Garment Defects

Introduction
For every industry or business, to get increased sales and better name amongst consumers and fellow companies it is important
to maintain a level of quality. In the garment industry quality control is practiced right from the initial stage of sourcing raw materials to
the stage of final finished garment.
For textile and apparel industry product quality is calculated in terms of quality and standard of
 Fibers,
 Yarns,
 Fabric construction,
 Color fastness,
 Surface designs
 Final finished garment products.

However quality expectations for export are related to the type of customer segments and the retail outlets. There are a number of
factors on which quality fitness of garment industry is based such as – performance, reliability, durability, visual and perceived quality of
the garment. Quality needs to be defined in terms of a particular framework of cost.
The national regulatory quality certification and international quality Programs like ISO 9000 series lay down the broad quality
parameters based on which companies maintain the export quality in the garment and apparel industry. Here some of main fabric
properties that are taken into consideration for garment manufacturing for export basis:

 Overall look of the garment.

 Right formation of the garment.
 Feel and fall of the garment.
 Physical properties.
 Color fastness of the garment.
 Finishing properties.

There are certain quality related problems in garment manufacturing that should not be over looked:
 Sewing defects - Like open seams, wrong stitching techniques used, same color garment, but usage of different color threads on
the garment, miss out of stitches in between, creasing of the garment, erroneous thread tension and raw edges are some
sewing defects that could occur so should be taken care of.
  Color effects - Color defects that could occur are – difference of the color of final produced garment to the sample shown,
accessories used are of wrong color combination and mismatching of dye amongst the pieces.

 Sizing defects - Wrong gradation of sizes, difference in measurement of a garment part from other, for example- sleeves of ‘XL’
size but body of ‘L’ size. Such defects do not occur has to be seen too.
 Garment defects - During manufacturing process defects could occur like faulty zippers, irregular hemming, loose buttons, raw
edges, improper button holes, uneven parts, inappropriate trimming, and difference in fabric colors.

Defect Analysis
Various Defects (including trim defects):
 Broken buttons
 Broken snaps
 Broken stitching
 Seam Puckering
 Defective snaps
 Different shades within the same garment
 Dropped stitches
 Exposed notches
 Exposed raw edges
 Holes
 Inoperative zipper
 Loose / hanging sewing threads
 Misaligned buttons and holes
 Missing buttons
 Needle cuts / chews
 Open seams
 Pulled / loose yarn
 Stain
 Unfinished buttonhole
 Zipper too short
 Seam Puckering:
Seam Puckering: Refers to the gathering of a seam either just after sewing or after laundering causing an unacceptable seam
appearance.
Causes:

 This problem arises due to uneven stretching on to plies of fabric during sewing
 Improper thread tension, wrong sewing thread selection, dimensional
instability of the plies of fabric etc.

Remedies:
1. Machine feed mechanism must be better quality
2. Sewing thread must be selected properly
3. Thread tension must be kept in limit
 Drop/ Skipped Stitch
Drop stitch/Skipped stitch: Irregular stitching along the seam.

Causes:
 It appears due to improper handling of cut
pieces or machine usage.

Remedies:

 Examine the setting and

timing between needle and
hook or looped.
 Placing of needle properly.
 The tension of thread should
be adjusted.
 Needle size & thread size
must be adjusted.
 The pressure of pressure foot
must be adjusted accurately.
 Wavy/ Staggered Stitching:
Wavy/staggered stitching: Stitches are not straight.

Causes:

 It appears due to improper handling of cut

pieces, faulty feed mechanism, needle
deflection or wrong needle etc.

Remedies:

 Needle to be changed
 Needle size and thread size should be
changed
 Feed mechanism to be changed
 Open seam or broken seam
Open seam or broken seam: Portion of the garment that has not been covered by sewing thread.

Causes:
 This happens due to improper handling of
the parts of garments, improper setting
and timing between needle and looper or
hook etc.

Remedies:

 Proper setting and timing between

needle and looper or hook.

 Proper handling of the parts of garments

 Broken Stitch:
Broken Stitch: Non-continuous sewing thread.

Causes:

 It appears due to improper trimming or

machine usage.

Remedies:

 Proper machine usage

 proper trimming
 Uncut/ Loose Thread:
Uncut/ loose thread: Extra thread or loose thread on seam line.

