[Shift Fashion Group] You Will Never Look at T Shirts the Same

Link: https://youtu.be/CMoZjcpgivM

Duration: 31 min

Short Summary

This episode provides comprehensive education on cotton fiber quality, spinning methods, and knit construction, explaining why micronaire (3.7-4.2), ring-spun yarn, and interlock knits create superior garments. The speaker details common manufacturing shortcuts that compromise durability, including tubular fits, loose stitch spacing, silicone coatings, and poor collar geometry that causes 90% of shirt failures at the collar. Key quality indicators like wavy hems, collar puckering, and fabric grain angles help consumers identify poorly constructed shirts that lack proper pre-shrinking, elastic in ribbing, and appropriate AQL standards.

Key Quotes

1. "This is a product that is meant to be disposable. Once you see this, you cannot unsee this." (00:00:09)
2. "Most people look at the tag and see 100% cotton and think they're safe, but that's like seeing 100% beef on a burger. It says the plant, but says nothing about the grade." (00:00:44)
3. "If you've ever found mystery holes in your clothing, that's because that fiber lacked the strength to stand up to your washing machine." (00:00:50)
4. "They rely on the fact that you can't tell the difference." (00:00:01)
5. "This isn't a guide. This is a point of no return." (00:00:17)

Detailed Summary

Cotton Fiber Quality

The sweet spot for standard cotton micronaire is 3.7 to 4.2, with upland cotton averaging around 27 grams per tex while high-grade ELS cotton reaches 40+ g/tex—nearly 50% stronger. Upland cotton makes up 90% of the world's supply due to easy growth, despite scoring low on quality metrics, while Pima cotton is described as the gold standard for performance-to-value ratio. The combing process removes approximately 15% of cotton fiber, which gets recycled into products like cotton balls and Q-tips.

Spinning and Yarn Construction

Open-end spinning produces rough, stiff fabric; ring-spun and compact ring-spun are the gold standard, with compact using vacuum to create nearly hairless yarn. The sweet spot for high-quality modern t-shirt yarn count is 30-40 singles; luxury dress shirts use 60 and above. GSM (grams per square meter) alone does not indicate luxury—200 gsm can be achieved with thick loosely knit yarn or fine tightly knit yarn, resulting in drastically different products.

Knit Types and Fabric Quality

An estimated 99% of the world's t-shirts use single jersey knit, knit on circular machines with a technical face (smooth side) and technical back (loops), offering lightweight construction with natural mechanical stretch. Interlock knit uses two sets of needles to create identical fabric on both sides, producing superior stability and less stretch over time. Loose knit construction saves brands money but causes fibers to migrate to the surface, rub together, and form pills after wear and washing.

Dyeing and Finishing

Reactive dyes change the molecular structure of cotton and bond to the fiber, producing colors that last significantly longer than pigment or sulfur dyes which only sit on the fabric surface. Luxury brands use mercerization or liquid ammonia treatment to change cotton fibers from flat bean-shaped to rounded, resulting in smoother, softer fabric with slight sheen and deeper colors. Silicone emulsion coating applied to cheaper knits gives a soft, buttery feeling in stores but leaves an oily residue and washes off after two to three home washes, changing the shirt's feel.

Shrinkage and Pre-Shrinking

Unpre-shrunk cotton knit fabric can shrink upwards of 10% during first wash because cotton fibers relax and return to their natural kinked state after being pulled straight during knitting and spinning. Proper fabric mills pre-shrink fabric using steam pre-shrinking (to relax fibers with steam) or compacting/sanforization (to force knit tighter together), limiting shrinkage during consumer washes.

Collar Construction Failures

90% of shirt failures occur at the collar due to design flaws and material choice—traditional pattern makers use rectangular ribbing which cannot accommodate the complex two-curve geometry of the human neck (front curve, back curve, and transition at the trapezius muscle). Good pattern makers put two seams, one on each trapezius muscle, to eliminate excess fabric in the collar. 100% cotton collar ribbing deforms and never returns to its original shape because cotton lacks mechanical stretch and recovery; elastic yarn like spandex (elastane) or serona must be included in ribbing to bring it back into shape.

Shirt Construction Details

A forward leaning shoulder seam running from the back of the collar over the shoulder balances the shirt and prevents it from rolling forward or backward. Using a backward shoulder seam with heavier weight fabric pulls the shirt down on the back and up on the throat, pressing on the neck all day. Deep armholes anchor the sleeve to the body, causing the shirt to lift whenever the arm is raised, while high armholes prevent this movement.

