Apparel Production, Quality Control and Care
This domain covers the production sequence, quality standards, defect identification and correct care labelling of apparel and home textiles.
Core concepts
- Production flow: design and sampling → pattern and grading → fabric inspection → cutting → sewing → finishing → inspection → packing and dispatch.
- Quality control checks materials, measurements, seams, symmetry, colour, trims and labelling. Inspection may use sampling plans such as AQL rather than checking every piece.
- Defects include skipped stitches, broken stitches, puckering, mismatched stripes, incorrect measurements, stains and wrong labels. Classify by severity and act on root causes.
- Care labels use standard symbols for washing, bleaching, drying, ironing and dry cleaning. Fibre content and country-of-origin information may be legally required.
Worked example
A shirt has a loose thread on the inside seam and a broken stitch on the front placket. The loose thread is a minor appearance defect that can be trimmed. The broken stitch is major because it affects seam integrity and may open during wear. The reasoning is based on function and risk, not on the size of the defect. The broken stitch must be repaired and the machine checked for needle, tension or thread faults.
Traps that cost marks
Do not treat quality control as only final inspection; it starts with fabric and pattern checks. Do not ignore care-label symbols. Do not assume a small stain is always minor if it is on a visible front panel. Do not use the same corrective action for every defect; find the cause.
Exam focus
Sequence ordering, defect classification, care-symbol interpretation and inspection-purpose questions.