20/03/2018 Classify the fault Defects in garment manufacturing - Apparel Views

About Us Advertise with Us Contact Us     SEARCH 

• • •

NEWS  FASHION TRENDS TECHNOLOGY EVENT REPORT

UP-COMING EVENTS  PUBLICATIONS

CLASSIFY THE FAULT

DEFECTS IN GARMENT
MANUFACTURING
Posted by MAUSMI AMBASTHA | Jul 31, 2017 | Expert
Opinion

COVER
STORY

In our defects article series, we have so far covered the

defects occurring in knitted and woven fabrics and also
in embroidery. Now, we are going to take up the defects 
that occur in our nal garments, and how can we
control or correct them.
Union Budget 2018-19
Garment defects can be caused due to the use of and clothing exports
defective fabric, workmanship defects and handling
http://www.apparelviews.com/classify-fault-defects-garment-manufacturing/ 1/10
20/03/2018 Classify the fault Defects in garment manufacturing - Apparel Views

defects, and due to the defects in the trims and

accessories being used in the garment. FACE TO
FACE

Fabric Defects
Part of the defects occurring in the nal garment could
be caused due to the defects in the fabric being used. In
our previous articles we have discussed the defects that
can occur in knitted and woven fabrics, their causes and
possible remedies in depth.
XAAR launches new p
technologies to streng
Workmanship & Handling Defects
in Indian market
Garment manufacturing is a long process compromising
of various stages, pattern making, spreading, cutting,
sewing and nishing. Hence, defects can creep in any of
or all of these stages, so we need to stay vigilant at each
of these stages to ensure the desired quality of the nal
garment.

There are a variety of workmanship and handling

defects that occur commonly in garments:
ARCHIVES
Pattern Stage:
March 2018 (76)
There are various defects in patterns that mar the
garment quality. At times patterns or parts of the
February
patterns can be missing from the marker, or if the
2018 (53)
marker wasn’t correctly labelled, we can end up with
mixed garment parts, which can lead to garments with
January 2018 (97)
wrong size of parts. In napped fabrics, if patterns are
not facing the right direction, garment design can be
December
compromised.
2017 (96)

Pattern not properly aligned to fabric’s grain line, or

November
poor line de nition can lead to inaccurate cutting.
2017 (94)
Skimpy marking to better utilise the fabric by not using
the patterns’ outside edge for cutting, or moving pattern
October 2017 (88)
to squeeze into smaller spaces, can lead to patterns 
with worn out edges or faulty and wrong sized parts,
which leads to puckering or pleating when the garment
parts are sewn together as they are not of correct sizes.
September
Missing or displaced notches and drill marks, not 2017 (92)
enough knife clearance, wrong check matching, or

http://www.apparelviews.com/classify-fault-defects-garment-manufacturing/ 2/10
20/03/2018 Classify the fault Defects in garment manufacturing - Apparel Views

wrong check boxing, all can hamper the quality of the August 2017 (111)
nal garment.
July 2017 (128)
Spreading Stage:
Narrow fabric lay, misaligned plies, or not enough plies, June 2017 (58)
all can lead to missing bits in the garment parts.
Incorrect ply tension leads to size variations in the parts. May 2017 (16)
Also, while spreading, incorrect ply direction, splicing
errors, distortion in lay due to static between plies can April 2017 (75)
lead to incorrect cutting, especially if the fabric has
checks or stripes.
February
2017 (12)
Cutting Stage:
Failure to precisely follow the marker lines, leaning
straight knife while cutting, using round knife on a
considerably high speed, misplaced or incorrect notches
and drill marks, frayed or fused edges due to blunt
knife, faulty marker placement, etc. lead to distorted
garment parts or missing bits which leads to uality
issues at later stages.

Some of the defects that occur due to faulty

workmanship and handling are:
NEWSLETTER
SIGN-UP

Name

Email

Shade Variation SUBSCRIBE

CAUSES

Shade variation in fabric

Parts mixing FEATURED

VIDEO
REMEDIES

http://www.apparelviews.com/classify-fault-defects-garment-manufacturing/ 3/10
20/03/2018 Classify the fault Defects in garment manufacturing - Apparel Views

Fabric inspection and quality monitoring

Proper numbering and bundling processes

00:00 01:59
Seam

Puckering:
Bunching of fabric in a seam is seam puckering

CAUSES

High thread tension

Faulty fabric feeding

Using wrong thread and/or needle

REMEDIES

Maintain proper thread tension while sewing

Fabric should be fed through the machine at a

constant rate

Choosing appropriate needle and thread thickness as

per the fabric requirements

Open
Or

Broken Seams:
http://www.apparelviews.com/classify-fault-defects-garment-manufacturing/ 4/10
20/03/2018 Classify the fault Defects in garment manufacturing - Apparel Views

