WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour

     The second day of our Wacoal Passion for Product Tour is one for the books. Our mission: discover how a brassiere is made and the intricate steps of making an undergarment- the Wacoal way! It's the day where we visited Wacoal Hokuriku Factory and Takeda Lace Co. Ltd. both located in Fukui Prefecture. It's an hour and forty minutes express train ride from Kyoto. 

     I'm so excited what's in store for me in these factories. I'm expecting that I will see the usual factory- unpleasant smell here, a messy corner there, and noise coming from machines everywhere. Upon stepping inside the factory, I was in disbelief with what I saw because it's totally different from the factory I knew. Read more below as I tour inside Wacoal factories and why the "Passion for Product" of Wacoal is becoming clearer now.

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour

     A clean and pleasant environment welcomed me inside the factory. Well-lit and I did not see a massive mess or clutter situation. Almost everything I saw was organized- the products were made by hand from cutting, sewing, quality inspection, and packing.

     First thing I noticed was their strictness and what they pour in every step in producing a product. The miniatures you see below are the prototypes- these will come into a new product after thorough thinking, planning, and research by the Wacoal team.

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
Prototyping

     The Hokuriku factory produces women's innerwear like brassiere, lingerie, knit, and panty for Wacoal and Wing brand. This includes Wacoal DIA, Trefle, Salute, IN CARAT, Parfage, etc. If you think that the process is simple, think again! All of the processes that I saw is a work of passion, tremendous attention to detail that the workers ensure in order to produce a world-class product.

     There are four manufacturing processes inside the factory: cutting, (also divided into different stages like material control, relaxing, spreading, cutting, and combining) sewing, inspection, package, and delivery. In the cutting room, I saw different materials that were prepared for cutting based on their feature.

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
Cutting

     This machine relaxes fabrics and laces for prevention of shrinkage a day ahead so that the materials will be cut as exactly like the pattern. The materials were spread by machine or hand and then ready for cutting.

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
The fabric that will be cut by hand to ensure that the cut is even.

     For fabric, they will use the automatic machine or the band knife. They told us that more than 95% of the materials are cut by the automatic cutting machine. Can you spot how clean this area? The fabrics after being cut were placed neatly in a basket. No mess!

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
One of the cutting machine inside the factory

     The lace has a different cutting story because there are two methods like the use of a rotary cutter and press cutting. I saw how careful attention was paid to this process. Look how decorative is the design of the lace you see below. If there's a mistake in cutting, I presume that the lace will be fragile and yarn will start to run.

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
Cutting of laces

     After the meticulous cutting, we are now inside the sewing room. There are different products inside for sewing and each has its own way. The sewing process for the lingerie is different from a brassiere and the Wacoal DIA which is a high-end brand. The later requires high-level craftsmanship and a long time sewing for just a piece! Whoa!!! You'll see a Wacoal DIA after the jump :)

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
Sewing

     Inside the sewing room, the brassieres are assembled according to their function. It's not a sew this sew that process. They strictly implement this process as this affects the appearance of a brassiere. For example, there is a right process on how to connect the round shape bra cup to other parts. How meticulous, right?!

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
Sewing a brassiere inside Wacoal's Hokuriku Factory

     The strictest of all the strict in my opinion. In this area, a skilled inspector who is equipped with enough knowledge of Wacoal quality inspects quickly every product. 

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
Quality Control

     It takes one minute per one piece to inspect a product. They also have two kinds of inspection if I may add: all quantity inspection and sampling inspection.

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
This worker strictly and carefully inspects the undergarment in the quality control room

     Now that a product is ready and have met all the standards, it's time to pack and ship. They also follow a procedure in the last step of their manufacturing process. 

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
Shipping

     The procedure is as follows: attach paper and acetate label, fold, put inside the plastic bag and put into a paper box. Folding is not the same as it is based on the item and the design of the product. They also check the integrity of paper and acetate label by the Wacoal original machine. In this way, you are sure that you are not getting a knock-off product pretending to be a Wacoal.

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
The products are ready for packing and shipping

     So here is the Wacoal DIA that I mentioned in the sewing section. Look how intricate the design is. This is made by a highly-skilled worker and I guess it takes years to master how to put those tiny designs into one sublime work of art. This one is a famous item in Japan and sells for 100,000 yen!!!

