Fabric Inspection

Jimmy K.C. Lam

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Fabric Inspection

� Why, when and where

� Inspection Systems

– Four-Point System

– Ten-Point System

� Inspection Condition

� Sampling

� Acceptance Level

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 record

supplier

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

– Oldest and most used in woven finished fabric

� Four point System

– Widely adopted and used in knitted fabric

� The Graniteville’78 System

– major and minor types, used in garment pieces

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– 10-36 inches 10 points

– 5-10 inches 5 points

– 1-5 inches 3 points

– up to 1 inch 1 point

� Weft Defects

– 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”

– 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.

� “Second Quality”

– 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

Commerical Knitted Fabric Grading

System, Four Point System

Four Point System is adopted byAmerican Apparel

Manufacturers Association (AAMA) for piece goods

knitted fabric. Fabric defects is penaltized by maximum

of 4 points.

ength of the defect in the fabric in either length or width Points allotted

Up to 3 inches 1

Over 3 inches to 6 inches 2

Over 6 inches to 9 inches 3

Over 9 inches 4

Commerical Acceptance Levels for defect points :

abric Type (Ciruclar, V-Bed or

ully Fashion, Warp Knit)

First Quality Points Per

100 Linear YardsTricot not over 40

Basic Circular not over 50

Faced Finish Circular not over 60

Novelty Circular not over 70 to 85

Basic Raschel not over 40

Raised Surface Raschel not over 50

Noverty Raschel not over 60

Silver not over 50

Four Point Systems

(others)

� All products sold must be have the following

properties:

� Grey Goods:

– construction

– blend

– width

– weight

� Finished Goods

� Buyer must inform seller on any particular

condition of goods

Calculation

� Points per 100 square yards =

– (Total points scored X 3600)/ (Cloth width in

inches X yards examined)

� e.g inspected 100 yards fabric and got 100

penalty points,fabric width is 72 inches, the

points per 100 square yards is :

– (100X3600)/(72X100) =50

The Graniteville ‘78 System

Graniteville’78 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 item

78 System Point

� Penalty Point Assignment of Graniteville’78

� Defect Length Penalty Points

– 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 3-foot viewing distance.

� The system tend to eliminate very small defects

from the total penalty score.