Global Apparel Manufacturing Quality

Apparel, footwear, and fashion accessory product companies are facing greater challenges than ever before. To reduce costs, companies now work with an increasing number of global manufacturing and supply partners. As companies have pursued this broadened supply chain strategy, the ability to manage quality risk has expanded with greater challenges.  It is important for the clothing industry to keep a constant and clear eye ways to monitor and improve garment quality.

Learn more about fashion quality issues such as quality testing and fabric inspections.

In our fashion terms section you can learn about key aspects including the following:

Quality Control Managers
Piece Good Inspection
Cutting Room Quality Control
Fabric Defects

If you are a fashion designer or work for a clothing company that wishes to maintain high quality standards, Apparel Search suggests that you find a third party resource that provides comprehensive services for all of your textile and apparel inspection, testing and certification needs. Using a professional company rather than relying on your own testing will help you deliver the highest-quality products.

In addition to monitoring the quality of the clothes that you manufacture, be sure to also conduct factory inspections to make sure international standards are met in regard to safety, human rights, etc.  Make sure to take some time to learn about apparel factory inspections from our previous blog post on the subject of factory inspections.

If you plan to conduct your own garment quality testing & inspections, make sure to become familiar with various industry terms such as AQL.  AQL is the abbreviation of the acceptable quality level, is a parameter rather than an inspection standard. The Inspection of goods shall be in accordance with the bulk range, the inspection level, and the AQL to determine the number of samplings and the ratio of qualified and inferior goods.  AQL is the total amount of the defected clothes within 100 pieces of clothes. After the sampling, if the AQL reaches the acceptance number Ac (piece), the average level of processing this batch would be regarded as satisfactory. And if the rejection number Re(piece) is reached, the average processing level would instead be rendered unsatisfactory.  The AQL system is more than simply stated above.  You would need to do further research if you plan to do proper AQL analysis.

When conducting quality inspections of apparel keep record of critical defects, major defects, minor defects, etc.  Each level of a defect carries a different weight of importance in regard to the overall grade of the garment.  Make sure to check fabric, labeling, workmanship etc.  In regard to workmanship you would want to evaluate stitching, construction, the attachment of buttons, rivets, & fasteners.  Also, look for quality of embellishments, shading within a garment, pattern matching, linings, and every other aspect you can imagine on the product.

The textile and apparel inspection procedure will help you ensure that fabric width, fabric length and fabric appearance (weaving quality, splices, odors) comply with the relevant standards and regulations during the production process.  Be certain to evaluate every single aspect of your product to make certain that you are shipping the absolute best to your customers.

You may find the following links to be of interest if you wish to conduct further research on this subject:

In-Process Quality Control
Quality Assurance
Fabric Testing Methods

AQL Inspections Chart

If you have thoughts, questions, or suggestions regarding this subject, please add your comments in the discussion area below.  You can also join in the discussions about clothing production and management of global manufacturing at the Fashion Industry Network.

Those of you that are interested in reading more about the garment industry, you are welcome to visit our apparel industry blog page so that you can easily find additional reading opportunities on the subject.