By: Dr. M.S. Parmar, M. Singh and Neha NITRA - Fibre2fashion

Wet Processing Of Garment: Some Facts
By: Dr. M.S.Parmar, M. Singh and Neha
Northern India Textile Research Association, Sector-23, Rajnagar, Ghaziabad, U.P
Garment dyeing is gaining ground more rapidly as it fulfills the requirement of fashion-oriented
customer instantaneously. Beside this it reduces the lead times and excess inventory
significantly. In addition, it can be used as a method for short lot dyeing, where basic shades are
supplemented with fashion shades.
In India most of the Garment industries is in unorganized sector. This sector is far behind the
international standards in productivity and quality. The important reasons of legging behind of this
sector are listed below:
1. Non- availability of qualified and trained operators/supervisors
2. Absence of quality control activities
3. Application of sub standard dyes and chemical auxiliaries
4. Lack of sophistication in the technology used in wet processing
Non- availability of qualified and trained operators/supervisors:
The problem related to non-availability of qualified and trained operators/ supervisors can be by
resolved by recruiting suitable personnel. Keeping in mind the requirement of garment wet
processors, NITRA has started a full time diploma course in garment dyeing and finishing. The
Diploma holders are fully trained in garment wet processing.
Absence of quality control activities:
The absence of proper quality control in-house activities is the main reason, which affect the
quality of the dyed and finished garment. Now the buyer is very quality conscious. To fulfill the
quality requirement of the buyer it requires adopting stringent quality control standard in the
dyeing and finishing. A few of the quality parameters/ problems which generally affect the quality
of the buyer/ user ends are poor colour fastness properties in various agencies like washing, light,
crocking etc., staining, tendering, yellowness and improper finishing effect. These problems may
lead to rejection of whole lot. To check these problems following points should be taken in to
accounts:
• Carefully read the instruction given by the buyers related to quality parameters and
standard to be followed i.e whether it is American standard or ISO standards etc. If there
is no clear instruction it is always better to clarify the same before going to take
assignment. Each standard is having its separate conditions. If sample is passed in one
standard, it is not sure that it will also pass in another standards also.
• During the desizing operation of the garments, it is always advised to check whether the
sizing chemicals removed from the garment or not. A simple iodine test will be sufficient
for this purpose. If the blue colour with iodine is indicated, it shows that sizing material is
still present and desizing of the garment is not proper.
• Check the absorbency of the garment before dyeing. If the absorbency of the garment is
not proper, no uniform shade is obtained. A simple method to test the absorbency is to
take out garment before few minutes of completion of scouring process, dry it and test
the absorbency by drop test method. If the drop of water is absorbed within 5 seconds,
one can say that the garment absorbency would be fine.