Get buttoned

The factory visit is fast becoming the essential next level for clothing enthusiasts. It delves deeper than the usual corporate paragraph on their websites. It asks questions you want to ask.

Ryan for Contect Clothing asks a few questions of Gitman here;

Ryan:
I'm glad we finally found time to talk shirt production. Sam and I talk daily with our clients about denim weaving processes and dye techniques not to mention how the rhythm in the floor boards of old fabric mills aided to the irregularity of the weave. I am fascinated with the story behind the garment. Lets look at the nuts and bolts of a shirt, the details, what makes a Gitman Vintage shirt a Gitman Vintage?

Chris:
First and foremost, I think the shirt is a much less complicated species than denim. There are a couple of differences in a Gitman Vintage shirt that are most immediate. The first is, unlike an Italian made shirt, an American made shirt most often and with Gitman, all of the time uses a double needle. Double needle on the side seems and double needle throughout. This is something that is built for the American laundering process, its a bit more of a rugged shirt and more substantial.

Ryan:
These shirts are built tough.

Chris:
Yes, but that's kind of secondary. There are other things about Gitman Vintage shirts, first of all it takes about 80 minutes to make the shirt and there are 27 to 35 separate parts that go into making one shirt. The most significant thing about the Gitman Vintage shirt is that the collar, the cuff, and the pocket are all hand set. With most shirting companies these pieces are put on simultaneously with the placket, with the shoulder yolk. Where as with Gitman Vintage they are put on in three different stages. Another thing I love and I've never seen anyone replicate because it is ours is the chalk button.

Michael of ACL writes of Hamilton Shirts (above);

The head pattern maker Stephanie (who can be seen more in the second set of images), spends her day making up to fifteen different bespoke patterns by hand. These patterns are all kept in manila envelopes (along with a unique client history envelope detailing all of the customer’s preferences and order history) that occupy a growing portion of a room off the main factory. It is pretty awesome to see all of the envelops and think about the thousands of shirts and crazy custom shirts that some of them hold.

Once the pattern is made, or retrieved from the archive, the fabric is hand cut by one of the cutters. Unlike other factories I have been to, the cutting at Hamilton is done with a hand knife, not a saw or laser. Once the components are all cut, the fabric is bundled and placed in a colored bin (with certain colors signaling a higher priority that will be made faster) that will move throughout the factory going from each specialist to another, with the shirt coming together one piece at a time. Being as every shirt is different, the sewers have to be even that much more skilled to adjust to the changing configuration of the sewing machines and pay close attention to the customer’s preferences. While a rushed shirt can make its way through the whole production process in a day, typically the cycle takes about five days. Good things definitely come to those who wait

Read more from Ryan & Gitman

Read more from Michael & Hamilton