Cost-Cutting Measures to Avoid

Tubular fits (common from Gildan) eliminate side seams (saving 2 sewing steps) as a cost-cutting measure but torquing and twisting over time since humans are not shaped like pop cans. By spacing stitches further apart, factories can run machines faster and produce more garments, but this results in less durable garments.

Construction Stitches

T-shirt construction uses overlock stitch for side seams, two-needle cover stitch for bottom hem and sleeves, and chain stitch for shoulder seams (chain stitch provides more mechanical stretch to prevent seam breaking). Quality brands add neck tape across both shoulders to cover the seam and improve comfort.

Quality Indicators

Wavy bottom hem indicates rushed production; demonstrated example showed approximately half inch difference between ends of the hem. Wavy collar results from uneven feeding into sewing machine causing puckering. Fabric grain cut and sewn at an angle indicates a product designed to be disposable.

Manufacturing Tolerances and Quality Standards

Most brands set manufacturing tolerance at half inch on flat measurements; for example, a chest designed at 18 inches can range from 17.5 to 18.5 inches. AQL (acceptable quality level) is a statistical tool to check bulk production defects; rocket parts and medical instruments require zero AQL while fast fashion typically lacks quality standards. Precision costs money: high tolerance products require slower factory speeds, more rejected pieces, and lower profit margins; brands set AQL based on customer expectations (tight for $1,000 shirts, loose for $5 shirts).

