Ngai Shing Development Limited

NGAI SHING -----The First Hong Kong Manufacturer

For Complete Wrinkle – Free Garment Machinery

Ngia Shing Development Limited devoted to developing new products each year in order to fulfill market demands. According to Mr. Yu Kau, the director, who's in charge, the company started researching in wrinkle-free garment machinery three years ago and finally they are able to provide complete wrinkle-free machinery after years of research and improvement.

Mr. Yu emphasizes that Ngai Shing is the first Hong Kong manufacturer who can provide complete series of wrinkle-free machinery including from dipping resin, drying, pressing, ironing and curing. Beside of price economy, one can also enjoy the advantage of easy and direct co-operation with the manufacturer.

Garment manufacturer dealing with wrinkle-free technology used to keep the secret of their production skill and manufacture procedure. With the increase in the number of factories and the technology interchange between manufacturers and chemical suppliers, wrinkle-free technology becomes more accessible and popularized.

Production Methods:

Pre-cure

Fabric dipping and curing are processed in fabric plant, as is suitable for executive shirt which doesn't require washing effect or permanent crease. It is appropriate to process wrinkle-free treatment in fabric plant, then the apparel manufacturer mainly deals with wrinkles emerged from sewing procedure such as front placket, sleeve seaming, yoking, side seaming, pocket seaming etc, among which front placket, armhole and side seam are the three major parts that needs special handling.

Front placket, collar, cuff top fuse with high pressure interlining.

Side seam, arm hole: Add fusible tape in sewing process, then press and heat through special press to bond the upper and lower cloth together, thus eliminate wrinkles brought about by sewing.

The piece goods for wrinkle-free garments as mentioned above is not confined to resin-treated fabric only. As a matter of fact, the fabric that contains high synthetic fiber already maintains wrinkle-free effect.

Fabric Dipping post-cure

At the early stage of post-cure method dipping resin procedure is done in fabric

plant, where then fabric is air-dried under low-temperature and stored in warehouse of 18°C. The fabric is produced into a finished garment, then well pressed and process in curing oven.

This method is in used both by shirts and trousers manufacturer. However, the shape of the bulk press have to be cope with the shape of the garment, and the pressing head need to raise temperature up to 160°C for a better pressing result and slight cure the resin on the fabric.

Shirts:

Shirts front press, Yoke press, side seam press.

Trousers:

Trousers topper press, trousers leger press.

Ironed clothes must be taken to the oven curing for 5-8 minutes, temperature about 140-160°C.

The wrinkle-free effect will be greatly spoiled if the garment require washing afterward. In addition, the quantity and quality of resin dipped by fabric manufacturer, which the apparel manufacturer cannot control or test, are of great importance. It can be interpreted that the wrinkle-free effect depends mostly on the quality control measures of the fabric manufacturer and the friction influenced by washing.

Garment Dipping Post Cure

The Pre-cure and fabric dipping post-cure methods are inappropriate for those garments that needs both wrinkle-free and washing effect. Since in these two methods, stereotyped garments are then washed industrially where the mechanical friction will spoil the wrinkle-free effect greatly.

To keep both wash and wrinkle-free effect, the garment have to be first washed, then dipping resin, and last are in an oven.

In this method, a) the production of garment and b) the washing process make no difference in general operation. The final step c) wrinkle-free treatment can be done in washing factory or clothing factory. The key technology this wrinkle-free process lies in:

i)	The quantity of resin absorbed;

ii)	The quantity of resin left in clothes after spin-drying.

iii)	Drying clothes not unduly dried.

iv)	Ironing effect has to be very smooth.

v)	Fully ironed clothes keep dry and crisp.

vi)	Clothes kept straight during transportation.

vii)	Shorten the time period after dipping resin process up to oven curing.

viii)	Temperature in the oven have to be even and temperature increase should be fast.

The above-mentioned essentials constitute the best method for wrinkle-free treatment of washed garments and become the prevalent trends also.

VAPOR PHASE

The ready-made garments finished and then chemically spread in sealed cabinet, the stereotyping process then fulfilled. However, this method did not become popular because it is a patented product and the equipment is exorbitant.

Group Organization and Alertness

The wrinkle-free effect cannot be easily accomplished. It requires frequent co-ordination of each department, for example:

i)	If the dipping resin process done in fabric plant, it is difficult to foresee the effect brought about by curing oven and industrial washing process on the piece goods. While it is after a fairly long period that the finished piece goods are utilized by apparel manufacturer, thus any problem arising during the process is past remedy.

ii)	Ordinary washing factories do not have ironing skill. If ironing result is not good, crease mark will retain on the garment after oven curing.

iii)	If the wrinkle-free treatment is done by the apparel manufacturers who have not any experience on chemical processing, it is difficult for them to control the ingredients.

iv)	From the human source respect, it is essential that all the operation staffs be highly alert and subordinated to the prescribed production schedule.

Market Outlook

Wrinkle-free clothing is still starting from scratch. In a busy modern world where consumers are too busy to iron their clothes at home, if the production technology and chemical products keep improving which make wrinkle-free effect more steady and retentive and the ready – made clothes felt more comfortable, the technology may actually possess immense development space and potentiality.

According to Mr. Yu, the wording wrinkle-free and no-iron press etc. are actually big obstacles to the development of such kind of ready—made garment. The fact is that “wrinkle-free” and “no-iron” effect can never be produced by garment manufactures, and consumers, may be alert to or place too high hopes on such wordings. So we shall aim at “easy care” and that is an attainable and indispensable effect for all garments in the future.