Ever wonder how jeans are made??

Most of us assume that our jeans, whether from the Gap or from Rock and Republic, involve some kind of factory process. Pictures come to mind of the good ol' assembly line with jean after jeans passing through. But just what does go on at these factories and what processes are required in order to make a pair of jeans?

First, a pattern of about 15 pieces of the jean is drawn and supplied to the manufacturer. Once in the manufacturer's hands, a computer will digitally compute the best way to puzzle the pieces together on a piece of denim fabric in order to waste the least amount of fabric.

A large paper with this jig-saw of jean piece patterns will then be laid on top of large sheets of denim fabric, typically 100-300 or so sheets stacked at a time.


With large and heavy weights to hold the pattern on top of the piles of fabric, they will then proceed to slice through all the layers making 100's of each pattern piece at once with a textile cutting machine. This is why sometimes the very same jean can fit slightly different from another jean, because the cutting machine can slightly stretch as it pulls downward through the pile cutting.

Each piece is then marked it's specific size with chalk and gathered together into size groups. These are then taken to the manufacturers sewing machines, where workers sew (or feed into machines) each piece of jean together as quickly and carefully as possible.

Not quite done yet, now the assembled jeans are taken to a gigantic industrial
washing machine where the desired wash effect is produced. Pumice rocks are most typical for this process to create the 'stonewash' effect. Other chemicals or acids are used at this time as well for other wash effects. After this, a jean may be further destroyed by hand grinders, sanders and the like to add additional and strategical placements of fading and abrasions (such as whiskerings).

After all this, the jeans are carefully inspected numerous times by being passed down an assembly line of workers looking for any faults.

Now, the buttons and rivets are added with a machine press, and then the jeans are sent for final inspection and tags and labels are added (such as hang tags, joker tickets, pocket flashers, leg stickers, inside care labels and assorted product id tags).


Only after all of this the jeans can be bagged and packaged, ready for shipment to their many destinations, including your doorstep!



Fun Facts at a Glance:

•It takes approximately 15 pieces to make a standard pair of jeans
•It takes about 5.2 feet of denim fabric, 600+ feet of sewing thread, 6 rivets, 1-5 buttons (5 for button fly), 4 labels and optionally a zipper to make a pair of jeans.
•On average jean factories can make about 2,500 pair of jeans per day.
•On average, it will take about 15 minutes and 12 steps to make one pair of jeans
•A stonewash for 150 pairs of jeans takes 330 pounds of pumice stone and more than 200 gallons of water!
•Jeans are washed somewhere between 30 minutes and 6 HOURS


Check out the video below to see all these steps actually take place!!