Cutting of Synthetic

UNIT 5 CUTTING OF SYNTHETIC Materials

MATERIALS
Structure
5.1 Introduction
Objectives

5.2 Characteristics of Various Types of Synthetics and Textiles

5.3. Nesting on Synthetic and Textile Materials
5.4 Cutting of Synthetic and Textile Materials
5.5 Summary

5.1 INTRODUCTION
Textile (or fabric) – the term describes any woven, non-woven or knitted materials.
Textile (or fabric) derived from Fibres. Fibres may be of natural or synthetic
(man-made). Origin e.g. cotton, wool, silk, jute are the natural fibres whereas, nylon,
viscose, orion, etc. are the synthetic fibres. Fibres are produced either as staples or
filaments.
Staples are found non-continuous fibres. Whereas Filaments are long continuous fibres.
The staples or filaments are then converted into yarn to be converted into fabrics.
The term synthetics (in terms of shoe material) commonly refers to as any material other
than leather but mainly textiles and coated fabrics which are increasingly used in
footwear manufacturing.
With textiles it is important to remember that the fibre type and construction determine
the performance of textiles in both shoe making and wear. Knitted fabrics, as for
example, can be fragile and prone to laddering (particularly in one direction). But at the
same time their high stretch does help to prevent the problem of tearing during lasting.
Synthetic fibres generally impart the properties of good abrasion resistance, high
strength, low absorption and good resistance to microbial attack. Reinforcements are
usually necessary with synthetic materials and fabrics to ensure adequate performance.
Objectives
After studying this unit you should be able to
• know various types of non-leather materials, i.e. synthetics and textiles for
upper making,
• understand the characteristics of various synthetics to be used as upper (outer
and lining) materials,
• understand the various types of textiles to be used as shoe upper and lining,
• perform the nesting (layout) on synthetic materials, and
• cut the synthetic materials and fabrics with quality.

5.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF VARIOUS TYPES OF

SYNTHETICS ANDTEXTILES
Fabrics are manufactured from yarns by weaving, knitting and braiding and from fibres
by felting. Based on these the fabrics are classified as woven, non-woven and knitted
fabrics. The synthetics, also known as coated fabrics, are the lamination of polymeric
film over the woven or non-woven fabrics.
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Cutting of Different Woven Fabric
Materials
In woven fabric, thousands of yarn are interlaced at right angles to each other. Ends
are warp threads, which run lengthwise down the cloth range.
Picks are weft threads, which run across the fabric width. The edges of the fabrics
need to be reinforced to withstand the strain of weaving.
Some of the common weave used in fibres for the shoe field are :
The Plain Weave
The crimp in the warp and weft thread which alternate in the pattern of one
up and one down in a plain or 1/1 weave.
Twill Weave
One warp thread crosses over two weft threads and then under two. The next
warp thread has similar interlocking but on subsequent weft threads.
Drill Weave
There are two kinds of drill wears. The first, jean has the warp crossing over
two weft threads and under one, the second, the Florentine, which has the
warp crossing over three weft threads and under one weft threads.
The weft threads would be under two warp threads (jean) or three warp
threads (Florentine).
Satin Weave
In the simplest satin weave the warp thread interlock over four weft threads
and under one.
Non-woven Fabric
Non-woven fabrics are produced directly from fibres, bypassing the yarn style
although they are often more expensive than woven and knitted fabrics. For the
footwear industry the main disadvantages of uncoated non-woven are their lack of
strength and their poor handle. Non-wovens are widely used however, as base
fabrics for coating were there limitations are partly overcome.
The two main types of non-woven are felts and bonding fibre fabrics. Felts are
generally too weak for upper linings. Their main application is as bottom fillers.
Knitted Fabric
There are mainly of two types – warp knitting and weft knitting.
Fabrics in both categories consist of a series of interlocked loops. The horizontal
row of loops are called courses and the vertical lines are called wales.
The footwear industry uses rather more warp knitted than weft knitted.
The three main warp knit structures are: tricot, locknit and satin. Tricot is used for
linings laminated to other fabrics. It has a soft handle, good drape and elasticity.
Term tricot may be applied to many other types of warp knitted fabrics, most of
which are used with foam or other fabrics to give combined upper materials and
linings.
Locknit is known for its smooth face and good resistance to laddering. This is
laminated with foam to produce the skin fit linings used in slippers and general
footwear.
Properties of Knitted Fabrics
Knitted fabrics can be produced more cheaply and rapidly than woven fabrics, but
fewer structural variations are possible. They stretch further and more easily than
woven fabrics, especially, across the roll, but are less stable and tend to ladder from
cut edges and stretchiness.
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 They are normally pre-laminated to an outer fabric and used as a lining in slippers Cutting of Synthetic
and boots. This is because they are able to compress edgewise much better than Materials
woven fabrics, thus, avoiding the formation of creases inside the shoe when lasted.
Lamination is done using latex, thermo-active cement or a foam layer. Foam layers
of up to 5 to 6 mm thickness may be used.
Locknit is one of the most commonly used warp knitting variations in shoe
manufacture. It has the advantages of having one face which is smooth, greater
dimensional stability and more resistance to unraveling and laddering. If laddering
occurs, it does so in one direction only (along the fabric from the top of the knitted
loop).
The high weft stretch makes tight lasting easier than with woven fabrics, but there
is a greater risk of over-stretching. Problems in shoe making sometimes arise
because of a big difference between stretch in warp and weft.
Synthetics or Non-Leather Materials
The term is used to describe a whole range of man-made leather like coated fabrics.
The base for these fabrics is either knitted or woven cotton in the form of sheets,
drills or satin. To these a coating of synthetic resin is applied. Colours, types and
finishes and embossing that can be given to coated fabrics are unlimited and are
difficult to differentiate from leather.
In coated fabrics the coating provides the attractive finish and good wearing
properties, whereas, the fabric provides most of the strength.
The two main types of coated fabrics are PVC coated and PU coated fabrics.
PUCF’s have a more attractive appearance and handle than PVC coated fabrics and
are permeable. They are, however, generally weaker and the PU coating is less
robust than PVC.
Coated fabrics like textiles have to be further processed with a backing to give the
weight and thickness required.

