Fashion Terms — the Apparel Search fashion terminology directory
Quality assurance is similar to quality control: its fundamental principle is that manufacturers and suppliers maintain control over the quality of their clothing, fabric, footwear and fashion accessories. QA activities include factory monitoring, testing, inspections and audits, carried out under a quality assurance or quality control plan and procedures.
Quality Assurance by Apparel Search - Terms of Interest to the Fashion Industry
Fashion Terms Fashion Terms Directory Fashion Terms by Category Fashion Quality Testing Labs Testing Methods Acceptable Quality Levels Product Development Process
In order to manufacturer high quality garments, companies involved in manufacturing need to maintain some sort of quality assurance or quality control plan and procedures. The QA activities should include factory monitoring, testing, inspections, audits etc.
Below are only a few issues that are relevant to the quality assurance of clothing:
Learn about fabric pilling.
Keep in mind that if your product is not produced with the highest quality standards, you risk fashion retail chargebacks.
If you do not fully understand quality assurance methods such as statistical analysis etc., you can consult inspection services or consultants to assist you. It has become customary to use consultants and contractors when introducing new quality practices and methodologies as in some instances the relevant skill-set and experience might not be available within the organization.
We suggest that you also visit the Quality Testing and inspection services sections of the Apparel Search directory.
You may also wish to check out the Testing Lab and Testing Method sections to learn more on this subject.
If you have suggestion on how we can improve this section, please do not hesitate to let us know. The purpose is to help educate the apparel industry. If you have knowledge to share on this subject, please do so.
Learn more in our apparel glossary:
Fashion Terms:
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Quality assurance follows the garment through every stage at which a defect can enter. It starts before sewing, with piece goods inspection: the fabric itself is checked for defects, because a flaw woven or printed into the cloth will survive every later operation. It continues in the cutting room, where quality control watches how markers, spreading and cutting affect the pieces that will be sewn, and through production with in-process quality control, which examines garments while they are being made — when a mistake can still be corrected across the whole run instead of discovered at final inspection. Around those checkpoints sit laboratory testing of properties such as tensile strength, checks for fabric pilling, and the discipline of sealed samples, shipment samples and factory audits, which tie what was approved to what is actually shipped.
The economic logic is straightforward. Every stage a defect passes through adds the cost of the work done on a faulty garment, and a defect that reaches a retailer can trigger chargebacks on top of the cost of the goods themselves. That is why QA is planned rather than improvised: the plan states what will be inspected, at which stages, against which standards, and what happens when product fails. Statistical methods and acceptable quality levels give those decisions a shared, measurable basis between buyer and factory.
Not every company holds all of that expertise in-house, and the field expects outside help. Inspection services, testing laboratories and consultants are a normal part of the quality landscape, particularly when a company is introducing new practices or entering a product category it has not made before. The directory sections linked from this page — quality testing, inspection services, testing labs and testing methods — map that support network, so a reader who understands what quality assurance requires can also find the specialists who perform each part of it.
QA covers the plan and procedures a manufacturer or supplier uses to control quality, including factory monitoring, testing, inspections and audits — from piece goods inspection through cutting room and in-process quality control.
Product that is not produced to the highest quality standards risks fashion retail chargebacks, so quality failures carry a direct financial cost as well as a reputation cost.
Companies can consult inspection services or consultants. It has become customary to use consultants and contractors when introducing new quality practices and methodologies, especially when the relevant skill set and experience are not available within the organization.