Full Transcript

Show transcript

Day after day, we are bombarded with ads
from brands claiming everything [music]
is premium or luxury. They rely on the
fact that you can't tell the difference.
This is a product that is meant to be
disposable. Once you see this, you
cannot unsee this.
This isn't a guide. This is a point of
no return. Once you learn how to audit
the architecture of a garment, you will
stop seeing premium basics and you'll
start seeing the reality of what you're
holding in front of you. To understand
the truth, we have to go deeper than the
surface. We aren't just looking at the
fit and the color, but we're going to be
stripping it down to a molecular level.
Starting with the very DNA of the
fabric, the cotton fiber.
Most people look at the tag and see 100%
cotton and think they're safe, but
that's like seeing 100% beef on a
burger. It says the plant, but says
nothing about the grade. On one end, we
have upling cotton. On the other end, we
have extra long staple fiber cotton like
puma or sea island cotton. But what is
the difference and why does it matter?
It really comes down to the big three
units of measure. We have staple length,
micronare, and grams protects. Staple
length matters because the way you
create yarn is through twist and
friction. The longer the fibers, the
less hairy ends that you'll have and the
smoother and more durable yarn.
Micronair measures fiber finness and
maturity. If staple length is how long,
micronair is how thick. For standard
cotton, the sweet spot is 3.7 to 4.2.
Strength is the final unit of measure
measured in grams per text. The average
for upland cotton is around 27 g per
text, making it quite fragile. True
high-grade ELS cotton can hit upwards of
40 g per text or higher, making it
almost 50% stronger. If you've ever
found mystery holes in your clothing,
that's because that fiber lacked the
strength to stand up to your washing
machine. Now that you know how it's
measured, let's talk about the four most
well-known types you'll come across.
This is up cotton. This makes up 90% of
the world's cotton supply. As you can
see, they're quite short fibers. It also
scores low on almost every metric, but
because it grows easily, it's become the
industrial standard. Next we have Pimac
cotton. Sometimes called sepa cotton.
Pimac cotton is the gold standard when
it comes to cotton fibers itself. It
offers the best performance to value
ratio. Beyond that you have specialty
fibers. You have Giza cotton from Egypt
and Sea Island cotton from the West
Indies. These fibers are the best of the
best, but they're also the rarest.
Understand that when you're looking for
these fibers, you're going to be
reaching diminishing returns when it
comes to performance to value ratio. The
last most common type is chief value
cotton or CBC cotton. This is a blend of
cotton and chopped up polyester. You
usually find this at a 60% cotton, 40%
polyester ratio, and factories use the
worst quality up cotton to make this.
Some brands will market this as their
performance or softline, but in reality,
it traps heat and pills horribly. I want
to leave you with two warnings here.
You've likely heard the term Egyptian
cotton. If it doesn't explicitly state
that it is Giza cotton, it's most likely
just cheap upland cotton grown in Egypt.
This is difficult to catch, but if the
price is probably too good to be true,
the fiber quality probably is too. Now
that you know how the different fibers
work, let's actually talk about the yarn
itself. Every yarn starts off with a
process called carting. This is a
mechanical cleaning process that lines
all the fibers into rough rope called
sliber. The problem with just carding is
it leaves in the shorter, weaker fibers.
In standard garments, this is where they
stop. This results in a fabric that
might feel good in the stores with the
help of some chemical softeners, but
quickly becomes fuzzy and scratchy
against the skin. For higher tier
garments, the cotton must be combed.
The way the combing process works is
they'll actually clamp the fibers on one
side, essentially run mechanical
bristles through it.
This is going to remove the shorter,
weaker fibers, and what you're left with
on this side, as you can see, are more
lines, stronger fibers
that will lead to a significantly
stronger and smoother yarn.
It does cost more though because you're
removing about 15% of your product and
typically this stuff is recycled into
stuff like cotton balls or Q-tips. What
you're left with are stronger, more
uniform and aligned fibers that will
twist into a stronger, finer yarn.
Before we talk about how we spin, we
have to talk about what we're trying to
achieve, which is the singles count. The
singles or yarn count is a measure of
how fine a yarn is. Think of it as a
scale of finness. The higher the number,
the finer the yarn. You have 30 to 40.
Think of this as a sweet spot for a
highquality modern-day t-shirt. On the
higher end, you have 60 and up. These
are super fine yarns. They're typically
reserved for luxury dress shirts. Let's
talk about the methods and how we
actually spin the yarn. First, you have
open-end spinning. This is the fast
industrial method. If your shirt feels
rough and stiff, it's probably made
using this method. Next, you have ring
spun and compact ring spun. This is the
oldest method and still the gold
standard. Compact spinning takes that
even further by using a vacuum to pull
in all those stray fibers to create a
yarn that's almost hairless and almost
cool to the touch. Another method you'll
find and a more modern method, it's
called vortex spinning or MVS. This uses
air jets to tightly wrap the cotton
fibers so tight that it's almost
impossible to pull out. It makes a very
good pillres resistant fabric. The
trade-off is though that the yarns are
often stiffer and not as soft and plush
as a ring spun yarn. As you can see with
