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 First Quality Points Per
ully Fashion, Warp Knit) 100 Linear Yards
Tricot 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.