FABRIC CARECTERISTICS AND INSPECTION

Fabric Characteristics for Apparel Manufacturing

Physical properties are generally the static physical dimensions of a fabric. The physical
properties used for describing a fabric are given next.
1. Fiber or filament – type, size and length
2. Yarn – linear density, diameter, twist and number of ply
3. Weight – grams per metre or yards per pound
4. Thickness
5. Fabric structure – for woven fabrics: type of weave, count of war and weft, ends per inch
(EPI), picks per inch (PPI). For knitted fabrics: typeof knit, wales per inch (WPI), course per
inch (CPI) and loop length
6. Non-fibrous matter – residual chemicals left over the fabric
7. Finishes – chemicals and mechanical finishes applied to the woven fabric to improve the
durability, and/or utility values
8. Fabric width – the length of the filling or course
9. Colour, hue, value and intensity – hue in colour refers to the type of spectrum such as red,
green, blue, yellow, etc. Value refers to the shade of spectrum such as light blue or dark
blue. Intensity refers to the degree of brilliance such as bright light blue or dull light blue
10. Fabric density – weight per unit of volume
11. Surface contour – the geometric dimension of the surface plane
Six major categories of fabric characteristics that are of significance for the apparel
manufacturer are
1. Style characteristics
2. Hand characteristics
3. Visual characteristics
4. Utility characteristics
5. Durability characteristics
6. Product production working characteristics
Style Characteristics
Style characteristics generally change, which has an effect on the emotional appeal the
fabric imparts to the consumer. This is validated when a customer handles a fabric and rates
the fabric with adjectives like stiff, soft, hard, etc.
Hand Characteristics
Hand characteristics are the transforms in the fabric surface with hand manoeuvring which
apply tensile, compression and moulding forces on the fabric. The hand characteristics
involve few utility characteristics. The characteristics that influence the fabric hand are
1. Thickness compressibility
2. Plane compressibility
3. Elongation
4. Elasticity
5. Torsion
6. Malleability
7. Flexibility self flex, resistance flex, maintenance flex and reflex
8. Resilience
9. Gravity drape, gravity sag and gravity elongation.
Visual Characteristics
Visual characteristics are the changes in colour values when either the fabric or light is
moved. Visual characteristics can be measured in all its aspects with instruments such as
the Cary or Farrand spectrophotometers used for measuring static visual values. This
includes measuring colour change due to either fabric or light movement
Utility Characteristics
Utility characteristics refer to the comfort, fit and wearing characteristics of a garment while
the fabric experiences mechanical, thermal or chemical conditions during the usage of the
garment. The transmission and transformation are the two main types in this category. A
transmission characteristic transmits mass or energy through the fabric. It alters physical
properties of the fabric without obliterating the fabric.
Transmission Characteristics
1. Weight
2. Thickness
3. Elongation
4. Moisture transmission
5. Radioactivity transmission
6. Water permeability
Transformation Characteristics
1. Colour fastness
2. Crease resistance
3. Crease retention
4. Crack resistance
5. Dimensional stability
6. Felting (matting)
7. Fusing
8. Mildew resistance
9. Moisture absorption
10. Moisture retention (drying)
11. Pilling
12. Scorching
13. Soiling
14. Shrinkage
15. Static electricity
16. Yarn slippage
Durability Characteristics
Durability characteristics are the ability of a fabric to retain the utility and style characteristics
during wear. It is an indirect measure of stress, which destroys the fabric or its capability to
retain the required style or utility characteristics.
The durability characteristics are
1. Abrasive strength
2. Bursting strength
3. Corrosive strength
4. Dry cleaning durability
5. Fire resistance
6. Launder ability
7. Moth resistance
8. Radiation absorption strength
9. Tearing strength
10. Tensile strength
11. Yarn severance

