Quality Control: The Checks an Order Goes Through Before Packing

Quality on a bulk order is not a single inspection at the end of the line. It is a sequence of stops, and every one of them is judged against the same two things: the approved order file for the style and the sealed pre-production sample. The order file holds the written specification — measurements, fabric, trims, packing instruction. The sealed sample is the physical version of the same document, kept at the factory and put on the inspection table whenever a judgement has to be made. Bulk is measured against those two, not against memory or a description in an email.

What Every Check Is Measured Against

Both are signed before bulk starts and both belong to your programme. The order file is where a collar shape, a hem depth or a carton ratio stops being an opinion and becomes a line someone can be held to. The sealed sample is the same information in cloth. If a detail is in neither place, it is not a standard — it is whatever the person at the table happens to think that morning. Sampling runs 3–7 days from an approved specification; the sample lead time page covers what happens inside that window.

This is why specification detail goes into the file before sampling, not at inspection. Any deviation from the tolerances written on that file is compared against the sealed sample, and a garment that fails the comparison is remade at our cost. The sample makes the comparison physical. There is no version of a bulk run in which the sample has been mislaid.

The table below is the sequence at a glance.

Goods-In: The Material Gate

Fabric arrives before anything is cut, and it is checked against what the order file says was bought. Weight comes first: the cloth is weighed with a round cutter and a gram scale, and the reading is written on the fabric inspection sheet. Shade is checked roll by roll against the approved swatch under a light box, and rolls are sorted into shade groups so that one garment is cut from one group. Surface goes under the same light — holes, strips, slubs, contamination, anything still visible after pressing.

The consequence at this gate is a stopped roll rather than a sorted garment. A roll that does not match the approved reference does not reach the cutting table; it is held and replaced before the spread is laid. Trims get the same treatment. Woven labels, care labels, hangtags and badges are checked against the approved artwork before they are issued, because a wrong label caught before it is sewn costs a label, and caught afterwards it costs the garment.

Cutting: Panels, Bundles and Tickets

Cutting is where a small error multiplies. The check is the panel against the marker: is the piece the shape the pattern says, is the grain running the way the pattern assumes, is the ply count what the spread was planned for. Cut panels are bundled by size and colour with a ticket that carries the style, the colour and the size, and that ticket stays with the bundle all the way to the line. A bundle that loses its ticket stops there, because an unidentified panel cannot be sewn into an identified order.

Cutting also settles the fit before a needle is involved. If the marker is wrong, the line will reproduce the error faithfully a thousand times and it will surface at measurement, the most expensive place to find it. That is why the pattern and the size spec are confirmed before the spread is laid.

On the Line: Construction While It Is Still Fixable

In-line checking happens while the garment is still in pieces, which is the only moment a construction fault is cheap. The checks cover points that cannot be corrected later: stitch density and seam allowance, the neckline and its rib tension, hem and side-seam construction, pocket and hood placement, and on bonded styles the bond line itself, for skip, bubbles, misalignment and incomplete adhesion. The same fault found here costs a re-sew. Found in a finished carton, it costs the garment.

Every workstation carries the production order, and the sealed sample is available on the floor for comparison. Where an operator is drifting — a seam allowance creeping wider, a hem running short — the line is stopped and the setting reset. A drift absorbed into the run and sorted at the end is a defect with extra steps.

Finishing, Measurement and the Packing Bench

Finishing is four checks on every piece, not a sample: loose threads trimmed, the body inspected panel by panel under light for stains, the garment steam pressed, and the measurement taken against the size spec and its tolerances. Measurement is done on a pull of each size rather than by eye, because a garment that is out at the chest or short in the body does not look wrong on a hanger. A size outside its tolerance is held, corrected and re-measured before the run is packed.

Packing is a check as much as a task. Folding method, polybag, size ratio and carton marks follow the packing instruction in the order file, and every garment passes needle detection on the packing line before it is bagged. Cartons are checked against the marks before they are closed. A carton carrying the wrong size ratio becomes a receiving problem at the other end, and it is cheaper to catch it here.

AQL 2.5, Outside Testing and the Carton

Finished cartons are sampled to AQL 2.5, and the inspection report travels with the order. That is the acceptance standard applied to the final check: the sealed sample supplies the judgement on appearance and construction, and AQL 2.5 sets the sampling frame around it. Underneath sits a documented ISO 9001 quality system rather than habits held by one supervisor.

Third-party testing can be arranged where your market or retail customer asks for it. If you nominate the laboratory, it needs to be inside mainland China; the test cost sits outside the garment price and is quoted separately. For orders going to the United States or Canada, the RN or CA number can be printed as part of the order.

Send the tech pack or reference sample, the size range and the quantity per colour, and the reply comes back with the specification we would write into the order file and the points to confirm before the sample is sealed. If you would rather see the checks running, a factory visit can be arranged around a production day. The bulk production timeline shows where inspection and packing sit in the calendar, and what to ask a manufacturer lists the questions this page would otherwise answer.

Other processes on the same floor: the manufacturing overview, cutting and sewing, bonding and seam sealing.

Frequently asked questions

How is in-line inspection different from final inspection?

In-line inspection happens while the garment is still in pieces, and it looks at the points that cannot be corrected later: stitch density, seam allowance, neckline tension, hem and side-seam construction, pocket and hood placement. Final inspection happens on finished cartons sampled to AQL 2.5 against the sealed pre-production sample. A fault caught in-line costs a re-sew; the same fault caught in the carton costs the garment, which is why the line is stopped when a setting drifts.

What does AQL 2.5 cover on a bulk order?

AQL 2.5 is the acceptance standard applied to the final check on finished cartons, and the inspection report travels with the order. It sets the sampling frame; the sealed pre-production sample supplies the judgement on appearance, construction and measurement. It does not replace the earlier stops at goods-in, cutting, in-line and finishing, which run on every order regardless of volume. Where your retail customer sets its own inspection protocol, tell us before bulk so it can be built into the schedule.

Can I use my own inspection company or laboratory?

Third-party testing can be arranged on request. If you nominate the laboratory, it needs to be inside mainland China, and the test cost sits outside the garment price, quoted separately from the order. You are welcome on the floor as well: a factory visit can be booked around a production day, with the order file and the sealed sample available while you are there. Either route gives you an outside reading on the same two reference documents.

What happens if the bulk does not match the sealed sample?

It is compared against the sealed sample and against the tolerances written on the approved order file. A garment outside those tolerances is remade at our cost. That is the reason two samples are made: one travels to you for approval, and one stays sealed at the factory as the physical standard your bulk is measured against. It settles in advance what matching the sample means, so the answer at inspection does not depend on who is present.

Can you print an RN or CA number for North American orders?

Yes. For orders going to the United States or Canada, the RN or CA number can be printed as part of the order. It is confirmed with the labelling instruction before production, alongside the woven labels, care labels and hangtags that were approved at sampling. If the number is part of a retail compliance pack, send it with the tech pack so it is written into the order file rather than added at packing.