What goes around comes around: Paul Frischer on how pleating has reached a third pinnacle - former president of Ideal Pleating Co. Inc - Interview

Bobbin looks at the recent emergence of a sizzling hot market for sophisticated hip-and-waist pleated garments - a phenomenon that shook the early to mid-1980s but then fizzled for more than a decade.

In the ever-evolving world of fashion which has proven to be cyclical over time - there has been a recent resurgence in pleating. This latest reincarnation stems from the creativity of designers who have embraced a retrospective approach to fashion, while also drawing on the latest advances in synthetic microfibers.

The initial trend toward permanent pleated garments began in the '70s, with an explosion of sunburst accordion pleating, following the introduction of synthetic fibers. Synthetic fibers gave birth to pleating in every segment of the marketplace - from budget to couture - because they offered an inexpensive way to permanently pleat garments without the use of chemicals or special fabric finishing. When the market moved away from polyester and acrylic, pleating was all but dead - that is until a unique engineering technique was developed by Ideal Pleating Co. Inc. to integrate sewing and pleating as one complete manufacturing process.

In the natural-fiber-loving '80s, about the time pleats were experiencing a rebirth with the introduction of new hip-and-waist pleating techniques, Ideal devised numerous mathematical models that allowed the company to mass produce the intricate forms required for the creation of hip-and-waist pleated skirts. Ideal also pioneered the development of stitch-down pleats for fabrics made of cotton, wool and linen.

The company's first mark on the fashion map was the "classic 27 stitch-down" pleated skirt, which originally was designed for Evan-Picone in solid and plaid wool fabrics. It created a great stir among designers, who soon were knocking on Ideal Pleating's door looking for assistance in creating their own looks, which included Ralph Lauren's English walking skirts, the "Wicket" and the "Skidmore," and Liz Claiborne's stitch-down wrap skirt.

Bobbin recently had the opportunity to interview Paul Frischer, the former president of Ideal Pleating, which closed in 1990 after nearly 88 years of business as one of the premier pleating companies in the United States. According to Frischer, a diminishing U.S. fabric base and the exodus of U.S. manufacturing to lower-wage countries resulted in the shuttering of the operations.

Today, Frischer provides technical services to 807 Pleating of Florida, which was founded in 1992 by Sam Levine. The company operates a main distribution center in Miami, FL, and pleating plants in San Salvador, El Salvador, and Merida, Mexico. Each of the pleating facilities, which has between 30 and 50 employees, works in conjunction with a partner-owned sewing plant. In El Salvador, the company produces full package tops, bottoms and pleated garments. The company also offers these services in Mexico, as well as expanded capabilities for embroidery through a new 30,000-square-foot facility. Additionally, the company coordinates 807 production of chinos through contractors in the Dominican Republic.

In the following interview, Frischer, an expert on pleating methods and trends, shares his views on the recent explosion in the market and recounts the history of pleating technology developments, many of which originated at Ideal Pleating Co.

BOBBIN: In your opinion, what triggered this decade's renewed interest in pleated skirts?

FRISCHER: Marc Jacobs reemerged in the fashion community for the new millennium with a retrospective look that included a simple, American-styled all-around pleated skirt, and he gave it a haute couture appeal. This one skirt, which was featured on runways, in video and in magazines around the world, created the current climate of interest in designing and deconstructing classical pleating with a retro look.

In response, Chanel created a collection that captures a retro look in stylish accordion pleating, Donna Karan introduced deconstructed pleating in tangent and bias constructions, and Ralph Lauren has combined classical form with new millennium fabrics. Within this movement, traditional styles of pleating have been completely altered. For example, we've seen sunburst accordion pleating having only a serge edge for a waistband, retro looks in mini pleats that barely cover the body and are held together with narrow 1/2-inch waistbands, as well as oversized pleats that swagger with three yards of sweep.

BOBBIN: For comparison, what are the main types of traditional pleats?

FRISCHER: Basically, pleats come in three varieties. The first is straight pleats, in which you have one consistent underlay. For example, a simple 40-pleat garment with 1-inch pleats and 1/2-inch inlays has 40 "shows" and 80 inlays. The amount of fabric used is 80 inches (two-by-one yield). Basically, a garment made with straight pleating must be made to fit the hip measurement. The manufacturer must put a piece of elastic in the waist to draw it in.

The second type of pleating is sunburst. The patterns are drafted using concentric circles for the hemline and waist. The two circles are then split in half. The center point of the inside circle is used to draw the pleat lines, which look like a fan. As a result, the pleats are smaller on the top and wider on the bottom, which results in a perfect rectangle when you fold the pattern.

The final type of pleating is hip-and-waist. These patterns incorporate a darting action that creates a tapered fit at the waistline and hips. It creates trapezoid-shaped pleats. You have to keep changing the inlays and the shows to make the skirt fit right. Ideal was the first to do it in mass production, and it was for Evan-Picone in the '70s. These skirts were tailored garments that fit like straight slim skirts, but they had the flair of traditional pleating. [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED].

BOBBIN: Can you create hip-and-waist pleats using automated machines?

FRISCHER: A pleating machine has steel knives that grab the fabric and make the fold. They squeeze the fabric through a roller that applies heat and pressure, and on the other side, pleated fabric comes out. Normally, any pleat that has less than 1/4-inch inlays must be done by a machine. The maximum machine inlay is 1-inch.

The major limitation of machine pleating is that it can only produce straight pleats [which includes sunburst]. You can break up the lines of the pleat to make interesting designs, such as embossing curves, but the pleats are always parallel to the selvedge.