5.3 NESTING ON SYNTHETIC AND TEXTILE MATERIALS

In all considerations of the cutting of upper or lining material, it is very important to
understand the nesting techniques. How to obtain the maximum number of shoe
components from a given area of synthetic material is the basis of nesting. The goal is to
reduce the material consumption and hence also the amount of waste, without sacrificing
the quality of shoe.
The skill requirement for nesting on a synthetic material is less compared to nesting on
leather. There are guidelines given for achieving better pattern interlocking, one may
consider these while interlocking.
• curve to curve interlocking.
• straight edge to straight edge.
Lines of lightness and lines of stretch also play a major role in cutting as for shape
retention all the components must be cut “tight to toe”.
Before cutting the pattern each component must also be divided into different regions as
per their quality requirements which depends on their function in wearing.
Following are the pre-requisite for performing nesting :
• The participant should know the properties of material to be used.
• The quality of the material should be priorly assessed for the tightness,
stretch, thickness, etc. 7
Cutting of Different • The patterns should be segregated according to the materials. The no. of
Materials components to be used per pair of shoe should be clearly indicated before
making lay-out (nesting).
• The participant should understand the lines of tightness required to run in a
shoe. The different margins (e.g. underlay, lasting) are also required to be
known for each and every pattern used for nesting.
• Since the synthetic materials are cut in layers, necessary gap between the
components are required during nesting. For foam materials the gap is
required to be increased.
• Before commencing this programme the participant shall require:
(i) Brown paper.
(ii) 1 set of upper paper patterns.
(iii) Calculator.
(iv) Ruler.
(v) Pencil.
(vi) Eraser.
(vii) Roll of plain paper.
Procedure
• Mark the reference line on each pattern parallel to the direction of tightness.
• Mark the base lines (vertical and horizontal) on the brown paper. The
horizontal line is traced as per the width of the material to be used for
cutting.
• For simplification half of the material width are sometimes traced. The
vertical line should represent one meter length of the material.
• Take one paper pattern and trace on the brown paper taking the reference.
• Line of the pattern parallel (Tilting upto 45 degrees, either side is allowed) to
the base line (vertical) of the brown paper and keeping 2 mm space from the
vertical and the horizontal lines. The gap of 2mm is given because the
synthetic materials are cut in layers. When the calculation is carried out for
foam material or fabric laminated foam, the gap should be given as 4-5 mm.
• Trace (horizontally) the similar pattern interlocking with the previous tracing
and maintaining the line of tightness. The space between the two tracing and
also from the base line should be 2 mm. For pairing, it is not required to turn
over the computer, as the cutting of the synthetic materials is carried out in
layers.
• The third tracing (horizontally) should be done as above. Then the fourth
pattern is traced similarly moving horizontally and the tracing is continued
up to full or half width of the material. If the pattern is bigger and more gap
is left at the edges, smaller patterns are traced to save material.
• Trace all patterns, vertically as well, interlocking with the previous tracings
either in the same direction as previous tracing or in opposite direction, so as
to minimize the wastage, keeping the space in between as 2 mm.
• Thus all the patterns are nested pair wise in the area given having fixed
width.
• Similarly all the patterns are nested pair wise over the area given maintaining
the quality.
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 Cutting of Synthetic
5.4 CUTTING OF SYNTHETIC AND TEXTILE MATERIALS Materials

