Mastering Apparel Quality Control Procedures
Today’s customers have high expectations regarding the quality, durability, and performance of their garments. To meet those expectations and retain brand loyalty, emerging fashion brands must implement rigorous apparel quality control (QC) procedures.
This article explores those processes in greater depth, covering key types of quality control procedures in the apparel industry and explaining how to set your brand up for long-term success.
Why Quality Control Procedures Matter in the Garment Industry
Implementing robust quality procedures ensures your garments meet specific standards and maintain consistency in quality across batches. The key benefits of implementing effective quality control procedures include:
Customer satisfaction and brand reputation: Consistent delivery of high-quality, defect-free garments helps you meet customer expectations and reinforce a positive brand image.
Cost reduction: Effective quality control minimizes defects and reduces the costs associated with rework or waste. By identifying issues early in the production process, brands save time and resources while lowering reputational risks.
Regulatory compliance: While quality control is not designed to ensure regulatory compliance on its own, it plays a crucial supporting role. Strong QC procedures help verify that your garments meet safety, quality, and labeling standards, reducing the risk of non-compliance, product recalls, and shipment delays.
Implementing the right quality control procedures for your brand, product type, and destination market is critical to achieving these benefits.
The Main Types of Quality Control Procedures for Apparel
There are various types of quality control procedures, each serving a specific role in the overall quality control process. The main categories of apparel quality control procedures are:
Documentation & Standards
Guidelines, benchmarks, and other records establish acceptable garment quality, typically defined before production starts. Documentation and standards provide a test framework to guide procedures during production and distribution. Formulating your standards helps you ensure that your products are aligned both with internal quality specifications and regulatory requirements.
Inspection Protocols
Inspections provide a visual and physical evaluation of garments and their quality. Skilled inspectors should conduct these examinations in different production stages (pre-, during-, or post-production). Inspections are primarily observational, conducted with checklists, and focus on visible defects. Inspections should be conducted using standardized sampling methods, such as test, which specify the acceptable level of defects in a specific batch.
Testing
Textile testing refers to a set of scientific, objective QC methods for evaluating fabric and garment performance in controlled conditions. The apparel industry's tests are often divided into three primary groups: chemical, physical, and performance tests. They are primarily data-driven, conducted in specialized labs, and provide quantifiable results.
By combining these three quality control measures, you can tackle key challenges and reap the essential benefits: meeting standards and maintaining quality consistency.
Documents and Standards: Setting Up a Quality Framework
Examples of quality control documentation include checklists, product specifications, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and supplier audit reports.
Quality control checklists are among the primary QC tools in the apparel industry. Checklists specify criteria such as product dimensions, packaging specifications, and types of tests to be conducted during on-site quality control procedures. Also known as inspection criteria sheets (ICS), checklists allow inspectors and quality control personnel to evaluate products efficiently and uniformly throughout your supply chain. These can be used for internal inspections or inspections with a third-party inspector.
Product specifications provide a detailed description of the garment’s features, creating a reference point and a blueprint for manufacturers and QC teams. SOPs specify the step-by-step execution of QC tasks and procedures.
Supplier audit reports record assessments of supplier capabilities, factory infrastructure, labor conditions, and environmental compliance. They help brands evaluate their suppliers' ability to meet quality standards.
Inspections: Key Steps in a Garment Inspection Procedure
Inspections detect defects before your garments reach the shelves, reducing the risk of customer complaints and product recalls.
Here’s what apparel inspections typically evaluate:
Garment dimensions: Inspectors measure the garments in several places (neck, sleeve, etc.) and compare the measurements with your brand specifications. Your garment’s dimensions should stay consistent throughout the batch, with acceptable tolerances for each measurement point.
Accessories testing: QC inspectors will perform various physical tests to evaluate the condition and quality of your garment accessories, such as buttons, snaps, zippers, or ribbons. The most common testing methods include pull, fatigue, and stretch tests.
Garment appearance: Inspectors performing quality control will examine the garment’s colors, artwork, logos, stripes, and other aesthetic elements. Odor tests, needle detection checks, and seam slippage inspections also fall into this category.
Label verification: Since some markets have strict garment labeling regulations, QC inspectors must check that your labels contain the necessary information (country of origin, fiber content, sizing, care instructions for washing or ironing, etc.).
Packaging inspection: At the final pre-shipping evaluation, QC inspectors will mainly focus on packaging and shipping marking checks, looking at the number of packed units, quality of protection to the goods, carton size/weight, and box markings or barcodes.
Read more: Quality Inspection Procedures Every Garment Brand Must Know About
Testing: Key Textile Testing Types
Testing ensures garment quality and compliance with regulations, so it’s critical to implement the right testing methods in your operations.
Here’s what the main textile testing types typically evaluate:
Chemical testing: Since compliance with chemical safety standards is vital for maintaining customer satisfaction and ensuring market access, fashion brands use chemical textile testing to ensure product safety. Chemical testing primarily evaluates the levels, i.e., the absence of hazardous chemicals like lead, azo dyes, or formaldehyde. Some chemical tests measure pH levels, while others test garments for flame retardancy.
Physical testing: Also known as mechanical testing, test evaluates the garment’s structural properties. The most common physical tests measure the fiber’s tensile strength and resistance to abrasion, pilling, or tear. These tests allow you to make “predictions” about the garment’s end-use performance (and thus overlap with performance testing, described below).
Performance testing: Also known as functional testing, performance testing ensures your garments are fit for their intended use. This type of testing focuses on the finished product’s overall quality, durability, and functionality. The aspects mostly checked during performance testing include dimensional stability, weather resistance, thermal resistance, tearing and seam strength, and penetration resistance.
How Can QIMA Help?
Establishing adequate and efficient QC procedures is critical for your brand’s success in the crowded garment industry. Whether you implement those measures yourself or partner with third-party experts like QIMA, quality control should always be a priority.
At QIMA, we offer a range of QA services tailored to the garment industry, including:
test to book inspections, testing, or other services today. Or, learn more about our test for apparel brands to manage your operations confidently.
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