Fabric Inspection

Jimmy K.C. Lam The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Fabric Inspection
Why, when and where Inspection Systems
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Inspection Condition Sampling Acceptance Level

Four-Point System Ten-Point System

Fabric Inspection (I)

When, why, where Producer likes to know the quality of his products (says quality for 500,000 yds fabric) Buyer wants to assure the product quality he ordered. 10% check will give buyer some ideas of his product quality 25% check maybe necessary for new supplier 3% check maybe enough for a proven

Fabric Inspection (II)

Fabric inspection must be selected randomly The fabric sample must be selected from different place, different lot and different time Inspector must use a packing list and select different bales on different place The samples should be selected from early, middle and late production.

Inspection Standards
Ten Point System
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Four point System

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Oldest and most used in woven finished fabric Widely adopted and used in knitted fabric major and minor types, used in garment pieces

The Graniteville78 System

Ten Point System

Ten Point System

The earliest inspection system and is designed to identify defects and to assign each defect a value based on severity of defect Published in 1955 by Textile Distributors Institute and National Federation of Textiles

Ten Points System (Woven)

Warp Defects
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Weft Defects

10-36 inches 10 points 5-10 inches 5 points 1-5 inches 3 points up to 1 inch 1 point Full width 10 points 5 inches to half width 5 points 1-5 inches 3 points up to 1 inch 1 point

Ten Point System

Standards for examination of finished goods (woven mainly) Penalties to be assigned for imperfection of warp and weft defects Grading is designed to apply to every imperfection according to size, regardless of type. For print cloth, any piece of grey which contains less than 50% more penalty points than yardage may be passed for printed fabric.

Ten Point System

(Note) No one yard should be penalized more than 10 points Any warp or weft defect occurring repeatedly throughout the entire piece makes it second A combination of both warp and weft defects when occurring in one yarn should not be penalized more than 10 points

Ten Point System Grading

First Quality
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Second Quality
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A piece is graded as first if the total quality points do not exceed the total yardage of the piece. Eg. 100 yard piece got the penalized of 70.

A piece is graded a second if the total penalty points exceed the total yardage of the piece.

Four Point System

Four Point System

It was published in 1959 by the National Association of Shirt Pajama Sportswear Manufacturers It got the biggest support for American Society for Quality Control. It was endorsed by federal government for military inspection and American Apparel Manufacturers Association

Four Point Systems Knitted Fabric

Grading of fabric quality according to penalty points Penalty points are based on the length of defects measured in inch. Fabric inspection is only on one side of fabric and is based on fabric width of 64-66 inches (knitted fabric) Four penalty points per linear yarn up to 64/66 inches in width The quality shall be expressed in the number of penalty points per 100 yarn length

Four Point Systems (others)

All products sold must be have the following properties: Grey Goods:
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Finished Goods Buyer must inform seller on any particular condition of goods

construction blend width weight

Calculation
Points per 100 square yards =
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e.g inspected 100 yards fabric and got 100 penalty points,fabric width is 72 inches, the points per 100 square yards is :
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(Total points scored X 3600)/ (Cloth width in inches X yards examined)

(100X3600)/(72X100) =50

The Graniteville 78 System

Graniteville78 System
It was introduced in 1975 for the field of fabric grading. The system divided defects into major and minor types The major defect was one which was very obvious and lead the goods to second quality The minor defect was one may or may not have caused garment to second, depending on its location in the end use

78 System Point
Penalty Point Assignment of Graniteville78 Defect Length Penalty Points
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9 1 9-18 2 18-27 3 27-36 4

78 Points- Notes
The principle was established in garment cutting piece, which the short length defects (less than 9) will normally be removed. The system tries to balance the importance of longer defects (over 9) and put less weight on 1-10 defects such as slubs The system also suggests the viewing distance of 9 foot instead of normal 3foot viewing distance. The system tend to eliminate very small