this yarn here, I'm actually going to
show you what I mean that's held
together with friction. If I twist it
the opposite direction, I can actually
pull it apart. And these are the cotton
fibers that are being held together
based off of the length here. This is a
ELS cotton. Once you have your singles,
you have to look at the ply. Most
t-shirts are going to be what's called a
single ply yarn, which is a single
strand. This is the industry standard.
When you get to higherend yarns, [music]
they're going to be using what's called
two ply, which is basically two yarns
spun together.
This matters because what's called
torquing yarn because it's twisted. It's
unbalanced. It naturally wants to
untwist itself. If you ever seen a
t-shirt that starts twisting towards the
stomach after one wash, that is a single
ply yarn trying to untwist itself. In a
two ply yarn, the two strands counteract
that twisting force. So, you end up with
a shirt that stays balanced and square.
For an even finer finish, really
high-end mills will do what's called
gassing, where they run the yarn through
a flame and basically burn off all the
tiny little fuzz bits, so you're left
with a yarn that is super ultra smooth.
One final warning about the term
ringspun. A lot of brands know that
consumers are starting to look for that
term ringspun cotton. So to check a
marketing check box, sometimes brands
will use very lowquality cotton
and still put it through the ringspun
process just to check that box. So if
you see a shirt that still says ringspun
cotton, but it's rough, it's scratchy,
and it's thick, it's most likely there
just to check that marketing check box.
Now that you've learned about how yarn
is, let's actually talk about the knit
itself. You may have heard of the terms
woven and knit before. While a woven is
like a basket with interlacing yarns, a
knit, which is what t-shirts use, is
going to be a series of interlocking
loops. This is the architecture of a
garment and it will determine whether
your shirt is going to last years or
turn into a sheer twisted mess after one
wash. Most t-shirts are going to be
using what's called a single jersey
knit. This is knit on a circular
knitting machine. It is a simple knit
with a technical face, which is going to
be the smooth side, and a technical
back, which is going to have all the
loops. It's lightweight and has a
natural mechanical stretch to it, which
is why it's the fault for t-shirts. I
would say 99% of the world's t-shirts
are using a single jersey knit. However,
if you want the top tier stability, look
for a interlock knit. Think of it as a
double-sided jersey. It's created using
two sets of needles and you're basically
knitting two layers of fabric into one.
This makes a fabric that is identical on
both sides. An interlock knit does not
curl at the edges like a single jersey
does and leads to fabric that has
significantly less stretch out over
time. If a shirt feels substantial and
bouncy rather than thin and limp, it's
most likely a interlock knit. The
quality of the knit depends on the
tension. A loose knit is a major red
flag. Brands do this to save money. By
using less yarn and stretching the loops
further, they create more fabric for
less cost. It feels light in the store,
but because the loops are loose, those
fibers can migrate to the surface, rub
together, and create those knowing balls
that we call pills. A tightknit locks
those fibers down and prevents those
fibers from migrating. But it consumes
more raw material, which is what makes
it more expensive. This leads us into
one of the most misunderstood terms in
fashion, GSM, which stands for grams per
square meter. A lot of luxury brands
would like to say that heavy weight
means luxury, but that is not the case.
All it means is the fabric is heavier.
You can reach 200 gsm using a thick
open-end yarn that's loosely knit.
[music] But you can also reach 200 gsm
by using a fine tightknit yarn. And
they're going to lead to drastically
different products. Now that you've knit
your fabric, you have to add color to
it. And that's done through a process
called dying. For cotton, you're going
to have three main dye types. You're
going to have pigment dyes which sit on
the surface of the cotton fibers and are
often washed off to give that vintage
look. Next, you have sulfur dyes. These
are very common dyes that brands will
use because they are cheap, they're
effective, and they give really deep
blacks. The problem with sulfur dyes is
just like pigment dyes, they only sit on
the surface of the fabric and over time.
They will fade like that and it'll lead
to a shirt that's going to look very sad
in your closet over time.
The last and the gold standard for dyes
for cotton is what's called reactive
dyes. Reactive dyes actually change the
molecular structure of the cotton itself
and bonds to the fiber. This is going to
lead to colors that will last a
significantly longer time in your closet
and it's something that will age with
you. Let's talk about shrinkage. Even
with the best fibers and a tight knit,
shrinkage is something that will still
happen when it comes to cotton knits.
And the reason behind that is the cotton
fiber itself. The cotton fibers are not
perfectly straight. They have little
kinks and bends in them. And when you're
doing the entire process of knitting and
spinning that yarn, it's being pulled
straight that entire way. So the moment
that yarn hits water, those cotton
fibers want to relax and go back to
their natural state and that's what
causes shrinkage. A lot of brands will
skip any pre-shrinking steps and will
actually sell you a shirt with that
fabric not shrunk because again you get
to make more shirts and that means more
profits. proper fabric mills will
pre-shrink that fabric. And there's
several ways to do that. One is going to
