The Fundamentals of Quality Assurance in the Textile Industry

Stanley Bernard Brahams

• Publisher: Productivity Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781498777889
• eBook ISBN: 9781315402482
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

The role of quality assurance is to ensure that once a specification has been agreed, every product and every production run meets that standard.

The Fundamentals of Quality Assurance in the Textile Industry describes how quality professionals in the apparel industry coordinating with overseas factories can ensure excellence. The author explains what tools are required and how to manage products from style conception to finished production and the methods used to track and evaluate samples and production at each stage of the critical path. This book reinforces the concept that quality assurance must become an integral part of the business and details crucial procedures that have been adopted internationally.

1

Who Is Responsible for Quality?

DEFINING THE ROLE OF THE QUALITY CONTROLLER

The process of range building, sourcing, planning, and controlling production varies from company to company, and the responsibility for quality assurance also depends very much on how the company operates. It is fair to say that quality is everyone’s responsibility; however, individuals with specific responsibilities have to be appointed. There are several titles used in industry to describe this role:

•  Quality assurance manager

•  Quality controller

•  Technical manager

•  Product development manager

•  Technical designer

•  Garment technologist

The role can be divided into two main areas of responsibility: technical and quality auditing.

1.  Technical responsibilities include patterns, size charts, specifications, fabric approval, organizing fittings, and keeping up to date with new technology.

2.  Quality audit’s responsibilities include assessment of factories, dealing with quality issues, analyzing why faults are happening, and checking that the production is correct.

In larger companies, these two areas of responsibility are sometimes separated, but in smaller companies, one individual or department has the responsibility for both. Whichever type of company you work for, this role is a key position; responsibilities vary from company to company, but the objectives are exactly the same. In this book, I’m combining the two roles, so that you have an overview of the total picture of all factors involved in quality and that you should have the ability to influence internally and externally to meet business objectives. Most importantly, you learn to take ownership of the quality standards and issues of the suppliers with whom you are working.

COMPANY PROFILES

When looking for their first job, many design graduates will be happy to take any employment offered to them, as long as it’s in the fashion business, but I think that it pays to be focused on the branch of the industry that you would really prefer to work in. Below, I have listed four different types of companies and explained how the role of the technologist may vary within each of them.

International High Fashion Brand with Shops and In-Store Concessions - Company A

This type of company will include head office, employing stylists, designers, pattern cutters, with its own sample room. This company will most likely supply patterns to the factories and employ its own fabric buyers and technicians. Most production will be made offshore in many different countries, and it may have offices based locally in those countries to source and control production. It will also include head of quality and technical services, possibly at the director level, with a team of technologists, each responsible for a garment category, for example, woven top, trousers, knitwear, dresses, tailoring, nightwear, and underwear. Technologists will liaise with their head office fabric department, working closely with and visiting factories in the many different countries. Inspection of finished goods will be done by a quality control (QC) team at the factory or at the company’s warehouses.

Chain of Departmental Stores, Catalog Companies, and Internet Shops - Company B

This type of company will sell a diverse product range for men, women, and children of all ages.

The company may employ designers, but usually, the buyers will put their own ranges together by visiting fashion and trade fairs and by working with their suppliers, researching new trends.

Each buying department may have a technologist as part of its team, who will report either to a QC manager or to the buying manager. Fabric may be tested in-house or by an accredited lab, and the technologist may have the responsibility to ensure that the testing is carried out satisfactorily. Delivery inspections will be done by a team at the company’s warehouses or by the technologist at the factory.

Import Agent - Company C

The main business of import agents is to provide supplies to chain of departmental stores, catalog companies, and internet shops. They will be working with factories in many countries, and today, they employ their own designers, who, as part of the service, will put new ranges together or source styles that the customers want as part of their range. They will offer a full service of design, sourcing fabrics, sampling, production, shipping, and warehousing and delivery inspection.

The technologist will usually have the responsibility for the complete package of all products for individual customers, liaising with both their QC and their buying departments. They will ensure that fabrics and trims are tested and approved to the customer’s standard and will check approval samples before submitting to the customer and attending fit sessions with the customers’ QC. By working closely with the factories, they will visit them on a regular basis, finalizing approval samples and checking production, sometimes with the customers’ own QC personnel.

New Label - Company D

The last example is a company that has been trading only for several years or even possibly for just a few seasons. They are design led and successful owing to their designs being original, commercial, and correctly priced, and they were fortunate in teaming up with the right manufacturers. They find themselves in the enviable position of an increasing demand for their designs. Success may come quickly, but once it is achieved, maintaining it is the difficult part. A new company that grows rapidly and whose priority has been to design and market will not have had time to think too much about organization; however, as they continue growing, their product range will increase and so will the quantities they sell, and they will need to look to source new factories. This is the time they will need to introduce procedures for controlling the sampling and production to ensure that they maintain the quality that has given them their success. Up to this point in time, the designers will have probably traveled to the factories with ideas and sketches to work on the new ranges, developing a close working relationship with the manufacturer. At this stage in the company’s growth, a technical designer/quality controller would take responsibility for liaising directly with the factories for creating technical packs, finalizing fit/sealing samples, and controlling production.

