Fabric Inspection Procedure

As per quality standards, prior to bulk production cutting, factory prepares following three
reports and takes approval from authorized person.

1. Fabric inspection report

 According to Standard procedures (SOP), initially only 10% of the fabric rolls is inspected on 4-
Point System. If there is any doubt on acceptance further 10% of total fabric rolls are inspected.
Some manufactures prefer doing 100% fabric inspection in order to get ensure that only quality
fabric is cut and fed to the line. During 100% inspection fabric inspectors mark all the defects so
they can identify them during spreading and replace the parts after cutting.

If fabric is cut without being inspected, complete responsibility will be on fabric quality
inspection department as it is a violation of a critical aspect. Reports are submitted to buyers &
the relevant merchandiser.

1. Fabric Inspection Report

Purpose: To decide acceptance or rejections of fabric roll (For Woven). Fabric inspection is
done using 4-point system. Inspection procedure has been explained in the following table.

Activity

Requirement

1.     Select rolls

Roll to be chosen at random

2.     Check the roll as per 4 points system.

4.     Calculate index for each individual roll.

Points / 100 sq. yd.   =

    (Total points in roll * 36 * 100)/  (Total length in yards * width in inches)

5.     Calculate final average index for the total no. of rolls inspected.

6.     Decide acceptance or reject of the fabric

Penalty Point Evaluation

Defects in both the wrap and weft directions for woven and course/wale directions for knits are
assigned point using the following criteria:

Points

Inches (”)

(mm)

1 Point

Defects up to 3 inches

Up to 75mm

2 Point

Defects > 3 inches < 6 inches

Defects > 75mm< 150mm

3 Point

Defects > 6 inches < 9 inches

Defects > 150mm< 230mm

4 Point

Defects > 9 inches

A continuous defect running 9 inches / 230mm or longer is assigned four points for each meter
that occurs within the shipment. Other important parameters to be considered during fabric
inspection are - 

i) Length of the faults is to be measured in the warp or weft direction and the direction in which
the fault is longest is the fault direction. However when the warp and weft length are same and
when the penalty of the shorter direction is heavier, take the fault of the direction in which the
penalty is heavier.

ii) When the fault in the warp direction is over 1yd, the part which is over 1yd is deemed as fault
of the same kind of others.

iii) When two or more faults overlap, apply only the faults which penalty is the heavier.

iv) When there are two or more faults within the length of 1yd and the penalty points come over
4 points, the points over 4 points are not added.

v) The inspector needs to be at a distance of 3 feet away from the inspection table and the linear
speed of inspection not to be less than 0.1 meters per second when inspection is done on fabric
inspection machine.

Standards for Passing Fabric

Average index for inspected rolls not to exceed» 28 points / 100yd²

Maximum index for any roll not to exceed» 40 points / 100yd²

2. Fabric shade band report:

For styles those required garment washing, before and after wash blankets is submitted ( 3 sets
each ) covering all rolls and it is attached in the shade continuity card .

A 100% shade band covering all rolls & all colors pertaining to a certain style / Consignment is
made and get approved prior to cutting of bulk Fabric.

 
Shade band preparation Process

 No sooner the fabric is in housed, the quality department collects fabric panels
representing all rolls within 6 hours from store.
 Cut 6 inches from end of each roll. Join all panels by cover stitch in correct grain line
direction to be in a blanket form.
 If the style is a non-wash program two sets is prepared.
 If the style consists of a certain wash, then 4 blankets is prepared - 2 blankets non-washed
and 2 blankets with the exact approved wash of the style.
 Once the shade bands are ready, dye lot or color segregation is done. If the Shade Band
consists of 2-3 different shades, such shades should be segregated into families marked
A, B, C Etc. A copy of the segregation of shades is handed over to the store, cutting
room, merchandising and production departments. Stores will issue and cutting and
production department will proceed as per the segregated shades without getting mixed.
  

3. Fabric shrinkage report:

A 100% Shrinkage report is submitted for all styles and the washing shrinkage has to be
performed as per the wash type required for the bulk.

Garment fit is a very important factor in the purchase decision of the customer. Misfit at any
stage of the life of garment can lead to premature rejection and earn a bad perception for the
brand. A garment is supposed to be washed after every use and expected to retain the same fit
and appearance during the lifetime of the garment. To fulfill this fabric has to be tested for
dimensional stability. For this shrinkage tests are carried out is order to manipulate the patterns
in the same ratio to avoid any measurement problems after garment washing.

Shrinkage Templates (25cm*25cm or 50cm*50cm) are used in industry to gauge the shrinkage
% directly.

Fabric Shrinkage measurement template

Features of Shrinkage Template and Scale:

 To determine directly the % dimensional change (shrinkage) in all types of fabrics.

How Shrinkage Template and Scale works?

 The marking template should be placed on the specimen to be tested, making sure that the
fabric is in flat position before marking.
 Hold the template firm, and carefully mark the fabric through the eight slots of the
template, to ensure that it does not move.
 Now put the fabric in the washing machine or Dry Cleaning.
 Dry the sample as per specified method. It can either be Line Dry or Flat Dry or Tumble
Dry.
 To find the dimensional change read the Shrinkage/Stretch on 3 points on the Wrap side
and 3 points on Weft Side.
 Get the mean value of wrap-wise and weft wise readings to get the Accurate Shrinkage or
Stretch.

If you don’t have a shrinkage template then you can calculate the shrinkage or gain as directed in
Equations 1 and 2 by marking fabric with help of a simple scale.

Fabric shrinkage testing samples

                     1.  S = [(A - B)/A] x 100

                     2. G = [(B - A)/A] x 100

  Where:    

  A = distance between gauge marks before wetout, 10 inches (254 mm)
  B = distance between gauge marks after wetout and drying

  G = % gain (In reporting the gain, the percent change shall have the prefix "+"

  S = % shrinkage