The production of stockings and tights is almost an ideal business. Not a single woman can do without these products, regardless of social status and age. Even if tights and stockings are worn neatly, after a certain time they become unusable, especially those made of kapron.
Products must be changed regularly, so the demand for them always remains at the level. At the same time, the cost of production is prohibitively low, with wholesale sales an extra charge of up to 150 percent can be made.
On the issue of competition
Russian manufacturers prevail in this market segment, because it simply does not make sense for foreign companies to supply such goods to our country in droves. Due to the high transportation costs, it will be necessary to significantly increase the price, as a result, the products will be uncompetitive. The production of women's tights is carried out in a wide variety of assortments: they are made of different materials (nylon, cotton fiber, wool), different densities, using all kinds of colors and decorative patterns.
If this business were not highly competitive, it could really be called flawless. But it is quite difficult to find a niche for a new manufacturer in the hosiery market, although it is possible if it releases such a product that is not yet represented in sufficient quantities.
For example, in addition to ordinary stockings and tights, it is possible to produce fantasy (with intricate patterns and drawings), masking, correcting and modeling options. There are even tights with the effect of tanning, they not only themselves have a tint of tanned skin, they also act as a tan.
Attachment Size
The size of the initial capital necessary to establish your own production of tights will depend on what range you plan to produce. The manufacturing technology for any option will be almost the same, only the raw materials used differ. Accordingly, its cost is also different.
For start-up entrepreneurs with relatively little capital, experts recommend starting with the production of ordinary products and competing with other manufacturers by setting a lower price or variety of decor or focusing on the manufacture of a single product variant, for example, producing only corrective tights.
Manufacturing process
As already noted, in general, a similar technology is used to obtain different types of products, but there are some nuances. For example, the production of nylon tights is an order of magnitude more complicated than the manufacture of products from wool and cotton fiber, and requires the use of more units. In general, the production process involves several stages.
First, all kinds of blanks are made on circular knitting machines, they serve as the basis for future products. This takes about two minutes. Then, with the help of a flat-seam machine and overlock, the workpieces are processed. The production of tights continues in the molding machine, where they are heat-fixed, after which they are painted in a special dyeing machine and finally sent to the packaging.
Fantasy tights
The manufacture of such products requires slightly different equipment and a slightly different technology is used. For example, to obtain an openwork pattern, an acid solution is applied using special patterns on the surface of a fabric made of viscose or kapron fibers. Viscose fibers at an elevated temperature under the influence of acid are destroyed, as a result, only filaments of transparent capron remain in the form of an intricate pattern.
To obtain from a short pile, having a length of up to two millimeters, a three-dimensional pattern, use the so-called flocking. A special adhesive substance is preliminarily applied to the fabric according to the template, then it is placed in an electrostatic field, and short fibers of the pile are fed there. According to the drawing, the villi are glued to the fabric, and from the non-glued areas, the remaining fibers are simply shaken off.
Raw materials used
It should be said right away that consumer qualities and the appearance of products do not depend on what material formed the basis for them, but on manufacturing technology and additives used. Stockings and tights may contain lycra, antibacterial acrylic oils, textured fibers, viscose, mercerized cotton, bamboo fibers, microfiber, wool, polypropylene, cotton fibers, nylon, acrylic, nylon and so on. The density of the products, denoted as “den”, also depends on the additives used.
Equipment for the production of tights
First of all, you will need hosiery machines, overlocks and special sewing machines, dyeing machines, molding equipment, machines where finished products are packaged.
If you use modern equipment, you can carry out the production of tights in a large assortment, including traditional products, options with lycra, elastic models, colored stockings and tights with a variety of patterns, mesh products. If we talk about traditional options, then pantyhose machines are capable of producing up to four hundred pairs of models per day, as for exclusive products, one day the machine produces about three hundred units.
The production of tights from nylon and kapron will require the use of machines of a higher class than for the manufacture of other types of products. To stitch blanks, you need sewing machines equipped in each system with needle-selection and loop-forming wedges that allow you to make different types of loops, regulated by a step-by-step motor. Such equipment is high-tech and is controlled by a special computer. It provides systems for automatic diagnostics of operations and electronic control of functions.
Cost of equipment
For one such machine made in Europe you will have to pay more than 1 million rubles. And there should be several of them in total so that the rest of the equipment can be efficiently loaded, because, as a rule, the production of tights continues continuously around the clock.
You can buy used cars in order to save money. Buying a used machine will cost about 200 thousand rubles. Used sewing equipment, including overlocks, sewing machines, will cost between 35-150 thousand (depending on models). Used dyeing units will require a cost of at least 1 million, and a molding machine can actually be purchased for 150 thousand. Such a packaging machine will cost 700-800 thousand. In total, a full line of used equipment, which allows producing an average of two million pairs of hosiery a year, will cost between 5-6 million rubles.
Tights Trading
It is most profitable to sell products through large retail chains and wholesale companies. The search for partners should be undertaken in advance, because it is not at all easy to make the goods of a new manufacturer hit the shelves of well-known stores. A lot of money will have to be spent on product promotion.Actively use print ads, television, and other media to reach your target audience. Good luck in business!
