We followed a single shirt from cut to ship — 11 hours, 14 hands, one final inspection.
Aba is not glamorous. The light in the production hall is fluorescent, the floor is scuffed, and the sewing machines are old enough to have nicknames. But this is where most of our knitwear is made, and watching a single garment move from roll to rack changes how you think about a $40 t-shirt.
We arrive at 7:15am. The first cut of the day is always the trickiest — the team has to lay 60 layers of jersey perfectly flat and trim against a paper template. One slip and the entire stack is wasted.
By 11am, the shirt has moved to the assembly line. There are six stations: shoulder seams, side seams, sleeve attachment, hem, neck binding, and label. Each station has 90 seconds.
Quality check happens twice — once at the end of the line, once during packing. We've learned that the second check is essential; small defects only show up once the garment is folded against itself.
By 6:15pm the day's batch is in boxes. Tomorrow it's on a truck to Lagos. By Saturday, it's in your bag.