Fabric inspection is the process of assessing whether the material used in apparel production has visible defects.
It is the first critical stage in garment manufacturing and helps prevent significant losses that can occur when defective fabric enters the cutting process.
The process generally uses the internationally recognized 4-Point System to quantify defects and determine quality status.
Under the international ASTM D5430 standard, defects are assigned penalty points according to their length, and the fabric is then assessed as accepted or rejected.
| Defect Length | Penalty Points |
|---|---|
| Up to 3 inches, or 7.5 cm | 1 point |
| More than 3 inches and up to 6 inches | 2 points |
| More than 6 inches and up to 9 inches | 3 points |
| More than 9 inches, or 23 cm | 4 points |
• Holes: A minimum of two penalty points is applied regardless of size. Holes larger than one inch are generally recommended for four points.
• Acceptance standard: In general, 40 points or fewer per 100 square yards is regarded as acceptable, although the standard may vary depending on each brand’s quality requirements.
KAFTI checks visible defects and verifies whether the fabric meets the required specifications.
• Fabric defects: Visual inspection of physical defects, including foreign yarn, stains, weaving defects, stripe imbalance, holes and damage.
• Color and appearance: Checks for color shading, dye-lot variation and cuttable width.
• Information verification: Confirmation of fabric weight, or GSM, actual yardage, density and thickness.
