It may not be surprising to hear that the textiles industry is one of the biggest in the entire world, since everyone needs clothes to wear. Every year, the world’s textiles factories are making shirts and pants, coats, dresses, work and military uniforms, and more. Right now, the global clothing and textiles industry is valued close to $2.56 trillion, and the United States stands as the single largest consumer and producer for clothing and textiles alike. As of 2016, for a fairly recent example, the American apparel market was worth $315 all together, and estimates say that it may reach $385 billion in value by the year 2025 or so. Plenty of organic, cotton-made textiles are being made too, and annual revenue from these textiles weighs in at $5 billion.
Meanwhile, there is a sizeable market for modifying and altering clothing as well, since clothes are often a personal expression. The phrase “clothes make the man” and the like may come to mind. Thus, tailors, seamstresses, dress makers, and other highly skilled professionals are hard at work around the world modifying clothes for their customers, and according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, around 7,880 of these clothing experts are at work in the United States today. No ordinary department store associate can modify a dress’s hem or put a monogram on a suit, but these experts can. Meanwhile, heat presses may be used to add graphic designs and logos to shirts and hats, and manual heat presses can get the job done. What is there to know about these heat press machines, and where can heat presses be found? These simple devices can make a shirt look like new.
What Heat Presses Do
A heat press is a machine that has two plates on it that may be pressed together, and when the machine is activated, these plates will heat up and apply pressure, hence the name of heat presses. When used, such devices will apply this heat and pressure to T-shirts between the plates in order to permanently fuse a graphic onto them. This does not require sewing or glues or anything of the sort. Only heat and pressure.
Some shirts or caps are plain, and a consumer may decide that they want to add their own graphic designs on them for a personal expression. So, the consumer may visit a graphics printing shop in their area and make use of heat presses found there. The consumer may look online to find a shop that offers heat presses if they don’t already know a location that offers this. Someone using heat presses for the first time may ask store associates for guidance, to make sure that they do this correctly and don’t damage their shirt by accident. The shirt will be placed between the plates, and the consumer will place the graphic logo onto it as desired. Then, once the device’s settings are adjusted as necessary, the plates are closed and the machine activates. This does not take long; only a minute or two of heat and pressure will permanently fuse the logo onto the shirt or cap, creating a completed product. Consumers should be careful, though, that the settings are correct or they may accidentally damage the shirt or the logo. Some custom presses ar designed for caps in particular, and can easily fuse logos onto them.
Monograms
A similar area of clothing modification is monograms. This is when a person’s initials are sewn onto a piece of clothing or even accessories, ranging from a dress shirt to a suit coat or even a cloth or silk handkerchief. This was often done in the 1980s as a vanity work, but such monograms were too loud and flamboyant for modern tastes. Now, smaller and more subtle monograms are preferred, and they may be a similar shade to the fabric where they are placed. Typically, a person will ask a seamstress or other expert to sew a monogram onto just one piece of clothing in their ensemble, rather than all of them. Having monogram all over one’s attire may raise some eyebrows, but having just one can mark a clothing item as one’s own with a bit of modest flair.