Openings or unstitched parts in seams

CAUSES

Faulty sewing practices

REMEDIES

Ensuring the garments are folded property and

pressure is not being applied on seams

Proper sewing operator training

Broken Stitches
CAUSES

Improper thread feed to machine

Incorrect thread tension

Abrasive handling of the piece

REMEDIES

Training workers to handle the garment properly

Thread trimming should not be done aggressively

Manage the thread feed and tension

Skipped Stitches:
Irregular stitches along the seam

CAUSES

Use of bent needles

Incorrect tension in sewing and bobbin thread

REMEDIES

Use reinforced needles

Set the needle guard to ensure needle clearance 

Manage thread tension

Select proper thread twist and thickness

Wavy Seam:

http://www.apparelviews.com/classify-fault-defects-garment-manufacturing/ 5/10
20/03/2018 Classify the fault Defects in garment manufacturing - Apparel Views

Wavy Seam occurs when the seam is not straight

CAUSES

Rough handling when cutting and sewing

Tension applied on part while sewing is high

Wrong needle size

REMEDIES

Ensure proper material handling

Train operator to not pull excessively while cutting or

sewing

Choose the correct needle size

Misaligned Buttons And Buttonholes

CAUSES

Error made by the machine operator

REMEDIES

Internal QC checks

Operators should be aware of the design and

dimension speci cations

Untrimmed Threads:

Extra lose thread appearing along the seam

CAUSES

Tail ends left untrimmed post sewing

http://www.apparelviews.com/classify-fault-defects-garment-manufacturing/ 6/10
20/03/2018 Classify the fault Defects in garment manufacturing - Apparel Views

REMEDIES

Trim the threads using clipper or trimmer

Out
Of

Tolerance Sizing:
The dimensions or measurements of the garment parts
are not within the tolerance limits de ned by the buyer

CAUSES

Cutting and sewing operators having incorrect

information

REMEDIES

Ensure the operators have the dimension

speci cations

Ensure correct pattern making

Inspect rst piece form every size in an order

Trims & Accessory Defects

At times the use of wrong colour or size of trims or
embroidery or wrong placement of the same can also
make the garment defective. The defects that can
appear in embroidery have been discussed in depth in
our previous article of this series “Embroidery defects.”
Other than embroidery defects some of the other
commonly occurring trim defects are:

Broken Trim:
Use of broken or inoperable trim or if the trim is
insecure

http://www.apparelviews.com/classify-fault-defects-garment-manufacturing/ 7/10
20/03/2018 Classify the fault Defects in garment manufacturing - Apparel Views

CAUSES

Rough trim handling

Rushing through production process

REMEDIES

Internal QC checks

Good quality trims

Wrong Trim:
The trim used di ers in colour or size, or might be
missing when compared against the buyer’s
speci cation

CAUSES

Rough trim handling

Rushing through production process

REMEDIES

Internal QC checks

Good quality trims

Trim Bleeding
CAUSES

Trim quality not as per speci cation

Garment nishing not appropriate

REMEDIES

Internal QC checks

Good quality trims

Garment label should contain care instructions

Garment nishing should follow the manufacturer’s


care instructions for trim

With the knowledge of the commonly occurring defects

and their causes and remedies we can take measures to
alleviate the risks of quality fallouts in our orders.

http://www.apparelviews.com/classify-fault-defects-garment-manufacturing/ 8/10
20/03/2018 Classify the fault Defects in garment manufacturing - Apparel Views

Keeping the above pointers in mind, we can align the

quality inspection process in our factories to produce
quality output.

SHARE:      

 PREVIOUS NEXT 

XAAR’S new customer waveform Bangladesh provides training to

tool saves time for OEMS farmers in modern cotton
cultivation

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MAUSMI AMBASTHA
Founder and COO of ThreadSol. Winner of
the esteemed Grace Hopper Celebrations
Entrepreneur Quest 2013, is an
established expert in the garment
industry with over 10 years of experience.
Mausmi holds a Masters degree in
Fashion Technology from NIFT, Delhi and
is also B.Tech in Computer Science. She
has written over 15 publications for
several leading apparel magazines and
also writes her own apparel blog called
StitchDiary on www.stitchdiary.com

RELATED POSTS 

What is aisle Sustainable Invoke ROO From the

http://www.apparelviews.com/classify-fault-defects-garment-manufacturing/ 9/10
20/03/2018 Classify the fault Defects in garment manufacturing - Apparel Views

spacing and and provision To editor

why is it Ecological stop cheap January 17, 2018
important? Finishing textiles
January 17, 2018 Technology imports
for Denim January 17, 2018
Jeans
February 20,
2017

LEAVE A REPLY
Your email address will not be published. Required elds are marked *

COMMENT

NAME * EMAIL * WEBSITE

Please enter an answer in digits:

one × 2 =

POST COMMENT

Copyright © 2017 Apparel Views. All rights reserved.

http://www.apparelviews.com/classify-fault-defects-garment-manufacturing/ 10/10