Hand pleating, or pattern pleating, is used for straight, sunburst and hip-and-waist. A master form has to be created, usually out of hard Manila paper. Production forms are derived from the original master, since each form has a limited life. Somebody then takes the fabric and puts it in the paper form. Like a sandwich, there is a bottom piece to the form and a top piece. The fabric goes in between, the form is folded and then placed in a steam chamber. Using this technique, the forms historically have been scored by hand to dent the surface of the material.

BOBBIN: How did Ideal's mathematical models impact hip-and-waist pleating?

FRISCHER: It evolved pleating from a one-of-a-kind industry into a mass production industry and changed an art into a science. Ideal engineered geometric models and mathematical calculations to produce paper forms that accounted for shape, balance, sweep and fit, and they were consistently repeatable. The patterns' proportions also provided the ability to grade without having to increase or decrease the amount of fabric or the number of pleats. In addition, the company developed manufacturing practices in sewing for joining seams, zipper setting and waistband setting to fully integrate the pleating process and allow for consistent and efficient production.

In 1992, Sam Levine, a former technical engineer at Ideal and the current president of 807 Pleating of Florida, converted the models into sophisticated computer-based algorithms that can produce paper forms from CAD/CAM systems to .001-inch tolerances. The pattern measurement now can be plugged into the system, which analyzes them and determines the degree points [for the pleats] to .0005 inches. A plotter table with a tool head on it is then used to create the form.

In comparison, consider manual form making. Even if somebody makes a master form and it's the best in the world, someone still has to come back and retrace the score lines to create the production form. It takes a long time, and it's done by a person with a plastic-pointed pencil and a ruler. No matter how accurate he is, even the smallest amount of error will cause considerable variance in a garment.

As an example, consider the 40-pleat garment with 1-inch by 1/2-inch pleats. Imagine that the paper form is produced manually or by a simple CAD/CAM system with tolerances of 1/64 inch. The error factor is 17/8 inch when the number of shows [40] and the number of inlays [80] are multiplied by the error tolerance. This is well above most manufacturers' specifications.

Imagine these same calculations for a classic 27 stitch-down pleated skirt. Waistlines, upper hips and lower hips all could be out of specification by more than an inch.

BOBBIN: If Ideal Pleating's methods were so efficient, why did you eventually have to close the company in 1990?

FRISCHER: Even though Ideal had a 75-year history developing the pleating process with high-end mathematical models, CAD systems and the most sophisticated systems available in the apparel industry, without U.S. fabric resources, our company was like a car without gas. In 1983, we automated our payroll systems with IBM hardware and software to calculate piecework payroll, create work-in-process scheduling and tabulate information from OCR [optical character recognition] scanners. And in 1986, we installed the first INA unit production system [UPS] in the United States to support our plant, which had the most sophisticated semi-automatic and automatic equipment available.

But even with sophisticated equipment, a highly trained labor pool and an educated staff, Ideal Pleating became a dinosaur in modem times. Our customers, which included Liz Claiborne, Evan-Picone, Jones New York, Pendleton Woolen Mills and Ellen Tracey, as well as many other manufacturers, left the United States for the Orient in pursuit of [more fashion] fabrics and lower-cost complete package production. For a short period, these customers continued to import fabrics from overseas to be made into pleated garments. However, after time the economics didn't make sense. The level of skilled labor in Asia increased and design expectations were reduced to meet manufacturing constraints, creating an over-saturated market of pleated garments with diminishing return.

BOBBIN: How has 807 Pleating been able to rise to this challenge?

FRISCHER: 807 Pleating found a niche because it can offer both machine and pattern pleating and short-term and long-term manufacturing at competitive levels in Latin America. The company has the capacity to compete as a service business with an emphasis on communication, and we also have been able to develop successful long-term relationships with our customers and U.S.-based suppliers, such as Sewing Plus Corp.

BOBBIN: What advice can you offer to other manufacturers that are looking to produce or outsource pattern-pleated garments?

FRISCHER: The most common problem to look for is "massaged fit." Many contractors have difficulty meeting manufacturers' specifications through the pleating form itself. As a result, the pleats are forced into the form resulting in "pops" or "fiats." A pop occurs when the measurement is too large and the fabric is clumped in an area forming a bulge. If the measurement is too small, the pleats are opened up, taking fabric from the inlays, which causes the pleating to look deformed or fiat.

Another measure of pleating accuracy is the darting action of the pleats. Pleating is like a seesaw, with one end the waist and the other end the lower hip. In the middle is the pivot, or upper hip. If one side is down, the other is up, and vice versa. Most garments are produced with the waist and upper hip measurements close to specification and the lower hip severely oversized, sometimes by as much as five inches. In the opposite scenario, the upper hip and lower hip are in tolerance and the waistline ends up a mass of shirred pleats squeezed into the waistband.

Most often, however, the upper hip section will be disregarded entirely. The garment will look perfect in the warehouse, but it won't pass the test of the best quality control person in the world - the consumer. In this case, the upper hip invariably will be too small and the garment will either break open or ride up the customer's waist, a highly unattractive and uncomfortable fit. The end result is poor sell-through and severe markdowns.

With hip-and-waist pleating now back in vogue, there is a scrambling worldwide to find qualified people who can do the work. In fact, we've seen more activity in the past three months than we've seen in the past seven years. Yet some manufacturers don't even know how to price pleating, let alone produce the patterns correctly. So it's imperative to make sure that the right skills are in place before you place the first order.

Lisa C. Rabon is editor in chief of Bobbin

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