be steam pre-shrinking, which hits the
fibers with steam to relax those fibers.
And another step is going to be called
compacting or samurization. What that
does is it forces that knit to be
tighter together. So when you do have
that initial wash, you're limiting the
amount it will shrink. Sometimes if a
brand doesn't pre-shrink the fabric, it
can shrink upwards of 10%. That is why
you get a shirt that fits perfect in the
store and then you wash at home and it
turns into a crop top. Now that you know
about the architecture of the knit
itself, let's talk about finishes. This
is the step where brands either evolve
the fabric or hide its flaws. When it
comes to finishes, there are three main
processes. You're either going to coat
the fiber, you're going to remove the
fuzz, or you're going to chemically
alter the fiber structure itself. The
first most common way the brands will
finish the fabric is by coating the
fibers. This is often done with cheaper
knits because it makes that shirt feel
soft in the store. And this is done by
using silicone emulsions. They're
literally coating every single fiber in
a microscopic layer of silicone. It
gives that kind of soft, buttery feeling
in the store, but it also leaves a
little oily residue on your fingers. If
you feel that in the stores, just know
that that shirt is going to feel very
different after two to three washes. The
second method of finishing is going to
be removing the surface fuzz, and that's
done by using enzymes. These enzymes
basically eat away at the surface fuzz
on the layer of fabric. That leaves you
with a softer, smoother surface. And the
last method which a lot of luxury brands
do is actually evolving the fiber
itself. So when you look at the cotton
fiber, it's more bean-shaped than
circular. So what brands will do, and
you'll see this with a lot of luxury
brands here, I'll grab one here.
As you can see with this label here, it
says mercerized.
Luxury brands will either go through the
process of mercerization or the process
of using liquid ammonia to change the
chemical structure of the fiber itself.
It'll take it from a flat almost bean
shape to a more rounded shape. This
leads to fibers that are smoother,
softer. The fabric will have a little
bit of sheen on it, but also reach
deeper, darker colors. So if you see
mercerized or liquid ammonia treated,
that's usually going to be associated
with higherend products because that
process is costly.
Now that you know what makes the fabric,
we have to transform it into a
three-dimensional object. [music]
A brand can use the world's best
pimacotton, but if they don't understand
human geometry, it's just never going to
sit right. Before we even look at the
seams, we have to look at what's called
drape. Drape is how that fabric actually
falls and conforms over the body. And
this is where the GSM strap really hits
hard. A lot of brands are trying to do
heavyweight fabric these days. That
heavyweight fabric is often going to be
stiffer and a lot of brands don't
understand that. What you end up with is
a lot of sleeves that are sticking out
like wings because that heavyweight
fabric will only bend at a certain
place. So, the placement of that
shoulder seam is going to be very
important for how that sleeve drapes on
your body. So, whenever you're in stores
and you're trying on shirts, look at how
that fabric falls on your body. Does it
look good on you or does it look like a
giant cardboard box? Cuz they're trying
to force a fabric into a shape that was
never designed to. A little bit of a
warning here for this next part because
once you see this, you cannot unsee
this. And that [music] is bacon neck on
a ribbing. 90% of the time, shirts will
fail at the collar. And that's going to
be because of two reasons. The design of
the collar and the material choice.
Let's go over the design of the collar
first. Traditionally, pattern makers are
taught to make ribbing like simple
rectangles.
What you end up with [music] is a piece
of ribbing that looks like this. The
issue is that the human neck is not a
perfect cylinder. It's actually a series
of two complex curves. You have your
front curve and then your back curve.
And the transition point happens right
at your trapezius muscle. And that's
where the ribbing needs to make a
basically hard left turn or hard right
turn. The issue by using a rectangle is
that they're trying to force that
ribbing into a collar shape. And as you
can see here,
when you try to force a rectangle into a
collar shape, that excess fabric here
needs to go somewhere. And by only
having a rectangular shape, you are left
with ribbing
that will gape like this. You'll see it
over here. Typically, you're going to
see it all on one side of a shirt.
What good pattern makers do is they
understand the human anatomy and the
need to accommodate for that excess
fabric. [music] So what they will do is
actually put two seams, one on each
trapezius muscle to get rid of that
excess fabric. So if I were to take this
right here and basically do a turn, I
have leftover fabric here. I can pinch
and cut. And if I do that twice, you're
getting rid of that excess fabric.
However, even if you do that, if the
brand does not account for the
shrinkage, as you can see with the shirt
here,
you can still have those seams,
here, and here. But because the brand
never accounted for shrinkage,
you are still left with all this excess
fabric. But this is a good example of a
technical team knowing what they're
doing, but the manufacturing team making
shortcuts. You can see the shirt is
faded, probably using sulfur dyes. We
have bacon neck here. So, even though
the team knew what to do with the
collar, it still failed. Now that you
know what's important for good collar
shape, let's talk about the collar
materials.
Everyone loves 100% cotton, but in the
collar is not where you want it. Sure,
