LASER EFFECTS ON DENIM

Laser engraving denim, can be done in two ways:
1. It can be done in the mill with the fabric itself..
2. It can be done with the garment already made.


The market seems to better accept lasered garments instead of fabric. The reason is due to more versatility offered by applying it to the final product. The possibilities of lasered garments are infinite but certainly the costs involved in this technology is high. We must be aware that a laser machine can have a price range between 80,000 to over 200,000 Euros per unit, depending on the capacity required, wattage, accesories, etc. Therefore this equipment may not be viable for every factory or brand.The use of laser can be focused not only in designs or images like below, but it can certainly be applied for doing used effects such as whiskers, moustaches, logos, breakings, etc. Please see the video.









The laser for engraving garments has been in the market for over 10 years now. Mainly italian, spanish, turkish and americans dominate the market for garment laser equipment. Companies such us Tonello, GFK, LST, VAV, Tupesa, Universal, Maino, are the ones offering this type of equipment.

















Some brands still prefer used effects on jeans with the use of permanganate spray and grinding with mechanical tools, sand paper, etc. It is a very natural way and "cheap" to accomplish the desired finishes but certainly is very labor intensive. The potential for laser is very big but not every brand is willing to pay the price of laser processing which is significantly higher than manual process, specially in small production programs. For big production programs it is more viable as laser process is very fast. We can process one full jeans with less than a minute with high power laser carrousel system. However, the dilema is that big basic products do sell at very low price and using expensive equipment for cheap basic programs, not sure if it makes sense and if viable. We also must consider that laser is a consumable item that needs gas recharging
after X hour of usage.

Certainly the use of laser offer huge flexibility, eco-friendly and very little labor intensive. The only immediate constraint that I see on the use of this technology is the cost. Jeans manufacturers do hope that prices of this equipment gets reduced significantly over time so it becomes a product affordable to small and medium jeans makers.