The production of a sock explained step by step
The production of a sock: from the first idea to the finished pair
This article takes you into the world of socks - from developing a pattern of a sock through the various production methods to packaging and shipping. Experience with us the life cycle of a pair of socks before they hit your foot for the first time!
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Step 1: developing a pattern for the sock
Socks off the shelf are a dime a dozen. It is therefore important to look for a niche and always keep your finger on the pulse of the times. This is where the so-called sample egg comes into play. Market research is carried out in the department and trends are put through their paces. This is where ideas see the light of day for the first time – in the form of so-called design drawings. On this basis, a technical drawing is developed. In technical jargon, this is called a cartridge.
The next step is dedicated to developing the design of the sock. Because now the right color is found thanks to color tests. With the prototype, it is quite possible that a stocking is produced in five to ten colorations. In addition, workers constantly carry out tests on the goods during production. These relate to the material, steaming and dyeing properties of the stockings. The sales and production managers then decide what goes best with which color in the new collection.
Only then do sales staff create price calculations and consider the next steps for the brand and range. Patterning takes place in the cycle of the collections: spring/summer and autumn/winter. Outside this period, the manufacturer produces special collections.
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Step 2: Yarn Preparation - The first step to the lace sock
In the case of industrially manufactured stockings, workers first prepare the yarn for the machine. If you do not do this, it is easy for the yarn to tear or slip while it is being used by machines. This leads to long production times in production and unforeseeable errors in the final production. Overall, the yarn has to meet a few quality criteria. These range from cleanliness and a constant thickness to freedom from knots.
The suppleness of the yarn also plays a major role. It is also important to avoid the yarn becoming increasingly taut when it is unwound. After that, the winding plays an important role. The so-called (usually conical) cross-wound bobbins set and load workers in the winding shop. These two steps are important. For example, there is the bobbin itself: workers adjust it so that the yarn is constantly drawn off. In addition, a reserve must always be added so that there is enough material to tie onto the next spool. From there, the yarn runs through an adjustable slit. If something is overlooked during the first quality control, the constriction now removes the protruding fibers.
If knitting machines are used industrially, it is important that production be constantly in operation. It is therefore important to avoid material defects right from the start. After the yarn has been cleaned up, it is sealed with paraffin. That makes it smooth. That's just how it slips through the machine. This is the first requirement for ongoing production.
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Step 3: knitting with the knitting machine
Another requirement for working machines is the programming of the same. Before the machines produce the items, one of the employees sets the pattern setting for the machine's program. The machine settings are programmed by specially trained workers. Then there is a supervisor, a kind of control body, who checks whether the yarn has been clamped in the right size and quality. The next step is the knitting of the stockings. So-called knitters usually look after the knitting machines. These are the last control authority before production.
A knitter ensures that the machines run smoothly and that the quality of the products remains consistently high. Quality inspectors test this by regularly taking samples. A previously determined resting and stretching dimension may neither fall below nor exceed. If everyone is satisfied with the quality of the socks, the separator processes the goods further. Your work is probably the most important of all your other activities. Because in the case of the divider, noun equals omen. They separate the stockings from each other. In contrast to single-cylinder machines, a double-cylinder machine does not separate socks during knitting. So, this happens afterwards. Because when the stockings come out of the machine, they are connected with the so-called separating thread.
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The job of a separator is to pull the separator thread out of the socks. With a flick of the wrist, she receives individual stocking blanks that are only open in one place: the toe. Just imagine for a moment that the divider doesn't exist. Would then everyone wears socks have to run in pairs? But enough speculation - let's continue with the stockings. In the next step, the workers turn the socks and combine them into elements with 50 stockings each. They provide the packages with a routing slip that contains all the important information for further production.
The goods are put through their paces one last time before the socks reach the finishing department. Each individual piece is stretched manually over a plastic leg to avoid mistakes. Finally, the sock is turned to the right again, and it continues in time.
Step 4: the hand linking stuffs the last hole in the stocking blank
Thanks to this step, at the end of the day, you will have a whole sock and no Swiss cheese because now the open toe of the stockings is closed. Experts distinguish between different quality levels, depending on the process. Such a transverse seam in stocking blanks has the following quality characteristics if it was produced on a double-cylinder machine: The seam of the stocking blank is flat and looks good. It consists of a straight line. There can only be one of these along the knitting row. Every single stitch must have been caught. Otherwise, holes could appear. The seam is also stretchable without tearing immediately. Please always ensure when you buy stockings that this seam is sewn carefully. If she isn't, she keeps rubbing your toes.
Hand chaining simply explained
You may have heard of hand linking under the term real linking. This way of processing the sock seam is the most expensive that there is. Because she focuses on quality above all. With no other processing is the seam so clean and thin. This maximizes the durability of the seam and comfort. With genuine linking, all stitches of the last open seam (the so-called toe seam) are threaded on true to the stitches and sewn together. Half of the work is done by specially trained workers.
Rossketteln simply explained
This type of mechanical linking (also known as blind linking) is based on a basic trick: the machine folds the fabric twice and then links the opposite parts. The Rosso machine has a 22 gauge similar to single cylinder knitting machines. The result hardly differs from the result of genuine linking.
Step 5: Shaping the socks
Soon the stocking blanks have passed the end of the manufacturing process. But before that happens, they get their fit. So, they put workers on molds, spray them with hot steam and soften them. This process makes them so malleable that they adapt their structure to the shape underneath. This makes individual shapes of the socks possible. It is different with socks with a “certain something”. You've probably seen stockings with funny appliqués, such as artificial noses, eyes or ears. Nubs are in demand for children's socks. Because they prevent our little ones from falling on slippery floors. Workers make such stockings manually.
Step 6: So check who binds himself forever
After subsequent drying using a hot air process, the conveyor belt takes the stockings to the next department, where workers unpair and lay them. They also undergo a final quality check.
Step 7: now the socks are packed in boxes
Before shipping, shipping workers attach labels to the stockings and staple them together. Depending on your wishes, the goods are bundled either individually or in up to 10 pairs. It is then packed using machines or manually, provided with the customer's address, an EAN number and an item number, and taken to the warehouse. The socks are shipped from here.
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