Buttons
A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole.In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, or seashell. Buttons can also be used on containers such as wallets and bags. Buttons may be sewn onto garments and similar items exclusively for purposes of ornamentation. In the applied arts and craft, a button can be an example of folk art, studio craft, or even a miniature work of art.
Advantages of Buttons
Lightweight and durable
Plastic buttons are known for their lightweight properties, which are lighter and more portable than metal buttons, and will not add too much weight when wearing. In addition, plastic buttons are usually made of high-strength materials, which have excellent durability and resistance to pressure, and can withstand the rigors of daily use.
Rich colors
Plastic buttons can be made into a variety of colors and patterns by dyeing or spraying. This provides fashion designers with more choices to meet the needs of different styles and themes.
Easy to operate
Plastic buttons usually adopt a simple snap design, which is very convenient to operate. In contrast, metal buttons may require specific tools or hands to open and close. The ease of operation of the plastic buttons makes putting on and taking off clothing quick and easy, saving time and effort.
Anti-rust and anti-corrosion
Unlike metal buttons that are prone to rust or corrosion due to oxidation, plastic buttons have good anti-rust and anti-corrosion properties. This feature allows the plastic button to maintain its aesthetics and function for a long time in a wet or humid environment, bringing users a longer-lasting experience.
Why Choose Us
Profession Team
We are focusing on professional for manufacture of garment accessories since in 1999, All of the raw material and product are developed, designed, produced and sales by our company team. We always believe that the principle of quality and reputation first, According to the quality is the guarantee of reputation, Reputation through the logic of quality first, we are stilling keep the high quality products and do best service with the competitive price, our market share more than 200 countries and regions in the world. We have more than 3000 customers who trust us.
Standard
We seriously in accordance with the international management system, control and management of our factory and product quality, It also is only one of the earliest through the ISO9000 certification of enterprises, in China, we have successively obtained a variety of product standards and environmental protection certification, such as GRS and OEKO-TEX certification
Competitive Price
We are a real factory, including the raw materials of finished products, the packaging and transportation of products are all controlled by our own, which is the difference cost of your intermediate trade. Our Group has its own industrial park, and has five own factories
Our Services
Our marketing worker always welcome you to ask any question about garment accessories in 24 hours, It is one of technicians team with the experience more than 20 years, and ensure that any problem solved for you is always accurate and on time.
Types of Buttons
Plastic Buttons
Once the Industrial Revolution took place and plastic entered the manufacturing world, buttons took on a new role. They became mass-produced, cheap, and cheerful options for fasteners and decorative finishes. Although zippers are a popular fastening innovation, buttons remain the best-selling fastener in the clothing industry.
Polyester buttons are an inexpensive plastic form and can mimic all kinds of other buttons. It can be manufactured to look like wood, pearl, or metal and colored with paint in bright colors.
Wooden Buttons
Wood makes very unique long-lasting buttons. In their natural state, wood buttons have different textures and patterns, but they can also be painted in various colors.
Coconut Buttons
Coconut is a strong material for making buttons. They can be left natural or painted. Due to the curve in coconut shells, these types of buttons tend to be less than ¾ inch (20 mm) in diameter.
Leather Buttons
Genuine leather and faux leather have been used to make buttons for a long time. Leather buttons are hard-wearing and add a distinguished look to jackets. One of the original leather buttons was known as the football button because it resembled an old leather football.
Metal Buttons
Buttons have been made in all types of metal, including aluminum, iron, stainless steel, brass, and even zinc alloy. Brass buttons have been a part of the military uniform for centuries.
Metal buttons can be printed with logos or embossed, giving them an added touch of class. They are very flexible as they can be smooth, textured, hammered, or ridged.
Metal buttons can be large or small and make great decorative statements and incredibly durable.
Pearl And Shell Buttons
Mother of pearl and shell can make all kinds of functional and decorative buttons. Mother of pearl is usually white, cream, or pink, and faux pearls can be manufactured in different colors. Small pearl buttons are very feminine and often used on wedding dresses.
Fabric Buttons
Buttons can be covered in a fabric of your choice. Button covering kits allow the home seamstress to design and cover matching buttons for sewing projects.
Glass Buttons
Refined types of buttons can be made of glass, and their ability to catch the light makes them beautiful, decorative, or functional.
Rhinestone Buttons
Rhinestone buttons are beautiful on evening wear and add sparkle and elegance to any outfit. These types of buttons usually have a metal shank on the back for sewing.
Enamel Buttons
Enamel buttons are made from metal and coated in enamel in many different colors. While they are often made in shank styles, they can also be 2 or 4-holed. These are mostly found in vintage clothing due to the manufacturing cost today.