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour

This is one of Wacoal DIA (high-end brand) Japan lingerie set that costs around 100,000 yen or roughly P50,000

     It was a short tour of Wacoal Hokuriku Factory but I learned so many things about the brand and how they take care of the product from the manufacturing process up to the shipping. The value that they give to ensure that each product is not only created for the design but by the ideal fit. 

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
Wacoal Influencers- Liz Lanuzo, Shari Macainag, Rochelle Rivera, Camille Co, and yours truly
photo by @gerryimages

     It was lunchtime already and we not done yet with the tour. After this photo op, we went to another factory where we discovered how the beautiful Wacoal laces are made. It's within Fukui Prefecture and we rode the tourist bus going there. One thing I'm sure, their factory is not an ordinary factory because of the environment- clean and organized.

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
inside Wacoal Hokuriku Factory

     Now off to Takeda Lace Co., Ltd after a sumptuous lunch at Omiyatei where I had an Unagi Bento Box meal. First time to eat eel and despite the "yuck" in my head, I survived. No nasty or yucky taste at all. I also had tempura ramen and yasai salad as sides. Yum!

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
Day 2 lunch at Omiyatei Restaurant

     I'm now recharged and ready to observe and listen to what I'll see and hear inside Takeda Lace Co., Ltd, This factory is where Wacoal's laces are produced. They are proud to say that their lace is an innovation of elegance. Before going to the factory itself, we visited the registered designs (RD) room where market design and drafting are made.

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
Takeda Lace Co., LTD.

     The Planning and Design section is the brain of Takeda. Here, they cater to domestic and international intimate apparel brand designers. They help the brand to make their original designs. From the rough sketch, the data is input into a computer and from there a blueprint will be made including the color, quality, and pattern which is solely for the brand.

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
Planning and drafting of design using a computer. This design is solely created for Wacoal by Takeda Lace.

     This is an example of the blueprint that they made for Wacoal. Look at the pattern and the design of this lace. We were told that once the design is approved by the brand, a sample will be produced. Then the next step is lace making that starts with the yarn.

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
Registered design after drafting

     Inside the R&D office, there's what I call a logbook of lace designs over the past years. I saw different design patterns, colors, and materials. They told us that their lace can last up to 100 years. Amazing!

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
Looking at the lace designs through the years. This is the logbook of laces. 

     Now the production of lace starts with Yarn Twisting- raw yarn is chosen and twisted according to the target color and design. Powerfully twisted to prevent fraying. Next step is Warping- the yarn is set to the machine and warped and warped into the beam. After this is the Yarn Setting- the warped yarn is set on the Raschel Machine. Second to the last step is Knitting- yarn is being knitted by passing through the Raschel Machine which is controlled by a computer. 

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
From twisting, warping, and knitting of yarn

     Last but not least is the inspection. The lace will be placed in another machine where it inspects if there's a metal mixture, defects, or foreign objects. Another way of inspecting if there's a wrong pattern in the lace is the manual inspection. Here, the inspector rigorously and carefully inspect if there's a wrong pattern and cuts the defective part.

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
This lady inspects the lace and cuts the portion if did not meet the standards

     Now we know how these various patterns and colors of laces are made. These laces have been loved by women over the past years. Lace is a symbol of beauty and elegance. Looking closely at these laces, I saw the intricate patterns and designs that make them beautiful. Can you spot the difference between the two? The design you see on the left side is for Japanese while the right side is for European women. You'll notice that the patterns in the left consist of small flowers that represent cuteness while the flowers on the right side are bigger and more feminine.

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
L- Lace design for Japan R- Lace design for European countries

     Day two of our WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour taught me that in order for you to make a high-quality and lasting piece of beauty, you must have that strong sense of commitment and passion. Wacoal's mission is to contribute to society by helping women everywhere become more beautiful. Wacoal's passion for producing the best brassieres and undergarments has helped women all over the world gain self-esteem and confidence that's why everybody loves Wacoal. 

WACOAL Passion for Product Sewing and Material Factory Tour
inside Takeda Lace Co. Ltd. photo taken by @gerryimages

     Stay tuned for the last day of our tour. I'll share more of Wacoal's history and what you need to know more about Wacoal, not just a brand that sells undergarments for women but a brand with other mission to make the world beautiful!

     For more information about Wacoal

visit their website: https://wacoal.ph/

Like them on Facebook: Philippine Wacoal Corporation

Follow them on Instagram: @wacoalph

More photos of Wacoal Passion for Product Tour Day 2 here:

Dear Kitty Kittie Kath's Facebook Page

@dearkittykittiekath on Instagram and IG Stories

Good Times!~