Causes:
 It appears due to improper trimming or
finishing.

Remedies:

 Garments finishing should be checked

properly.
 Holes:

Holes: Broken holes in the fabric where you are able to see through the fabric to the other side.

Cause:
 Holes can come from fabric or it could be caused by the
production side, either by improper trimming or
broken needle puncturing the fabric.

Remedy:
 Better inspection of fabric and cut piece. Ensure that
fabric and cut pieces that are not up to standard are
not put into line and production is wasted. Replace
not standard cut pieces with usable ones before
input.
 Shading Variations within different parts

Shading Variations within different parts:

 Seams appear to be lighter or darker than
the other seams surrounding it.

Causes:
 It arises due to improper cutting, bundling and
numbering.

Remedies:
 After cutting the garment parts must be kept in
proper bundle with number.
 Seams not aligned at crossing of seams

Seams not aligned at crossing of seams: Seams are not lined up at

intersection of seams.

Cause:
 Defects generally come about either from improper
handling of the cut piece.

Remedy:
 When these defects starts to appear at close to 2% or 5
pieces, the production must be informed and the operator
must re-trained in the proper usage of the machine.
Others:
 Misaligned buttons and holes ,unfinished buttonhole, missing buttons, wrong

 placement of labels, hang tag, wrong folding or poor folding , improper packing into

 cartons – all these defects come from finishing section.

Garment Zoning for the Inspection of Visual Defects:
Visual defects are categorized as
 Major,
 Minor and
 Critical defects.

In some cases, a major defect can be considered as minor based on the location of the defect in a garment. This location is called as
zone. Zoning is done for fair evaluation of the garment during visual audit.
A garment can be divided up to 3 zones, like A, B and C. How many zones a garment would have are depends on products and end
use of the garment. Following zoning and marking defects accordingly (only major and minor defects are considered) inspector
prepares audit report. So it is important to divide garment into sections and mark defects accordingly.
For example, poor press at center front (zone - A) of a shirt is considered as major defect but if poor press is detected in back bottom
(Zone-B) of the same garment it is considered as minor defect. You should be aware that defects that falls under B and C zones are
not always considered as minor defects.

Most of the cases apparel buyers provide garment figures with marking zones in their quality manual. And provide a list of defects
that fall under major or minor categories. A knitted top has been shown with zones A and B. At the front sleeves and upper front is
considered as zone ‘A’ and lower front considered as zone ‘B’. On the back of the garment, under arms and back bottom is
considered as zone ‘B’
Sizing defects:

(Difference in measurement of various parts of garments), wrong placement of pocket, buttonhole, embroidery and prints ,
measurement discrepancy- all these problems come from pattern section.
Poor ironing:
if not sufficient, there might be creases and crinkles on garment surface and if ironing is too heavy, there might be shining mark on
garment.
misaligned buttons and holes ,unfinished buttonhole, missing buttons, wrong placement of labels, hang tag, wrong folding or poor
folding , improper packing into cartons – all these defects come from finishing section.
Trims, accessories and embellishment defects:
These defects include color, size and placement of trims such as labels, sewing thread, screen print, embroidery designs, zipper,
hangtag, lining, button and any kind of trims.
Defects are given below:
1. Unmatched color of thread
2. Broken button and zipper tape
3. Short zippers
4. Faulty zippers
5. Wrong labels
6. Improper size of the labels
7. Printing mistake of labels and cartons
8. Broken poly bag
9. Wrong hanger
 10. Improper embroideries and prints. Etc.

Remedy:

This type of defects occurred due to unawareness. That is why during production the garments should be checked properly (In line
inspection) and the booking of trims &accessories must be given as like as artwork

Trims, accessories and embellishment defects:

These defects include color, size and placement of trims such as labels, sewing thread, screen print, embroidery designs, zipper,
hangtag, lining, button and any kind of trims.
Defects are given below:
1. Unmatched color of thread
2. Broken button and zipper tape
3. Short zippers
4. Faulty zippers
5. Wrong labels
6. Improper size of the labels
7. Printing mistake of labels and cartons
8. Broken poly bag
9. Wrong hanger
10. Improper embroideries and prints. Etc.

Remedy:
This type of defects occurred due to unawareness. That is why during production the garments should be checked properly (In line
inspection) and the booking of trims &accessories must be given as like as artwork