Garment Production Working Characteristics

Garment production working characteristics affect the quality of product as well as cost of
production. An example of this is the difficulty entailed in sewing some fabrics with certain
types of ornamentation. Some working characteristics, such as seam strength, are
measured by durability limits
They are classified as working characteristics because the characteristics are either the
reaction to, or the vital part of, an apparel production process. The working characteristics of
a fabric are
1. Coefficient of friction (cutting, sewing, pressing and packaging)
2. Sewed seam strength
3. Sewed seam slippage (yarn slippage)
4. Sewing distortions
5. Yarn severage
6. Bondability strength (fused, cemented and heat-sealed seams)
7. Die mouldability
8. Pressing mouldability

Inspection

Inspection in reference to the apparel industry can be defined as the visual examination or
review of raw materials (like fabric, sewing threads, buttons, trims, etc), partially finished
components of the garments and completely finished garments in relation to some
standards. The main objective of inspection is the detection of the defects as early as
possible in the manufacturing process so that time and money are not wasted later on in
either correcting the defect or writing off defective garments.

Purpose of fabric inspection

Fabric Inspection is an important aspect followed prior to

garment manufacturing to avoid rejects due to fabric quality
and facing with unexpected loss in manufacturing. Fabric
inspection is done for fault/defect rate, fabric construction,
end to end or edge to edge shading, colour, hand or feel,
length/width, print defect and appearance. Fabric inspection
ensures to minimise the rejection of cut panels or rejected
garments due to fabric faults. Cutting inspected and
approved fabric ensures not only finished garment quality but also reduces rejects, improves
efficiency and timely deliveries.

The purpose of fabric inspection is to determine the quality and acceptability for garments.
As fabric is received, it should be inspected to determine acceptability from a quality
viewpoint. Some garment manufacturers rely on their fabric suppliers to perform fabric
inspection and fabric defects. In many small companies, spreading and cutting is done by
the same personnel and fabric is inspected as it is being spread on a table for cutting.

Fabric inspection, mapping or marking defects is important prior to spreading and cutting
because:

 Spreading can be done more quickly because the spreader is not also inspecting the
fabric.
 A cutter's productivity will increase because the defects are already marked.
 The patterns are cut around the defects so as not to include them in the finished
garment.

Fabric inspection machines

  Fabric inspection is usually done on fabric inspection machine. These machines are
designed so that rolls of fabric can be mounted behind the inspection table under
adequate light and rerolled as they leave the table.
 Defects can be seen readily with these machines, as
the inspector has a very good view of the fabric and
the fabric need not be reversed to detect defects.
These machines are power driven or the inspector
pulls the fabric over the inspection table. The defects
are located, marked and recorded on an inspection
form. These machines are also equipped to
accurately measure the length of each roll of fabric as
well as monitor the width of the fabric. The variation in
width of fabric can result in a higher cost of
manufacturing for basic garments since profit margin for these garment
manufacturers is usually lower than that for fashion garment manufacturers and
therefore, maximum fabric utilisation is vital.

Fabric Inspection Systems

After the receipt of a fabric roll to the garment industry, it must be inspected to evaluate its
tolerability from quality point of view or else additional cost in garment manufacturing may be
incurredIt is normally carried out on fabric inspection machines, which are designed such
that fabric rolls are mounted at the back side of the inspection table . As the fabric is moving
at a slow speed and at an angle, the fabric inspector has a better view of the fabric and
could identify faults easily. These machines are normally power driven or the operator has to
pull the fabric over the inspection table. As the fabric is moving at a slow speed and at an
angle, the fabric inspector has a better view of the fabric and could identify faults easily.
These machines are normally power driven or the operator has to pull the fabric over the
inspection table. The fabric faults are identified, labelled and recorded in a fabric inspection
form. The various fabric inspection systems used in the garment industry are given here.
1. Four-point system
2. Ten-point system
3. Graniteville “78” system
4. Dallas system
5. Textile Distributors
5. Textile Distributors Institute system (National Federation of Textile
1995)
Four-Point System
The four-point assessment method is a commonly established method of fabric inspection
globally. Fabric inspection is done as per ASTM D 5430–04 standard and this system is
agreed by The American Society for Quality Control, Textile and Needle Trades Division,
The American Apparel ManufacturersAssociation and is used by the United States
Government for all of their piece goods purchased. The main considerations in a four-point
inspection system are given here:
• The fabric has to be passed longitudinally through the inspection area at a speed approved
by the customer.
• The light source should be perpendicular to the fabric surface and the fabric should run at
an angle of 45° to the vertical for better vision for the operator. The illumination intensity in
the inspection room should have a minimum of 1075 lux and the light source used should be
white fluorescent lamps.
• The fabric should be checked at a distance of 1 m from the fabric inspector when it is in
motion.
• Defect points should be assigned based on the length of the defect as mentioned in Table
1.1.
• Four points should be assigned to each metre of fabric where usable width is lower than
the minimum specified.
• The fabric should not be penalised more than four points.
• Defects not obvious on the face side of the fabric should not be registered unless agreed
between supplier and customer.
Total defect points per 100 square yards of fabric should be determined and the criterion for
the acceptance of a fabric roll is generally not more than 40 penalty points. If it is more than
40 points, it will be considered ‘seconds’.