the ribbing structure itself has
mechanical stretch to it, but when you
use 100% cotton, as you can see here, it
will deform and it will never go back to
its original shape. That's because
cotton itself lacks mechanical stretch.
What you want is an elastic yarn that
will cause the ribbing to pull back. As
you can see here,
that elastic yarn can either be spandex,
otherwise known as elastain, or you can
use a material such as serona, [music]
but you absolutely must have some sort
of mechanical elastic yarn to bring that
ribbing back into shape. Next time
you're in the store, pay attention to
these things. Look at the collar itself.
If it looks like this already when it's
brand new, it's just going to get worse.
Leave it alone. If it doesn't have the
two seams at the back, try the shirt on.
A lot of the times you're going to see
it starting to pucker on one side.
Again, it's just going to get worse from
there. Give the ribbing itself a little
bit of tug. If it doesn't have the
recovery to pull itself back or when you
pull it and you don't see a little bit
of shimmer in there from the spandex,
that collar is probably not going to
last as well. Next, let's talk about the
shoulder seam. A lot of brands will
default to a center shoulder seam that
runs right across the top of the
shoulder like this. They do that because
it looks good on the hanger. The issue
is that it ignores human anatomy. The
human shoulder actually rolls forward a
little bit. And when you have a center
shoulder seam, that shoulder seam either
wants to migrate forward or backwards.
It doesn't sit in its place. Some brands
will use a backwards facing shoulder
seam. And you can use that for lighter
weight fabrics because it gives you a
cleaner front. However, when brands try
to use a backward shoulder seam like
this on a heavier weight fabric,
now that shoulder seam is behind the
peak of your shoulder and it wants to
fall down. What ends up happening is the
weight of the fabric is going to pull
down on your back and this is actually
going to pull up on your throat. So, if
you have any heavier weight shirts and
they have a backward shoulder seam, one
thing you'll notice is it'll press on
your neck all day. So that shoulder seam
placement is very important. The proper
shoulder seam placement to basically
carry the garment itself is a forward
leaning shoulder seam that goes from the
back of the collar and rides over the
shoulder almost like a like a little
backpack. That's going to balance the
shirt on your shoulders and it's going
to prevent it from rolling forward and
it's going to prevent it from rolling
back. Next, let's talk about the
armhole. This is actually one of the
hardest parts to get right. A lot of
brands will use a very deep armhole
because it's easy to manufacture and
fits most body types. The issue is that
when you have a deep armhole, you're
basically anchoring your sleeve to your
body. Whenever you lift your arm up,
your shirt will also go up. A brand that
understands the anatomy will have a high
armhole. So, you can essentially lift
your arms up and the shirt won't move
too much. Now that you understand the
importance of shoulder seams and arms
holes, let's go over the different body
shapes. First, you're going to have
your column shape, otherwise known as a
classic or standard fit. This is your
Swiss Army knife of body shapes. It's
cut square from the armhole down. If
done right, this is going to be the most
versatile for the most bodies and in
most situations.
Next, you're going to have a A-line cut.
You'll see this in like a true classic
tea where it goes from the armpit and
actually a lines out. This is good if
you have a lot of visceral fat and have
a belly you need to cover. The issue is
that when you try to use a heavier
weight or stiffer fabric with a a line,
it almost looks like a pebble dress
where it'll balloon out. The next is
going to be an oversized boxy fit like
this t-shirt. This is very in right now
and this is what a lot of brands are
trying to do. You're going to be using a
heavier weight fabric. You're going to
make it very boxy. This is very simple
to execute and it's very trendy. Next up
is going to be the actual tapered fit.
I'm wearing a tapered fit here. And
what's going to be it's going to be
largest at the chest and the shoulders.
Then it's going to taper in on the side
seam around the waist and then bigger
around the hips as well. It gives a more
European fit and it's going to be good
for fit body types or more slender
build. The last that you're going to
have is what's going to be called a
tubular [music] fit. There's two types
of tubular that you'll have. You'll have
one which is a loop wheel tubular, but
in 2026, a lot of tubular fits you'll
find from Gilden, and those are done
just to purely save costs. There's no
side seams, so you're saving two sewing
steps. And the big problem with a lot of
those tubular fits is that over time
they will torque and they will twist. So
I would avoid tubular fits at all cost
because again as human beings we are not
shaped like pop cans. We need side seams
for these shirts to fit us and conform
to our bodies. At the end of the day
just remember that trends come and go
but nothing looks better than a
well-fitting shirt.
Now that we've talked about the
ingredients and the engineering, let's
talk about the craftsmanship itself. You
can have the best cotton in the world
and the most advanced patterns, but if
you don't put it together well, what's
the point? When it comes to
craftsmanship, one of the first things
we need to cover is what's called SPI.
That's stitches per inch. Think of it
like nails holding a house together. You
can use the minimal amount of nails to
barely piece it together and may it
stand for a day probably, but it's not
going to stand the test of time. That
goes for the same thing when it comes to
