Stop 2: The laundry
Our mouths literally fell open with surprise when we saw the mass of people at work there, the infinitely different techniques for processing jeans, the amount of trousers that are finished every day, the size of the machines, …
We were introduced to various new concepts for treating jeans: bleaching, stone wash, double stone wash, stripes, laser engraving and so on.
Here we saw how the washed stripes are made in jeans: the fabric is slid over 2 tubes after which air is blown into it. In this way the trousers are fully stressed and stripes can be drawn with sandpaper.
All jeans go into a stone wash, one or more times, so that the fabric becomes smoother. This means that there are stones in the colossal machines that constantly bump into the trousers to make the fabric less stiff. The stones become smaller and smaller after each wash and are therefore supplemented with new stones. The duration of the stone wash is also adjusted according to your wishes.
Up to 100 trousers are put in 1 machine. Thousands of trousers are washed per machine per day.
The technique that stunned us the most was laser technology! With this they can laser programmed patterns in the fabric or the fabric is lasered to get cracks in the jeans afterwards.
Some trousers underwent 10 different treatments in the laundry alone. You can imagine how intensive the production of clothing is. From now on we'll be looking at a beautiful pair of jeans with very different eyes!
In addition to the laundry there is also a very large operation where brands such as ZARA or River Woods have their trousers produced. 35,000 pieces of one model, we've still got some way to go there ...
After the tour we went back to the hotel where, together with other 'regular' customers, we were invited for a nice 5-course dinner at the expense of the hotel director. The belly dancer came free with the dessert.
Of course, we also took the opportunity to briefly explore the area. A beautiful hotel, beautiful private beach, a nice harbour.
It was an experience never to be forgotten, an opportunity to gain insight as laymen into the complex and fascinating production process.
Regards,
Sofie en Jessie