Resin Buttons
These types of buttons are made from resin, making them long-lasting with a beautiful shine. The resin can be clear or colored to look opaque and similar to a plastic button.
Ceramic Buttons
Ceramic buttons are typically made from clay which has been fired at high temperatures. They come in a wide variety of sizes, colors and designs which showcase their high gloss finish and vibrant colors. Due to their fragile nature, they are more likely to be used in a decorative rather than functional manner.
Horn And Bone Buttons
These button types of course are made from either the horn or bone of animals like sheep and cows. They are a century old button style known for their texture and colors ranging from light brown to deep blacks. Each button is unique due to natural variations in the material.
Cufflink Buttons
Cufflink buttons are used in men's dress shirts to secure the cuffs. They are an alternative to standard buttons. Cufflinks are most often used with shirts that have French cuffs, which are double-length cuffs that are folded back and fastened with cufflinks.
Polymer Clay Buttons
Polymer clay is a crafting material that is baked in a home button. It comes in endless colors and can be the perfect solution when you just can't find the button you want.
Vintage Buttons
Vintage buttons are a popular collectors item particularly those made of rhinestones or metal.
Mandarin Buttons
Also known as frog buttons, they are used in traditional Chinese clothing. Instead of being made from a hard material, they are fashioned from cord twisted into ornate curved designs.
Velvet Buttons
Buttons made from velvet are the perfect accompaniment to an elegant gown. They are generally plastic with a velvet fabric cover and a shank at the back.
How to Choose the Right Button for Your Project
Size
Size is probably the most important of all the factors you need to consider! If you're using a pattern it will likely give you a suggestion of the size you need, but you can deviate from this slightly if you want to. Think about where the buttons are going and the spacing - you want to create a nice even spacing all around the button to keep it pleasing to the eye. Too big and it will look like you squeezed them in, too small and you will start to lose them.
Colour
Another obvious one, however remember that you don't have to match to the colour of your fabric! To mix things up you can choose a different shade in the same tone, a complimentary but contrasting colour, or if in doubt then opt for natural shades/textures like metals and wood tones. If you have a patterned fabric, it often looks more pleasing to pick a button in a colour that matches one of the secondary colours in the print rather than the main background colour.
Function
This is perhaps the other most important factor to think about when choosing your button. Does the button need to go through a buttonhole, and how secure does it need to be? If the answer is yes, you are best sticking to more conventional shapes that will easily pass through the buttonhole and stay firm when buttoned up. Lighter fabrics fare better with less conventional shapes too. If you are looking for more of a decorative finish, you can go for more unusual shapes easily without worrying about how the button will function.
Style
Do you want shanked or sew-through holes? Bear in mind that sew-through buttons you will see the thread, and they offer a less 3D effect. Also think about how thick your material is as this may affect what you decided to go for - thicker fabrics often work better with shanked buttons because it gives you a lot more space underneath the button for the fabric to sit.
Effect/Texture
Lastly, think about if you want to add interest with texture or different effects. For example, if you have a plain coloured coat you can add more interest without it looking overly fussy, by picking a pretty decorative metal button over just a plain button in the same colour. Playing with texture helps keep things fun, but if you already have a busy print then pare things down with a less busy button design!
The Production Process of Buttons
Mixing the polyester
Polyester arrives at a button factory in liquid form. At the start of the manufacturing process, polyester is drained from its Buttonstorage tank and measured into a stainless steel kettle. Then dye is added, if the buttons are to be any color other than the natural translucence of the polyester. After the dye is mixed in, the liquid polyester is poured into a 3-gallon (11 l) metal beaker. The catalyst and liquid wax are added.
Pouring into the cylinder
The mixture of polyester, catalyst, and wax is then poured into a large rotating metal cylinder. The cylinders are made of steel and lined with chrome, and are typically 2 feet (61 cm) long and 4 feet (122 cm) in diameter. The cylinders lie on their sides on rollers which rotate the drums at 250 rpm. The polyester solution is slowly poured into the rotating interior of the cylinder, and the centrifugal force of the rotation causes the solution to spread, lining the drum with an even sheet. A greater amount of polyester is used for thicker buttons, and less for thinner ones. A 2-inch (5 cm) lip around the ends of the cylinder prevents the polyester from leaking out.
Hardening the sheet
As the polyester rotates in the cylinder, it begins to interact with the chemical catalyst and harden. The wax rises to the top of the sheet, and also sinks to the bottom, so that the hardening polyester is eventually held between two layers of wax. This process is completed after 20 minutes of rotation. The resulting polyester sheet has changed from its liquid state to a crumbly solid likened to the consistency of stale cheese.
