Offering a wide-range overview on what is currently available on the market of finishing equipmentreally is a tough job. But this can help people making a conscious, rational choice to enhance their own business. In order to make this clearer we can arrange our “talk” according to the kind of garments.

Coats

There’s plenty of versions of form finishers for finishing traditional coats on the market. The simple ones process the garments giving them a first quick ironing, preparing them for a finishing with the iron. A higher finishing quality is given using a dummy with no bag. Steam and air flow directly through the lining, preventing creases (caused by the pressure of the bag on the lining) from appearing. Moving on through this range we find form finishersthat allow sleeve stretching and can be also used as standard form finishers by excluding the pneumatic clamps. There are also special versions of dummies, often interchangeable, for MAXI garments for instance, for kids garments, etc. Computer control of cycles, widely spread now, allows work automation by saving standard processes according to fabrics or to a specific database of regular clients. When we are talking about wet-cleaning processed garments, then it is different, since they need to be “revitalized”. Hence the need to use a form finisher with vertical and horizontal stretching of the garments (in order to stretch the seams that would otherwise stay “wrinkled”), with abundant steam and a powerful injection of overheated air, to quicken the drying phase. An evident advantage of finishing with a form finisher is that you can do without skilled personnel.
The finishing of coats on a press requires skilled personnel and higher starting investments instead, but may allow a 40/50% higher production compared to the finishing on an ironing table. Better equipped laundries may have presses with specific buck/head shapes, with padded or polished head for finishing traditional coats or “whites”.