JOB BRIEF

Below is an actual job brief for a senior technologist, advertised by a recruitment agency in London. It clearly shows that the successful applicant will be expected to be involved in all aspects of sampling and production, working closely with all departments. Although the technologist will report to the technical manager, the company will expect the technologist to take day-to-day responsibility for all quality issues.

In this book, I endeavor to cover all aspects of this job description, which are as follows:

•  Provide full technical management for the supplier.

•  Own the specific technical elements of the product technical specification package: creating and managing the construction details, size charts (utilizing when required CAD images and drawing), key technical areas, presentation, wash care, and packaging.

•  Attend fit meeting and line reviews with all customers. This includes measuring and preparing all samples (with help from a junior/freelance QA).

•  Provide a liaison with vendors on all aspects of fit, construction, and technical and quality-related issues, which will involve some overseas travel to the Far East.

•  Create, maintain, and manage the library for the standards of features, construction, trim, components, labels, packaging, and so on.

•  Review supply base, with close liaison to monitor supplier performance, and introduce new suppliers, as required.

•  Constantly monitor and improve return rates.

•  Organize all fit meetings and manage workload within critical path.

•  Manage compliance requirements.

•  Identify and resolve any quality issues with shipments that may occur.

•  Review on-going processes and bring improvement in the quality of the brand.

Candidate Profile

•  Computer literate to include Microsoft Office

•  An excellent knowledge of garment construction

•  Knowledge of current fashion trends

•  Organization skills

•  Attention to detail

•  Ability to manage time and workload

•  Flexibility

•  Competence with multiple products

•  Able to work with all markets for production and customers

•  Experience of auditing processes

•  Full understanding of lab tests

•  Strong communication skills

2

Risk Analysis

Decisions on quality issues are rarely black or white, especially when they involve textiles. First, we work with materials that are often not stable and will stretch, shrink, or distort during cutting, sewing, or pressing; however, carefully, we try to prevent this from happening. Second, no two machinists sew in exactly the same way, and sometimes, a faulty batch can be traced back to one machinist. Making decisions on the acceptability of samples or production is often difficult, and “commercial decisions” have to be made, which must always be in the best interest of the business. Here are two examples of faults on a delivery of garments, which require a decision to accept or reject. Seven belt loops were specified on a trouser, but the production comes with six; four buttons were specified on a neck fastening of a polo shirt, but the production comes with three. Technically, these garments are wrong, but should they be rejected? The technologist’s first job is to check that the garments are still fit for purpose—do the six belt loops still support the trouser properly with a belt and is the neck opening with three buttons still large enough for the customers to get over their head? If your decision is that the garments are still fit for purpose, you would inform the buyer about the differences between the agreed specification and the final production and your decision that they are still commercially acceptable. Now, with this scenario, the buyer could decide either way. If he or she needs the stock, then he or she will be happy to accept the deliveries with your assurance that the garments are still fit for purpose and that the customers would never probably realize the difference. However, the buyer could decide to reject the deliveries and make it a quality issue for several reasons. He or she might not need the stock or intend to move production to another supplier; in this instance, it is the buyer’s choice to decide.

Let’s visualize another situation: In this instance of a sweatshirt style, the sealing sample has been approved and production starts; the factory notices that the zip insertion has caused the front edge to be very wavy, much more than the approved sample, and possibly, a large quantity has already been made. It might be due to the fact that the production fabric has more elasticity than the fabric used for the sealing sample or the tension is wrong on the sewing machine, or it might be an operative error. Now, the question arises: what to do with the ones already made? The last thing the factory wants to do is to stop production or repair the faulty ones, as it cost time and money; therefore, instead of informing the customer, a decision is made by the factory management to let the faults go. You might have an idea as to where this is going; when the factory sends production samples, it will select the best ones. Back at the head office, these samples will be approved and the delivery will be given the okay to ship. When the faulty garments are found in your warehouse or on the shelves in the store, the factory’s comment will be, you approved the production samples! This can then lead to a long protracted negotiation about who is responsible for accepting the poor qualit...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Author
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Who Is Responsible for Quality?
• Chapter 2 Risk Analysis
• Chapter 3 Three Fundamentals for Effective Control of the Supply Chain
• Chapter 4 Writing Procedures for the Supply Chain
• Chapter 5 Specifications
• Chapter 6 Fit and Fit Sessions
• Chapter 7 Fabric Specification and Performance
• Chapter 8 Fabric Testing
• Chapter 9 Supplier’s Manual
• Chapter 10 Product Development
• Chapter 11 Managing the Critical Path
• Chapter 12 Sample Reports and Approval
• Chapter 13 Assessing and Working with Factories
• Chapter 14 Inspection of Merchandise
• Chapter 15 More Preventative Action
• Summary
• Index