Cutting the sheet
When the sheet has reached the proper hardness, the drum is stopped and the sheet is cut. Then it is rolled out of the cylinder onto a wooden tube. The wax makes it easy to remove from the drum, but the material is still very delicate. The top layer of wax is then peeled off, and the sheet is transferred to a blanking machine.
Cutting the blanks
The blanking machine moves the polyester sheet along on a conveyor belt. As the sheet passes along the belt, circular steel cutting dies descend and punch out button-sized circles, called blanks. Buttons come in standard sizes, and different diameter dies can be loaded into the blanking machine, depending on the size needed. After the blanks are cut, they fall into a chute, and the punched out sheet of polyester rolls beneath the chute. Cutting the blanks from the sheet takes from two to four minutes, depending on the size of the buttons being made.
Cooling the blanks
The blanks at this stage are hot, because the polyester is still reacting with the catalyst, releasing heat. So at this point the blanks are removed from the chute and poured into a nylon bag. The bag is then lowered into a tank of salt water, which is heated to 230°F (110°C). The blanks float in the salt water for 15 minutes. The water slowly cools, and the polyester blanks harden. Next, the nylon bag is transferred to a cold water tank, and the blanks reach their final state of hardness. After the hot and cold baths, the blanks are dried in a centrifugal drying machine, which spins them in a wire mesh basket.
Styling the blanks
The blanks are now ready to be cut into their finished button shape. A different cutting tool is needed, for example, to make a beveled edge or a flat one, or to make a slightly concave button. When the appropriate cutting tool is in place, the buttons are poured into a hopper at the top of the cutting machine. The blanks fall into a holder where they are clamped tightly and moved toward the cutting tool. The spinning blade advances and cuts the button, then retracts. Next, the button moves beneath a set of drills, which create the holes. Like the cutting tool, the drills must be designed to conform to the clothing manufacturer's specifications. After the buttons pass beneath the drill, they are sucked by vacuum out of the holder and into a box beneath the machine. Hundreds of buttons a minute can be made this way, though the number varies according to the size of the button and the complexity of the design.
Finishing the buttons
After the buttons are cut and drilled, they have rough or sharp edges, scratches, and tool marks. They are placed into hexagonal tumbling drums, which contain water, an abrasive material, and a foaming agent. The drums spin for up to 24 hours. The buttons bounce around in the drum until they are smooth and shiny. After tumbling, the buttons are washed and dried.
Button Sizes And Measurements
Diameter
Button diameter is measured across the widest point of the button. Common sizes range from 10mm to 25mm, with smaller buttons used for delicate fabrics and larger buttons for heavier materials.
Thickness
Button thickness is measured from the highest point of the button to the back. Thicker buttons are suitable for thicker fabrics or garments that require a more pronounced button.
Hole Size
For sew-through buttons, the hole size is essential to ensure a proper fit. The hole should be large enough to accommodate the thread but not too loose, as it may cause the button to wobble or come loose.
How to Store Buttons
Compartmentalized Boxes: Compartmentalized boxes or trays are an excellent choice for storing buttons. These boxes have multiple sections or compartments, allowing you to separate and organize your buttons by category. Look for boxes with adjustable dividers, so you can customize the size of each compartment to accommodate different button sizes.
Plastic Containers: Transparent plastic containers with snap-on lids are a popular choice for button storage. These containers come in various sizes and are stackable, which makes them space-efficient. You can easily see the contents of each container, making it convenient to locate specific buttons.
Drawer Organizers: If you have a spare drawer, consider using drawer organizers to store your buttons. Look for organizers with different-sized compartments to accommodate buttons of various sizes. Label each section to easily find the buttons you need.
Mini Mason Jars or Bottles: If you prefer a more aesthetically pleasing storage solution, mini mason jars or small clear bottles can be a great choice. They provide a charming display while keeping your buttons organized. You can arrange them on a shelf or in a decorative box for easy access.
Accordion Files: Accordion files, typically used for documents, can also be repurposed for button storage. Label each section of the file with different button categories and place the buttons inside. This option is ideal for flat buttons or vintage buttons that need extra protection.
FAQ
Q: What is the use of buttons?
Q: How does a button work?
Q: How do buttons break?
Q: How are buttons measured?
Q: Do buttons have sizes?
Q: How to size a button hole?
Q: How to choose buttons for clothes?
Q: What metals are used for buttons?
Q: How do you clean old flat buttons?
Q: How do you protect buttons in the wash?