How it's made

The surprisingly complicated process behind a very simple T-shirt.

There is something slightly deceptive about a good T-shirt.

It can look almost anonymous: cotton, two sleeves, a collar, perhaps something printed on the front. You put it on without thinking about how the shoulder arrived at exactly that point, why the fabric falls rather than clings, or why the neckline still looks right after it has been through the wash.

That apparent simplicity takes quite a lot of work.

At EDITIONSS, we develop products with creators, brands and studios from our Melbourne studio and sample room, connecting that development directly with specialist makers and suppliers around the world.

For merchandise, much of that network is currently in China. Not because geography guarantees either quality or low cost, but because we have found extremely capable people there, working inside a mature manufacturing ecosystem that allows us to develop better products efficiently and at a scale that makes sense for limited editions.

The journey usually begins a long way from the sewing machine.

FIRST, WE DECIDE WHAT IT ACTUALLY IS.

A piece of merchandise can start with almost anything.

An artwork. An old cap. A phrase. A photograph. A vintage T-shirt someone wants to recreate the feeling of without actually recreating it. Sometimes it starts with little more than: we should make something for this.

From there, we start designing the object around the idea.

Should the T-shirt feel crisp or worn-in? Should it fit close to the body or fall wide through the shoulder? Does a cap need a shallow vintage crown or something more structured? Should a sweatshirt feel heavy and architectural, or soft enough to disappear into?

This happens between our Melbourne studio, the brand or creator and the development teams who will eventually make it.

We turn those decisions into drawings, measurements and manufacturing instructions.

One of the most important parts is the garment pattern. Not a repeating graphic pattern, but essentially the two-dimensional blueprint used to construct the garment.

Imagine taking a T-shirt apart at every seam and laying every piece completely flat: the front, back, sleeves and collar.

Those shapes determine how the finished three-dimensional garment sits on the body.

A centimetre here can matter more than you would expect.

The factory isn't somewhere we send a design once it's finished. Manufacturing is part of the design process.

THEN WE MAKE ONE.

Sampling is the moment an idea has to survive contact with reality.

The first physical version gives us answers a screen cannot.

The body might need to be shorter. A sleeve may need more width. An embroidery that looked restrained at actual size can suddenly feel enormous once worn.

We fit samples in Melbourne, measure them, photograph them, wear them and send comments back to the factory.

Another sample may follow. Sometimes another after that.

There is a tendency to imagine manufacturing as the stage after design has finished.

For us, sampling is design.

Development moves constantly between our Melbourne studio and the people making the product: measurements, photos, videos, fabric swatches, colour references and occasionally a slightly obsessive discussion about a collar that needs to be a few millimetres narrower.

It is collaborative rather than transactional.

And increasingly personal.

We speak with many of our suppliers constantly. We've spent time with them in China; they've visited us in Melbourne and Sydney. Somewhere between conversations about delivery dates and fabric weights, there are dinners, jokes, travel plans and discussions about life.

The products tend to get better when the relationships do too.

BEFORE ANY OF THAT, THERE IS THE FABRIC.

“100% cotton” is one of those descriptions that manages to be completely accurate while telling you almost nothing.

Two 100% cotton T-shirts can feel like unrelated products.

The yarn can differ. So can the density of the knit, its weight, surface treatment, colour process, shrinkage and finishing.

A lightweight jersey can fall softly around the body. A dense heavyweight cotton can give an oversized T-shirt enough structure to hold its shape away from it.

That is why we work with specialist fabric partners and select material according to the product we are trying to make rather than starting with whichever blank happens to be available.

Our principal knitted-fabric partner operates across fabric development, knitting, dyeing and finishing, with an integrated production network in Guangdong. Its published company information describes four knitting facilities, a 120,000m² dyeing and finishing centre and production capacity of approximately 250 tonnes per day. [1]

The supplier ranges we work from also carry established textile and management certifications, including OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100, GOTS and OCS programs, ISO 9001 quality management and ISO 14001 environmental management.*

These standards mean different things.

OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 is concerned specifically with textile safety. Certified articles are tested against a list of more than 1,000 potentially harmful substances, with requirements becoming stricter as the amount of contact with skin increases. [2]

GOTS, the Global Organic Textile Standard, covers certified organic fibres as well as processing requirements relating to chemicals, environmental management and social criteria throughout applicable parts of the textile supply chain. [3]

OCS, or the Organic Content Standard, is used to verify organically grown material and trace it through the supply chain.

ISO 9001 deals with an organisation's quality-management systems, while ISO 14001 provides a framework for managing environmental responsibilities and performance. [4][5]

They are not interchangeable, and a logo alone does not make every fabric “sustainable”.

That is precisely why we think the detail matters.

We're developing a separate Materials section where individual fabrics, compositions, weights, finishes, certifications and supporting documentation can be explored properly.

For now, the point is simpler:

We know where our core fabrics are coming from, we know the people developing them, and we choose them deliberately.

*Certification and scope vary by textile and production program. Where a specific certification is claimed for an EDITIONSS product, it should relate to the applicable material or supplier certification.

A ROLL OF FABRIC IS STILL NOT A T-SHIRT.

Before cutting, fabric has to be prepared.

Knitted textiles aren't perfectly inert sheets of material. They have been knitted, dyed, finished, rolled tightly, transported and stored, and can retain tension from those processes.

Depending on the textile, fabric may be opened and given time to relax before cutting so that its dimensions stabilise.

Shrinkage has to be considered too.

There isn't one universal pre-shrinking process. Depending on the fabric, dimensional stability can be controlled through knitting and finishing settings, compaction, washing, garment treatments and testing.

Once ready, the fabric is laid out in layers.

Those flat garment blueprints are arranged efficiently across the cloth and the individual components are cut: fronts, backs, sleeves, collars, pockets, hoods.

One T-shirt becomes several strangely shaped pieces of cotton.

Then it starts becoming a T-shirt again.

CUT. PRINT. SEW. WASH. EXCEPT SOMETIMES IN A DIFFERENT ORDER.

There is no single production sequence for every EDITIONSS product.

A large screen print may be applied while a front or back panel is still completely flat. Embroidery is often easier before a cap or garment has been fully assembled.

Other finishes happen afterwards.

A garment-dyed T-shirt, for example, is sewn first and coloured later. Washing, pigment treatments and other finishing processes can soften the material or create the tonal variation associated with a worn-in garment.

The order is dictated by the result.

The same applies to decoration.

Screen printing, embroidery, transfers and specialist finishes all behave differently. The objective isn't simply to reproduce an image accurately.

It is to choose a process that feels right on the object and continues to feel right after it has been worn.

THE T-SHIRT IS THE EASY ONE. SORT OF.

A T-shirt contains relatively few components.

This makes it unusually unforgiving.

There isn't much construction to distract from a poor silhouette. Shoulder width, chest width, body length, sleeve shape and neckline all become immediately visible.

The collar alone can become an entire development exercise.

Its rib needs the right weight and elasticity. Its length relative to the neckline controls how much tension it applies.

Too little and the neck can appear loose.

Too much and it pulls the whole opening inward.

It is a remarkably technical amount of thought for something you eventually throw on with jeans.

HOODIES ADD ANOTHER LAYER.

A hoodie or sweatshirt introduces more weight, more components and more competing forces.

The main material might be French terry, with loops visible on the reverse, or fleece that has been brushed to create a softer, warmer surface.

Cuffs and waistbands usually use rib with greater stretch and recovery than the main fabric.

Then there are hoods, pockets, zips, drawcords, eyelets and other hardware.

A hood in particular changes more than you might expect. Its size, weight and shape can alter how the entire garment hangs even while it is sitting against your back.

What looks like a thicker T-shirt is actually a different engineering problem.

CAPS ARE ANOTHER CATEGORY ENTIRELY.

A good cap feels effortless.

Making one isn't.

Individual pieces of fabric form the crown. Depending on the shape, internal reinforcement gives the front more or less structure. A sweatband sits inside. The brim contains its own internal structure. Then there is the closure, embroidery, seam finishing and final shaping.

A relatively small change in crown height, brim curve or panel shape can transform how the entire cap looks when worn.

