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Coats Technical Services provides operational improvement services in the areas of quality, audit and issues related to manufacture and construction of sewn products.

Coats has more than two and a half centuries of accumulated expertise in finding solutions to the issues faced by the sewing thread, zips and speciality yarn users across all industries. Whether you are a manufacturer of garments, shoes, hand bags, luggage, automotive airbags, seat belts, mattresses, fibre optic cables or any product involving use of thread, zips or finished yarns, Coats can add value to your operations.

Our Technical Services team members will visit a factory and assess problems on the factory floor, at the needle point. For example, this may involve dismantling a sewing machine to discover the issue and correct it. This problem solving analysis may also relate to issues such as seam breakage and seam pucker. Our garment technicians are highly experienced at solving these common issues. We would then develop a report and share information with our customers to help resolve the issues found at factory floor level.

We go directly to our customer at either the factory floor or the head office and help resolve problems in production lines

Coats Technical Services will analyse and assess returned garments to look for defaults, the causes and deliver solution based recommendations. The garments can be assessed either on the factory floor or the assessment can be completed in the brand’s warehouse. If a customer has a process in place to collect returned garments, our team will travel to them and spend the day there to complete the analysis of the returned garments, then deliver corrective action recommendations based on our findings.

While customer returns do not always relate to sewing or seaming defects, those garments that do can bring into question the brands reputation. Coats Technical Services teams are able to analyse and provide both cause and corrective actions for these faults.

For example, one of the most common issues still faced today on outerwear woven formal bottoms is hem failure. In this instance our Technical Services team would provide an overview of the seaming conditions along with a potential solution to resolve, for example a Hemseal Fusion sewing thread.

If the garment fault relates to non-inclusion our techs would offer to visit the customer’s factory to review and offer solutions. If a defect is related to seam strength or seam elongation, our techs could recommend corrective actions to strengthen or help the seam elongate to meet minimum specification.

Although thread is not an expensive component, it has a significant impact on output

and sewing productivity. The wrong choice of thread hampers production and can result in

problems such as thread breakage, sewing stoppages, slower machine speeds, and higher

repair rates.

Coats has a wide range of threads available and while there is no perfect thread for every application, there is a perfect thread for each application. With our GRS certified Coats EcoVerde ,

Coats offers a 100% recycled alternative to virgin polyester. We can provide a recycled corespun range which includes Coats Epic EcoVerde and Coats Dual Duty EcoVerde. These products provide excellent performance on today’s faster sewing machines as well as providing strength and fineness in seams. Today’s consumers demand that garments have a sustainable footprint and Coats are able to provide products that can help deliver these sustainability goals.

With Coats expertise and thousands of case studies, we have established that we can reduce the overall cost of sewing, and reducing returns, by selecting the right sewing threads.

For example if we know that the garment is prone to seam puckering or issues relating to stretch, we can then give a range of thread, needle and stitch type recommendations to help overcome those particular issues.

Coats technical team would give thread and needle recommendations based on either fabric or generic garment type. We would analyse thread usage in the context of garment quality, shop floor productivity, consumption and wastage, and sewing and other work practices. We would then develop a comprehensive set of recommendations designed to increase productivity, reduce waste and improve overall product quality.

 

At Coats, we can help our customers ensure a high quality of garments for their end consumers. Coats Technical Services have experts with extensive industry experience, who will diagnose the core issues and provide practical and lasting solutions. These are focussed on practical application within a customer’s business, in areas where Coats has deep technical expertise and unrivalled experience.;

We will visit brands’ retail outlets and assess the quality of garments on the shop floor. Our team of experts can then view the garments as they are hanging in the shop and analyse them for issues including seam puckering, bad stitching, uneven or untidy seams and other manufacturing faults.;

Within this audit we would assess the garment, make a list of identified faults, take images and then do a report afterwards to be supplied to the customer. We would recommend a range of corrective actions for any problems found. We would then identify who and where the garment was made and then either send a Technical Services expert to go and visit or give an overview of the types of problems and deliver specifications to the brand that they should include their tech packs to help overcome those issues.;

A thread audit from Coats is a smart way to improve productivity and sewn product quality. Choosing the right thread and spending a little more on it can save a huge amount of stoppage time and reduce rejects due to defective quality. A good thread outperforms a cheap one at an unbelievable rate on the factory floor and the result is increased productivity that can translate into higher profits. Coats Technical Services advisors will visit our customers’ factories in order to give the correct thread and needle recommendations to use for each different seam on a specific garment type.

We audit your current sewing processes and provide recommendations for:

  • Thread type and ticket size
  • Package size
  • Needle sizes and point styles
  • Quality improvement
  • Wastage analysis Cost reduction

In addition we will visit factory trim storage units to ensure that sewing threads are stored correctly . If thread is stored incorrectly it can have an adverse effect on its performance. To ensure sewing thread delivers optimal performance, it must be looked after properly.

Our team of experts will review thread cone sizes being utilised. If we perceive there is a large quantity of basic colours, we would recommend larger thread cones be used in those particular areas. If the customer is doing bespoke or small order quantities, then we would recommend short length options. This would increase the cost per metre but drastically reduce the overall cost and wastage at the end.

Coats Pre-production checks allows you to utilise the expertise of Coats Technical Services during the development stage of sewn items at your premises. This service helps our customers develop the most appropriate seaming conditions for specific end uses and recommend the best materials. This can be especially valuable when a factory initiates production of a new, unfamiliar product.

We will provide a structured report on conclusion outlining the objectives, recommendations and crucially, the quantification of the benefits. Our customers have found that this unique way of working at the beginning of the product process helps to avoid potentially costly problems when bulk production commences.

A garment is made up using a series of different seams. Therefore, a thread should be chosen for specific seams to ensure maximum benefits.

  • Seam appearance
    Is the seam attractive, consistent, and neat?
  • Seam strength
    Have the correct seam type and thread selections been made for the item being sewn?
  • Seam durability
    Do the properties of the seam, thread, and fabric lend themselves to the desired length of use for the item sewn?

Fabric analysis is where our Coats experts would receive a piece of fabric from a brand or a vendor, and we would analyse it to see how much elongation and stretch the fabric has, to determine if there was going to be issues with that particular fabric type.

If a fabric type has no stretch in its warp and weft direction and it’s a very close knit fabric, then there’s going to be potential issues with seam puckering in both those directions. If it has elongation in one way or the other then that helps reduce the amount of seam pucker. If the structure of the fabric is such that it allows movement at 45 degrees then once the needle and thread penetrate the fabric it will relax back, and so reduce the amount of seam pucker.

We would therefore analyse the fabric and give recommendations back to the brand or vendor.

Relevant products

Product
Coats® Epic™

High quality, polyester corespun that is precisely engineered to create durable, attractive seams on a wide range of fabrics across many applications.

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Product
Gramax

Textured polyester thread that is ideal for use in the loopers of overlocking, serging and cover seaming to provide softness and comfort, especially in next-to-skin seams.

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Product
Coats® EcoVerde™ Dual Duty™

A premium quality corespun thread that combines a high tenacity 100% recycled polyester filament core with a Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) certified cotton cover.

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