the stitches. By spacing those stitches
apart, factories can run their sewing
machines faster and produce more
garments. But that leads to a garment
that's not going to be as durable.
Hear that that cracking?
Whereas you take a look at this shirt,
they have the right stitch density for
that seam point where I can stretch it
and I don't have to worry about those
stitches breaking.
Next up is actually going to be the type
of stitches themselves. That can be an
entire hourong video, but we'll cover
the basics. Most t-shirts are going to
be sewn at the side seams using what's
called a overlock stitch. At the bottom
hem and your sleeves, you're going to
have what's called a cover stitch. In
this case, it's a two needle cover
stitch.
That's what's going to hold over the
folded fabric. Next up, on the shoulder
seam, a lot of times you'll have what's
called a chain stitch
as shown over here. That chain stitch
has more mechanical stretch in it, so it
prevents that seam from breaking.
Whereas this shirt, again, mass
manufacturing
just uses a overlock seam as well. It's
going to be a lot more uncomfortable on
the shoulder. A good brand or a good
designer will put neck tape across both
shoulders so you're covering that seam
to make it more comfortable. Now that
you know some seam basics, let's go over
how to visually inspect a garment. You
guys already know about the collar and
how to inspect that. Another way you can
inspect a garment is look at this bottom
hem. If in the case of this bottom hem,
it's all wavy
here. And you can see it's not straight
at all. It's longer on this end than on
the other end.
It's about half an inch difference
between this end and that end. That's
going to be one of the ways that you can
tell the garment has been rushed because
if they can't even get this one seam
right, chances are you're going to find
more points of failure on the rest of
the garment. Another way you can inspect
is, is there going to be a lot of loose
threads? Another way you can see poor
construction is around the collar.
Again, if this is all wavy, this is
caused by uneven feeding into the sewing
machine, which causes a lot of that
puckering. And in the case of this
shirt, if you look at the fabric grain
itself, meaning the direction of that
knit, when I look at this knit itself,
the actual lines, and this might be hard
to see on camera, but the knit itself
grain lies like that.
So, they've cut it off angle. They're
sewing it off angle. This is a product
that is meant to be disposable.
The last part of craftsmanship comes to
manufacturing tolerances and what's
called AQL. If you've ever bought two of
the exact same shirt and they fit
completely differently, that is what's
called manufacturing tolerances. Every
single garment is going to have what's
called a measurement chart and their
base specs. And a brand is going to
define what is the chest on a garment
supposed to be? what is the body length
supposed to be? And based off of those
measurements, a brand will set their
tolerances because garments are
handmade, you will have some variation
between it, especially at scale. How
tight a manufacturing tolerance is
depends on each brand. For most brands,
they set that manufacturing tolerance at
half an inch on a flat measurement. That
means if your chest is supposed to be 18
in, it could be up to 18 1/2 or 17 1/2
in. And that tolerance could mean that a
shirt fits smaller or larger than the
original design.
Good high-quality brands have tighter
tolerances, sometimes a/4 of an inch,
sometimes 1/8 of an inch, so that every
single shirt fits as close to the master
and pattern as possible. Those
measurement tolerances is going to lead
us into what we call AQL,
the acceptable quality level. Every
single brand is going to determine their
own acceptable quality level. But it is
a statistical tool to check for defects
in your bulk production to see whether
or not that the bulk production meets
your quality standard or fails your
quality standard. And that is based off
of these charts here that determine how
many pieces to randomly sample and what
is the pass or fail percentage. On one
end of the spectrum for AQL, you have
rocket parts or medical instruments. The
AQL of these is zero. There is no margin
of error. On the flip side, you're going
to have fast fashion that probably
doesn't even have a quality standard.
But why do brands actually have this AQL
standard in the first place? That is
because precision costs money. If you
want a very high tolerance product, you
are going to have to run your factories
slower, reject more pieces, accept lower
profit margins or higher costs. So,
brands will determine their AQL level
based off of their customer
expectations. If you are selling a
$1,000 shirt, you're probably going to
have to have very tight AQL standards.
If you're selling a really cheap shirt
for $5, your AQL standard is going to be
a lot looser to accommodate your
customer base. One final warning when it
comes to cotton shirts. Sometimes you'll
see a brand putting dry clean only on
that care label. This can be because of
two reasons. One, a brand is trying to
perceive themsel as more premium than
they are. Or two, they are absolutely
terrified of their own fabric and want
to assign any blame to you, the
customer. or the dry cleaner themsel.
We've now dismantled the t-shirt from
the very fiber to the math on the
factory floor. You know more than the
person selling you the garment, and you
probably know more than the person
actually designing the garment. Next
time you're in the store, don't look at
the price. Don't look at the label
first. Feel the weight of that fabric.
Look at the knit structure.
Look at how it was made. Because once
you understand the engineering behind a
t-shirt, you'll never be able to unsee
it and you will become the auditor of
your own closet. Thank you. See you next
time.