are packed neatly and checked for any packing issues before they are set for shipping. The packaging custom designs are available to match the customer needs. The packing materials with different layout designs are often ordered by customers with specific needs.
Though quality check is carried out at each stage of production right from knitting to the final stage, still the final inspection is equally important before the order is shipped. Before packing, the final inspection is carried out and random checks are also conducted at the loading day before the shipment is scheduled. This is done to ensure that the end customer gets the quality product in hand.
After the socks manufacturing and packing comes to an end, the final product is sent to the warehouse where it can be stored safely before they are transported. We are aware of shipping and delivery are important to make sure the final product reaches the destination on time.