It is why we maintain different cap shapes much like we maintain different garment fits.

A dad cap, baseball cap and trucker aren't simply the same product made from different materials.

Each needs to be developed as its own thing.

THEN SOMEONE TRIES TO FIND THE MISTAKES.

Quality control isn't simply the last person standing at the end of the production line with a clipboard.

Checks happen throughout production.

Measurements are compared against the approved specifications. Construction is reviewed. Artwork position, embroidery, labels and finishing are checked.

When production is complete, garments are inspected again against the standards and physical samples approved before bulk manufacturing began.

There is an important distinction here.

Textiles aren't machined pieces of aluminium.

Fabric stretches. Dye moves. Sewing combines precision machinery with human skill. Small tolerances are an ordinary part of apparel manufacturing.

Quality control isn't about pretending variation doesn't exist.

It is about controlling it.

SO, WHY CHINA?

“Made in China” has spent decades being used as shorthand for a particular idea of manufacturing.

We don't find that shorthand especially useful.

China can manufacture a very bad T-shirt.

It can also manufacture an extraordinary one.

The difference isn't the country printed on the care label. It's the material, equipment, skill, specification, factory, quality systems and relationship behind it.

For much of our merchandise, China gives us something particularly valuable:

proximity between capabilities.

Fabric development, knitting, dyeing and finishing, garment manufacturing, printing, embroidery, labels, trims, packaging and specialist processes can often be sourced within relatively concentrated manufacturing regions.

That density matters.

Sampling becomes faster. Problems can be corrected more easily. Materials don't necessarily need to travel enormous domestic distances between every specialist process. Multiple parts of a project can be coordinated through an established manufacturing network.

That doesn't mean manufacturing in China is inherently lower impact.

It means we can deliberately build our supply chain around closer suppliers, efficient production networks and increasingly consolidated relationships.

It also keeps the economics sensible.

We can access sophisticated manufacturing capabilities at quantities appropriate to limited editions without forcing each product through layers of agents, wholesale distribution and traditional retail margin.

That allows more of the product budget to go into fabric, development, sampling, construction and finishing.

We manufacture predominantly in China because it allows us to put more into the object without putting all of it into the price.

But China isn't a rule.

EDITIONSS develops from Melbourne and works with suppliers according to the product and capability required. Our manufacturing network extends beyond China and will continue to expand as we find specialist people who can make particular things exceptionally well.

MELBOURNE IS PART OF THE FACTORY FLOOR TOO.

Not literally.

But our studio and sample room here form the other half of the development process.

This is where samples come back to be fitted, measured and reconsidered.

Where fabric swatches accumulate.

Where references get pinned up.

Where something that is technically correct on a measurement sheet gets put on an actual body and suddenly isn't quite right.

The geographic distance between Melbourne and our manufacturing partners might be thousands of kilometres.

In practice, development moves between us every day.

They contribute manufacturing knowledge and technical capabilities we don't have.

We bring the creative direction, product vision and understanding of the person or brand we are making it for.

The useful part happens in between.

FINALLY, IT BECOMES A PARCEL.

After final inspection, pieces are finished, folded, labelled and packed.

Depending on the edition, they may move to a fulfilment warehouse before individual customer orders are dispatched, or directly into the distribution network of the brand we made them for.

At that point, several months of development becomes remarkably mundane.

A parcel. A carton. A tracking number. Then someone opens it and puts the thing on.

They probably won't think about how long the fabric rested before cutting.

They won't notice the revision that moved the shoulder seam.

They won't know about the sample we rejected because the neck rib wasn't right.

They shouldn't have to.

Good product development is largely invisible. You feel the result.

MADE TO BE KEPT.

We aren't interested in making merchandise simply because merchandise can be made.

There is already enough stuff in the world.

The more interesting proposition is to take the cultural value already sitting inside a creator, an idea, a team or a moment and give it a physical form worth keeping.

Better fit. Better fabric. Better development. Fewer compromises.

Made in close collaboration with the people behind it and the people who physically make it.

That is the work behind an EDITIONSS edition.

And usually, it starts with something as simple as a T-shirt.