Fabric Inspection

Our inspectors use the internationally recognized 4-point system to evaluate fabric rolls for weaving defects, knitting faults, dyeing irregularities, printing misalignment, and finishing inconsistencies. We verify fabric weight, width, shrinkage, colorfastness, and composition against purchase order specifications, grading colour change and staining against the gray scale.

Whether you source woven, knitted, printed, or dyed fabrics, our inspection ensures that only quality-compliant material enters your production line. Once the fabric is cut and sewn, our garment inspection services verify the finished apparel against your specifications. Detailed reports with defect mapping and photographic evidence are delivered within 24 hours.

What We See in Fabric: Insights From the Mill Floor

Using the internationally recognized 4-point grading system, our inspectors consistently find that weaving defects (broken ends, missing picks, reed marks) account for the largest share of penalty points at roughly 40%. Dyeing and finishing issues — shade variation between rolls, uneven fixation, and hand-feel inconsistencies — follow at about 30%, and are particularly problematic in reactive-dyed cotton and piece-dyed polyester blends. Shrinkage out of tolerance is a recurring issue in knitted fabrics, where relaxation and steam shrinkage can compound to exceed the 3–5% acceptable range.

Fabric inspection at the pre-production stage is the highest-ROI quality intervention in the textile supply chain. Rejecting a non-conforming roll before it enters the cutting room costs a fraction of reworking or scrapping finished garments. We recommend inspecting 100% of fabric rolls for orders under 5,000 meters, and a minimum of 10% random sampling for larger lots, always including rolls from different dye lots to catch batch-to-batch variation.

Our fabric inspection services are available through initial production check, during production inspection, pre-shipment inspection. We cover major manufacturing regions including China, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, and 30+ other countries.

How the 4-Point System Actually Scores a Roll

Most suppliers say they inspect to the 4-point system. Far fewer can say what a score means, and that is where disputes start. Under ASTM D5430 every defect is penalised by its length, not by how bad it looks:

• 3 inches or less — 1 point
• over 3 up to 6 inches — 2 points
• over 6 up to 9 inches — 3 points
• over 9 inches — 4 points

Two rules matter more than the table. A single defect can never score more than 4 points, and no single linear yard can be assessed more than 4 points however many defects it holds. A badly damaged yard is therefore capped, which is why a low total does not on its own prove a roll is clean.

The total is then normalised to a common area, so rolls of different widths can be compared:

points per 100 square yards = (total penalty points × 3,600) ÷ (fabric width in inches × roll length in yards)

Forty points per 100 square yards is the threshold most mills quote, but it is a convention rather than a rule in the standard: brands set their own limit, and it is worth agreeing yours in the purchase order rather than inheriting the mill’s. We report the point total, the normalised score, the defect map per roll, and the width and length actually measured, so the arithmetic is yours to check.

What We Measure Beyond the Defect Count

A roll can pass the 4-point count and still be wrong for your product. Whether you buy woven, knitted, satin, cotton, linen, polyester blend or a technical finish, these are the properties that decide whether it performs:

• Fabric weight (GSM) against the specified tolerance — the most common deviation we find, and the one that changes both drape and cost
• Thread count in warp and weft on woven fabric, where weave density drives durability and hand feel
• Dimensional stability: shrinkage and growth after washing, to ISO 6330
• Colourfastness to rubbing, dry and wet, and to washing, graded 1 to 5 against the grey scale
• Tear and tensile strength, where the end use puts load on the fabric
• Shade continuity between rolls and within a dye lot, assessed under a D65 light box
• Flame-retardant and other performance finishes, where the destination market requires them