Antex fabrics

This is Ted. Ted knows everything.

     Antex is a major producer of knit fabrics in the U.S. and they were generous to give us an informational tour of their factory. They are accredited by multiple associations as well as some of their biggest contracts, such as Adidas, for their standards of production and labor.
Ted Kronfli packed as much information he could in the time that we had. He taught us about fabric purpose, how it is designed, knit, dyed and finished. He also talked about the testing process and spent a good amount of time on the history of polyester.
     Rather than running down the whole process he showed us, I think that I will highlight the areas that are great examples of cost factors as well as a little bit about how a fabric can be developed.

The top figure is a diagram of how double sided fabric is constructed.
( 2 yarns on the loop, one for the right side, one for the "wrong")
Also depicted is a diagram of what filament yarns (those used in polyester fabrics)
and spun yarns look like.

     Antex has a library of knit fabrics that manufacturers can choose from for their products. If a manufacturer needs a fabric that they do not currently make, they will work with them to develop a new one. This is  a service that can cost more, but is a good option for sportswear when a specific need exists. For example, Nike needed a fabric that would wick away moisture for their soccer players. Through a bit of trial and error, they designed a fabric that was polyester, double sided (plated knit) and wicked away most of the moisture, leaving some to cool off the players bodies. The success of this fabric deemed to be profitable because Nike now owns the rights to this fabric, now called Dri fit. Nike products are now produced with this technology, creating a market for individuals looking for high quality, high performance athletic wear.

a circular knit machine

     Antex is the largest circular knit producer left in the United States. This wasn't always so. Circular knit mills used to dominate the south, but due to the impact of production costs, there are none left in that region. There used to be hundreds of mills in Los angeles alone, but only around 100 left now. The lack of American mills can be an advantage for Antex. A lot of production is outsourced currently, for multiple reasons. One reason, Ted explained, is the incentives that companies can take advantage of. Currently, a lot of outsourcing is located in South America. Certain garments that are assembled in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras or Guatemala, can be shipped back to the US duty free, if the fabric is made in the United States. Incentives help lower the bottom line for manufacturers. This particular incentive helps Antex remain relevant in the industry because it encourages manufacturers to seek American made textiles.

This is the machine that creates each color. This process
happens after the color is chosen and analyzed to create
the right recipe.

To give you an idea of the process of circular knitting, I will give a basic idea of the steps included.

1. Yarns are supplied to the mill.
2. The mill uses these yarns to knit the fabric in a circular knit machine. 
3. The fabric is dyed
• The dying process involves some specific steps, including:
• selection
• color matching
• color creation
• dye method selection 
• based on type of dye needed to ensure colorfastness
• based on type of fabric
4. The fabric is cut to be flat
5. Then it is treated
6. Then heat set (also the time when width and weight is created)
7. Then the fabric is rolled onto the bolt

A rotary screen printer

• Another process that can be added is screen printing. Here are a couple of facts about screen printing fabric:
• At Antex, they have a rotary screen printer capable of printing 18 screens onto one fabric.
• Each screen costs $300.00
• the screen exists forever

Here are a few more pics and a video of the mill:

This is the machine that feeds the fabric to stretch
or contract the fabric to create the predetermined
weight, as well as the width requested by the
manufacturer to optimize the space utilized for
the pattern pieces.

The lab that creates the formulas for the dyes

Color matched samples. These are all from different dye
lots. They are compared to retain the integrity of the color
across every order.

This is a knit pattern given to a technician that programs the
machine to 

This machine can read the color of anything
and turn it into a series of numbers in which
a chemist reads to determine if a color is correctly
represented from the manufacturers original sample

They process of the production of fabrics has different cost factors at every level. Some elements of production to highlight where a cost decision must be made buy the manufacturer are:

• Yarn
• type of knit
• dye quality and attention to matching
• screen printing