Italian shirt makers fuse two fabric layers with adhesive-coated paper to create hidden collar reinforcement. The laminated panel gives the collar stiffness and shape, while a final fabric layer covers the structure so it stays invisible to the wearer.
So a lot of shirts demand that you have collar in order to create structure. So that's what she's doing over here. So this is the fusing machine. This is when they bond two fabrics and they put it on the inside of the collar. You don't see it, but what it does is it creates structure. They have this paper with adhesive on it. It's a fusing paper. When she puts one sheet down, another on top of it, the other one is the shape of the collar. They're then gonna cut when they get to that stage in production. She puts down the collar. So this right here is the collar of the shirt. These pieces of adhesive are now glued to the fabric. This panel represents the collar, and now there's structure in it. This piece of fabric goes on top, covers it up. You never even knew it was there in the first place. So that's the beauty of it. You need something backing it on the inside in order to create that structure inside the collar.
