California Apparel News

Michele Wilkerson would like you to stop tearing apart her trade show booth.

The international marketing director for QST Industries has a waistband wall, which is part of the Chicago-based company’s trade show booth. But, inevitably, designers at trade shows will pull off examples of the custom waistband treatments they want to use in their own collections.

“The waistband wall itself has 70-some waistbands,” Wilkerson said. “We do all custom waistbands, and the options are endless because it’s all in-house. When the designers come to the trade shows, they rip my waistband wall apart. They have 10 different waistbands to create just one of their own.”

The samples on the waistband wall was only part of the problem. With so many options for customizing a waistband, designers were unsure where to start or overwhelmed with the selection, Wilkerson said.

“At QST, we know everything there is to making a waistband,” she said. “So it’s really hard for us to narrow it down for customers because we think we can do everything—and we can.”

To help designers begin the process, QST created Waistbandology, an online tool that helps designers begin creating a custom waistband. There are templates for different waistband styles, and companies can upload artwork or logos to add to the design.

“It doesn’t cover everything we can possibly do, but it certainly starts a design conversation,” Wilkerson said.

The website (www.qst.com/waistbandology) also helps companies get up to speed on the basic terminology of waistband design, such as the waistband curtain, which is the fabric trim on the inside of a waistband on a pair of pants or a skirt. This is prime real estate for branding with a logo or a company’s signature print.

“It’s so important because a waistband curtain [gives the garment] the hanger appeal,” Wilkerson said. “It’s the first thing you see when you pick up a pair of pants. Not only is it functional—it’s the only thing that hits the wearer’s body—but it’s also brand identity. You can put your logo on there. You can tell them a whole story just through the waistband curtain.”

QST is planning to expand Waistbandology’s functionality to the company’s other products, such as pocketing.

“This is just the foundation,” Wilkerson said. “We’re going to develop this out so you can see the inside of your garment and build it with QST components in it. We’re looking at matching [waistbands] with the pockets. And we’re looking at even taking that further.”

For example, Wilkerson said, for Levi’s Commuter line, designed for bicyclists, the denim giant added a little signature binding tape on the pants’ hems that is visible when the pants are rolled up. The company is also adding branding to the inside back panel of Dockers, Wilkerson said.

For now, customers can browse the product library on QST’s website, which shows product availability around the world. In the pocketing library, designers can preview different fabrications and weights.

“And all product is available 90 percent of the time with no minimums, which is huge for designers,” Wilkerson said.

QST began previewing the website tool at trade shows last summer.

“We’re such a touch-and-feel industry, but designers can utilize [Waistbandology] for their prototypes and their idea meetings,” Wilkerson said. “They can see how they can include quality and brand identity—and not tear up my waistband wall.”

The nearly 135-year-old QST has facilities around the world, including factories in the United States, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Romania, Pakistan, Mexico, Morocco and the Dominican Republic. In the U.S., QST has a 250,000-square-foot facility in Mocksville, N.C.

In addition to waistbands, QST manufacturers other apparel-component products such as pocketing, linings, interlining, embroidery, elastic and undercollar cloth, as well as Ban-Rol, the company’s patented “non-roll” waistband interlining; Q-Loop, a resin tape that fuses to belt loop fabric to eliminate fraying; and Ascolite, an elastic product that helps secure buttons.