The formula to determine the penalty points per 100 square yards is given by

= Total points scored in the roll X 3600 / Fabric width in inches Total yards inspected

TABLE 1.1
Assignment of Penalty Points in Four-Point System
Size of the Defect Penalty Points
Length of defects in fabric (either length or width)
Defects up to 3″ 1
Defects >3″ ≤6″ 2
Defects >6″ ≤9″ 3
Defects >9″ 4
Holes and openings (largest dimension)
1″ or less 2
Over 1″ 4

Ten-Point System
The ten-point inspection system for fabric evaluation was permitted by the Textile
Distributors Institute and the National Federation of Textile in 1955. It is designed to
categorise the defects and to assign each defect a numerical value based on severity of
defect. The system allots penalty points to each defect based on its length and whether it is
in the warp or weft direction. Table 1.3 shows the assignment of penalty points in a ten-point
system.
According to this system, the fabric roll is considered good if the total penalty points,
assessed to that roll, do not exceed the length of the fabric. If the points exceed the length of
fabric in a roll, then it is considered ‘seconds’ and may be rejected. Suppose if the fabric roll
having a length of 50 yards is inspected in a ten-point system and the total penalty points are
less than 50. Then the fabric roll was considered good.

Advantages
• Oldest and most used in woven finished fabric.
• In it length of fabric is used and along the length of warp and weft defects are identified.

TABLE 1.3
Assignment of Points in Ten-Point System
Warp Defects Points Weft Defects Points
Under 1″ 1 Under 1″ 1
1–5″ 3 1–5″ 3
5–10″ 5 5″–1/2 width of goods 5
10–36″ 10 Over 1/2 the width of goods 10
Disadvantages
• It has width limitation.
• It is difficult in practical use.
Graniteville “78” System
It was introduced in 1975 for the field of fabric grading. In this system, the fabric defects are
categorised as major defects if they are obvious in the fabric and leads to second quality and
minor defects if the severity of the fault is minor and does not lead to second quality. The
assignment of penalty points in this system is shown in Table 1.4.
This system was basically established for garment cutting components, in which the short
length faults less than 9″ would normally be removed. The system aims to balance the
significance of longer defects (over 9″) and place less weight on 1–10″ faults such as slubs.
The system recommends the viewing distance of 9′ instead of the normal 3′ distance.
Disadvantages
• As this system is used on cutting pieces, according to my point of view it also increases the
cost of production. We should control problems before cutting.

TABLE 1.4
Assignment of Points in Graniteville “78” System

Defect Length Penalty Points

9″ 1
9–18″ 2
18–27″ 3
27–36″ 4

Dallas System
The Dallas system was introduced in the 1970s and it was developed particularly for knitted
fabrics. According to this inspection method, if any fault was observed on a finished garment,
then the garment would be called ‘seconds’. It describes the seconds as ‘more than one
defect per ten linear yards, determined to the nearest ten yards’. For example, one piece 60
yards long would be allowed to have six defects.
Disadvantage
• It increases the cost of production as defect is located after the garment is finished.