We visited Veit, a German firm known for mostly steam related products used to finish clothing. These products include everything from irons and ironing tables to fusing machines and steam generators. They also make bagging and folding equipment. That may seem a little strange unless you’ve worked in a factory. Items move from final pressing directly to packaging so it makes perfect sense for a firm to focus on one segment, this being the tail end of production.

Veit is such a well known and respected brand in the industry, I was surprised to learn the company is relatively small. They make all of their own products (in Germany) and service them worldwide. Their warranty is a point of pride. Within x amount of time, they’ll send a technician to repair the unit on site at no cost. Parts are free etc. At the end of the warranty period, they continue to stand by their product. If you’ll cover the reasonable (not inflated) cost of a technician’s travel, they’ll continue to repair it for free for the lifetime of the product.

Eric shot some footage of a pant steamer in action. The technician was adept at demonstration and explaining features but I don’t know how much of it you can hear. In this clip, he’s explaining that this unit (like most these days) are computer controlled. There’s a control panel you can change settings with. He’s set this particular example to expand the waistband fully but the brake will do whatever you set. Sensors are also regulated by the control panel and will descend according to your parameters. Or not. Many fabrics are at their most pliable when warm and wet-ish. You can set the pant finisher to prevent any stretching.

In the clip, he has the pant legs fully extended but in another clip (not shown) shows it bagging loosely about the ankles. Finishing techniques can vary just as much as fabric properties and must be compatible with the style’s look and silhouette. He says you can modulate heat and steam to maximize shrinkage -up to two or three inches in length if desired. Pre-shrinking in the finishing process is a great feature because you can save money and time by not needing to send the items out for garment washing. You also can save a lot of grief in not having to manage the logistics and scheduling of laundry services or having to deal with shortages in transit. Obviously not for everyone but it’s great if you have the volume to justify its purchase.

The second half of the clip shows a coat being blown. It’s not as dramatic as I would have liked. I should have asked him to turn it up but it is what it is. There is also video of the pant finisher on the Veit site. Having seen both, the limitation of the Veit’s video is you don’t know how long it takes to steam the pants because the operator is doing other things and comes back to the machine in rotation. Meaning, Veit’s video could lead you to believe it takes longer to blow the pants than it really does.

Hope you like it, more tomorrow.