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There is a new startup environment in C’s new denim factory.
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The cutter can cut even more layers of fabric at once to process larger orders, said Uwe Gansfort, the plant’s general manager, as he walked down the factory aisle in late April. The factory has 90 painters who paint diligently on sewing. machines, ironing stations and extension machine.
“We are still complete in terms of machinery equipment,” Gansfort told FashionUnited. C.
During his long career, the manager has witnessed many adjustments in the fashion industry. Most recently, Gansfort, CEO of Canda International, a subsidiary guilty of foreign sourcing formal clothing in C.
Another trend that experts have been predicting for years is relocation: the repatriation of textile production from Far Eastern countries, such as Bangladesh and China. With the exception of styling projects like Adidas Speedfactory in Ansbach, Germany, the sporting goods maker has shut down. Behind, the fashion industry is slowing down. However, the problems of origin of the pandemic have highlighted once again how favorable it would be to produce clothes where they will be bought.
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“We are among the top fashion factories in the world. It uses everything that exists in terms of automation in the apparel industry,” Gansfort said. It starts with the warehouse robot pulling rolls of denim from the warehouse, which are then fixed and cut. There are devices for steps like sewing wallet and attaching buttons and zippers. But most of the sewing process, which includes sewing the legs of the pants in combination, or in other words, everything that still happens in the sewing device. It is still done by hand.
“60 to 70 percent is still manual,” Gansfort estimated. The automation point in the sector isn’t as high as in the auto industry, he noted, because comfortable fabrics can’t be gripped as well through robots. However, Gansfort expects the global shortage of hard work will increase the strain for automation. “We hope this will spark innovation, that at some point it can close the side seams automatically and work more with robots and grip arms, but it will take a few years. “said the head of the plant, which is officially known as ‘C’.
The clothing organization has invested a total of about five million euros in the factory. Mavens calculated for C
“Surely we need to succeed with this plant and not just level a storefront,” Gansfort insisted. “We are a mass manufacturer and we designed this plant for quantity, which means peak volumes. “Currently, more than 1000 pairs of jeans are produced consistently with the day. This amount will have to increase to 2,000 to succeed in the annual production volume of 420,000 pairs. This is the objective that C
Since the end of March, the denim produced in Mönchengladbach is sold in the online store and will be sold in physical outlets in August. “So far, we are satisfied with sales,” said C’s head of communications.
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At €59. 99, trousers produced in Mönchengladbach cost about twice as much as C jeans.
However, C’s pants
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To regain this role, a number of transformations have taken place since CEO Giny Boer took the reins. C
The collection is being revised lately to offer “more modern fashion” for women, which goes hand in hand with a renewal in the product range. “We need to have a cleaner line and make our signature recognizable to consumers at the point of sale and in the online store. That’s why we’re reducing the number of product variants by around 30%,” Kieß said. During this process, the company also analyzes what consumers’ desires are and how they are satisfied.
“Where is the most productive position to manufacture and create the products taking into account the entire supply chain?”This is a problem, Kieß said. In fact, merchandise, product diversity and production are very closely linked. This is where the Mönchengladbach plant comes into play again.
“If the fabrics are there, we can actually restock the pants in two or three weeks and take them to the stores,” Gansfort said. With an order of 20,000 pieces, he added, one can temporarily reproduce some sizes that are promotion faster than expected. But he also noted that the factory is designed for giant volumes and entirely for the production of trousers. future, but that’s not the case right now,” Gansfort said.
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But that would depend on how the pants are sold, and then the lobby and machinery can be used to a higher capacity. Many things are still possible, but how long C
What the organization learns here will also be transferred to other production sites or in Asia. “At the end of the day, it is up to us to put the issue of production in Europe back into our portfolio,” Kieß said. “It’s anything. “We do not rule out generating more in Europe. “
This translated and edited story has already been on FashionUnited. DE.