How do you test the quality and performance of your textile products?

When working with your mill, request their Fabric Data Sheet (FDS), in addition to pricing, production and material parameters - it will often include standard test results, which is a quick and low-cost way to evaluate a material. Look for these: Performance: • Air Permeability (ASTM D737) • Vertical Moisture Wicking (ASTM 197) • Moisture-Vapor Transport Rate (ASTM E96) • Waterproof - Hydrostatic Pressure (ASTM F1671) • Water Resistance (AATCC 22) Durability & Care: • Shrinkage (AATCC 135) • Pilling (ASTM D3512) • Abrasion (ASTM D4966) • Stretch & Recovery (ASTM D3107) • Colorfastness (Crocking, Washing, Perspiration, Light) • Tear Strength (ASTM D1424) Properties: • Material Weight (ASTM D3776) • pH Value (ISO 3071-1980)

Rubbing a fabric with a wet cloth will tell you what exactly? Far to many variables eg how long was it rubbed for, how wet was the cloth, how much force was used, to give a meaningful result. Stick with accredited lab results. Even then people need some understanding of what the data means and if it will be an issue, take dark dyed jeans, these could have a rub fastness of 2 which may look poor yet millions of jeans are sold without issue.

Since the product is not labelled most of the times and got through e-websites, Customers are not aware whether the product is of good brand or low quality until they use. No Wash Care, No Label, No customer care. In this process, the consumer gets confused whether to stop the particular supplier or particular e-commerce platform which is huge risk for another vendors. every product should contain the name of the selling vendor, brand label, atleast the customer reviews should be taken more seriously on that particular vendor not on paid reviews.

In a world where threads can make or break a reputation, the quest for top-notch textiles is a real-life drama. the quality of products can make all the difference between a fashion flop and a runway sensation. Analyzingfiber composition,flaws of fabrics,performance test, fabrics are subjected to a series of climatic and mechanical stressors and only the most resilient fabrics get a nod of approval.It's a that requires patience, precision, and a healthy dose of skepticism. It's the bespoke blend of art, science, an. Every fabric is carefully crafted to meet the highest standards of quality, durability, and performance after meticulous testing, a commitment to excellence "Quality is not an act, it's a habit."

Burning a fabric sample will lead to blistered fingers or worse. You also have to know what the smell relates to and many fibres smell the same when burned eg Cellulose (cotton, viscose, modal, lyocell, bamboo) all tend to smell of burning paper.

OMG please never suggest to people to dip their fabric in bleach, thats ludicrous and the majority of people will not understand that that is simply a finction of teh specific dye used on the specific fabric. You could buy what looks like the same fabric in what looks like the same colour and get a completely different result. Always stick to laboratory performed tests, they are repeatable and always check with a textiles proffessional what the tests mean

All performance claims need verifying otherwise the veracity of the claims cannot be challenged. The statements regarding testing at home are laughable at best the other issue is the consumers understanding of testing. Hydrostatic head is a classic example, any garment with a hydrostatic head greater than 2 metres will be waterproof but people go looking for higher and higher numbers. It isn't more waterproof, it can't be its simply that water didn't penetrate to a greater degree in an abstract test. In cases like this the comparison is uninformed and pointless

Each product that we ship to customer goes through testing especially for some big box retailers. Besides that we have made this as our normal business practice to test all fabrics for their performance as if we test at fabric stage, it avoids a lot of issues that can arise later. Not only it’s better for us but gives our customer some peace of mind and they know that they are getting what we promised and maybe even better.

A Kawabata System is very useful for correlating quantitative test results (e.g. bending stiffness, compression) with qualitative fabric the five hand-feel "notes": 1. Soft: Soft feeling with flexible and smooth, bulky touch 2. Crisp: Stiff feeling with springy property 3. Cool: Moist feeling and smooth surface 4. Lofty: Bulky, rich and well-formed feeling; springy in compression with a warm sensation 5. Dry: A dry rustily feeling, a fabric that's slightly rough Its a useful framework for interpreting subjective feedback or comparatively evaluating fabrics' hand-feel.

The area of sensory tests is really contentious and history tells us that no matter what machine is used, it will need recalibrating constantly and you will never please all of the people all of the time. That said the basics o tests like drape or bend angle do help with certain end products and have helped define certain fabrics for years

These are not tests per se, they are far too subjective for that. What we are talking about is pre shipment inspections. What people have to realise is two fold. Firstly all produced items will have a degree of variability no matter who makes them or how well, each item will be different from the next. Secondly the staistical model used checks a statistically significant amount, not the whole quantity so some variabilities will always come through

There is an important point left out. These days custom made garment demand is booming. The made to measure garment is prepared with the D2C demand on the type of construction, content of cloth etc. There are hardly any test results attached with the garment, these garments reach the customer even without care and content label and even without country of origin. This happens because all these reaches customer as a personal courier. There shout be some centralised mechanism in the receiving country so that customer interest are protected

When it comes to labelling there should always be a label or some form of marking to let the customer know how to clean it, what it's made from and where it was made. Then there is language which when trading internationally can be a problem. Further to this, there are national regulations on such things as flammability, recycling and chemical restrictions to name but 3. How to get so much information onto a label in the right language without that label being huge? The use of QR codes could be the answer, printed or stamped on the material/garment and read by a mobile phone scan which then directs the reader to a web page specific to the garment/style where huge amounts of information can be stored.

Testing the textile materials will provide you idea about strength and durability of the product. Technical there are lots of technics and test for each testing. It's highly depends upon which textile materials and end product of it. Fashion, furnishings, technical textiles and automotive fabrics etc. In general testing we can consider strength, tearing, colour fastness, pilling and shrinkage etc

When it comes to bespoke garments or made to measure items, it is difficult to test the whole garment without damage and therefore doubling the cost. The materials from which it is made can however be tested for the parameters relevant to the intended end use. Knowing your raw materials is the key to successful made to measure. I garment/style where huge amounts of information can be stored.

@aju George Kurian, well made point however in Europe there is a clause within the fibre composition regulations that deals with bespoke items and they are exempt from teh requirements. The legislation is there to cater for teh overwhelmingly larger volumes of ready made rather than bespoke or made to measure items. The market may be booming but the exports of clothing from the likes of Shein ill always dwarf that market