Shoe manufacturers have a number of options for cutting synthetic materials with varying
mixture of technology and human skills. The synthetic materials are cut in multiple layers
and require more substantial knives. For upper and lining materials these are usually
single-edged heavy duty strip steel knives 32 mm deep. For bottom stock they are usually
forged steel knives up to 100 mm deep.
The synthetic cutting is carried out by :
• Hand Cutting
• Machine Cutting
Hand Cutting
Hand cutting of synthetic material is opted for making samples and small
production runs when either shoes are required very quickly or orders are not
sufficiently high to warrant the cost of tooling up for the machine cutting. This
system is used more often for longer production runs in low lobour cost countries
like India.
Usually fibreboard or brass bound cardboard patterns form templates for hand
cutting. For a clean, accurate cut, it is important to hold the template firmly against
the material on a cutting block and to keep the hand held knife blade perpendicular
to the material when moving it around the template. The risk of distortion is high
with thin, stretchy synthetic materials.
Machine Cutting
The following two types of machines commonly cut the synthetic materials :
• Swing Arm Beam Press
• Travelling Head Beam Press
A typical swing arm beam press with a cutting force of around 20 tons is a good
general work-horse for cutting a wide range of synthetic materials. But, if
reasonably large quantity is required, synthetic cutting is more effectively carried
out on a traveling head press. The cutting forces vary from 20 to 70 tons. If a swing
arm press has to be used regularly for cutting synthetic materials, a table is often
constructed at the front and one side of the press.
Cutting Process
The checklist should be made ready before the cutting actually performed.
• Quality of materials to be cut.
• Toolings – Die, templates, etc.
• Proper layering of the material (even no. of layers).
• Design and material specifications.
• Job order quantity.
• Bundling and packing specifications.
Before starting the process the cutting process, the machine is adjusted as per the
die height, type of material and no. of layers to be cut. During cutting the most
important factor is interlocking pattern of dies, both widthwise and lengthwise.
Smaller patterns used at the edges can save materials.
Further it is always advisable to cut pair wise for the same fold so as to provide
uniformity in the lot.
Proper checking, stamping and bundling of all the cut-components is required
before packing and transfer.
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Cutting of Different Quality Parameters
Materials
• Cut tight to toe whenever possible.
• Use sharp knives and a keep cutting boards in good condition.
• The knives are suitably stored in racks to avoid damage of edges.
• Determine direction and ease of laddering by picking at the cut edges of a
scrap piece of the fabric cut component such that the laddering direction is
from the featherline upwards to the topline.
• The no. of layers to be cut should be fixed for different materials.
• No two layers are kept in opposite weaving direction.
• Reinforcement and foam materials should be cut at the end of the plan.
• Proper lighting of the work area should be given.
Activity 1
(a) Study “different types of fabrics and their uses in footwear industry”.
(b) Do the nesting of given article on PU Suede material of width 54 inches.
(c) Make the layout of a jogger article on the given mesh material laminated
with 4 mm foam and non-woven tricot.
(d) Cut 10 pairs complete out of given synthetic material.

SAQ 1
(a) What are the textiles used as shoe upper and lining material?
(b) What do you mean by Synthetic material? Explain in brief.
(c) Why nesting is recommended before cutting synthetics?
(d) What is the advantage of machine cutting over hand cutting?
(e) List out pre-cutting checks for synthetic material.
(f) Write down the quality parameters for cutting synthetic materials by
machine.

5.5 SUMMARY
Let us summarise, what we have learnt in this unit :
• Synthetics can replace leather in footwear making for a number of reasons,
e.g. availability, cost, uniformity, etc.
• Fabrics are made from fibres which are either in staple form or filament.
These staples and filaments are converted into yarn to be finally converted
into fabrics.
• Fabrics are classified as woven, non-woven, knitted.
• Woven fabrics are plain weave, twill weave, drill weave, satin weave and
they have different users in footwear making.
• Non-woven fabrics are felts and bonded fibre fabrics. Felts are not in use as
10 upper or lining due to its poor strength.
• Coated fabrics are PVC coated or PU coated. Cutting of Synthetic
Materials
• Synthetics are also called artificial leather.
• Lines of lightness and lines of stretch also play a major role in cutting as for
shape retention all the components must be cut “tight to toe”.
• Before cutting the pattern each component must also be divided into different
regions as per their quality requirements which depends on their function in
wearing.
• Various allowances, e.g. lasting allowance, U-lay allowance, etc. are marked
as there is a possibility of utilizing the defects in these areas.
• There are certain guidelines for nesting for optimum utilization of man,
material, machine and time and to avoid rejection.
• Shoe manufacturers have a number of options for cutting synthetic materials
with varying mixture of technology and human skills.
• Before starting the process the cutting process, the machine is adjusted as per
the die height, type of material and no. of layers to be cut.
• Proper checking, stamping and bundling of all the cut-components is
required before packing and transfer.

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