7 Best Practices to Make High-Quality Garments
For Fashion Designers and Product Developers
Creating durable, high-quality garments involves more than just aesthetic considerations. It’s also about building a brand reputation and customer loyalty, as well as minimising returns and production issues.
In this article, you’ll find seven best practices to ensure compliance with your quality standards and avoid production problems and returns.
1. Sourcing and Testing:
- Sourcing: Require physical performance test reports from your suppliers “before” confirming your order.
- Testing: Perform thorough fabric and product testing, including:
- Colourfastness: Resistance to fading, bleeding, and crocking.
- Abrasion Resistance: Especially for areas with high friction, such as underarms, crotches, and cuffs.
- Pilling (especially for knitwear): Resistance to forming small balls of fibre.
- Dimensional Stability: How well the fabric maintains its original size and shape after washing and drying.
- Spirality (for knitwear): Measures the tendency of the fabric to twist or curl.
- Pull test for trimmings such as zippers, buttons, snaps, and labels.
- Corrosion resistance for metallic trimmings like snap buttons, rivets, and zippers.
2. Identify and Reinforce Weak Areas:
All garments have intrinsic weak points and stressed areas. For example, shoulders and necklines in knitwear are prone to stretching and losing shape.
Specify reinforced techniques like bounded or welt seams, the use of stay tape, or bartacks. For example, stay tape helps provide stability where seams may stretch out of shape, such as shoulders and necklines of knit garments.
Note: Find more information on “Reinforcements and Sewing Techniques” and “Stressed Areas” from pages 152 to 161 of the book Strong Seams.
3. Labelling:
- Provide clear and concise instructions. Use symbols and straightforward language to guide consumers on washing, drying, and ironing.
- Offer specific recommendations. For example, “Wash with like colours” or “Dry flat to prevent stretching.”
- Consider the environmental impact. Encourage consumers to use eco-friendly washing practices.
4. Strict Testing Throughout the Production Process:
- Initial Inspections: Inspections of raw materials help to identify and reject any defects before starting production.
- In-Process Inspections: Monitor critical production stages.
- Durability Wash Tests: Simulate multiple home laundries to assess the garment’s ability to withstand repeated washing and drying.
- Wear Trials. Perform real-world wear tests to assess the garment’s performance over time.
5. Customer Feedback:
Collect and analyse customer feedback through surveys, tracking reviews and comments on social media, and identify common problems on returned garments.
6. Packaging and Storage:
Protect garments from moisture, abrasion, and soiling during shipping and storage.
Summary
By applying these best practices, fashion brands can:
- ensure compliance with your quality standards,
- improve garments’ durability and quality,
- enhance customer satisfaction,
- build a strong brand reputation based on trust and reliability.
BONUS
7. Ensuring Quality and Durability for Garments with High-Contrast Fabric Trims
Garments with high-contrast fabric and trims, such as contrasting bindings, tapes, or piping, require special attention to ensure both aesthetic appeal and long-lasting performance.
Key Considerations:
- Colorfastness, including bleeding and Crocking.
- Shrinkage to minimise puckering and distortion.
Common Uses:
- Finishing edges and polishing seam allowances.
- Seam Reinforcement. Strengthen and stabilise seams.
- Decorative Details. Add visual appeal and contrast.
Common Locations:
- T-shirts: Back necklines, shoulders.
- Jackets: Side and centre back seams, armholes.
- Tops: Necklines, armholes (tank tops, camisoles).
- Bottoms: Hems, cuffs, slits.
- Other: Plackets, pocket openings.
This information is a part of the research conducted for our third book, Strong Seams, a seam catalogue focused on garment durability and quality.
We couldn’t include all the research in the book. However, we believe it’s worth sharing with people like you who are also interested in quality and long-lasting garments.
We hope the material is helpful. If you want to know more about our book Strong Seams, please visit the following link: book Strong Seams (link)
Consulted and Related Sources
- Bubonia, J. E. (2014). Apparel Quality: A Guide to Evaluating Sewn Products. Fairchild. ISBN 978-1609015123.
- Gwilt, A. (2020). A Practical Guide to Sustainable Fashion. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1350067043.
- Cooper, T., Hill, H., Kininmonth, J., Townsend, K., & Hughes, M. (2016). Wrap. Design for longevity: Guidance on increasing the active life of clothing. Retrieved from https://wrap.org.uk/resources/report/design-extending-clothing-life#download-file
- QIMA. (n.d.). Secrets of the Big Brand Garments Quality Inspection Procedure. Retrieved from https://www.qima.com/quality-control-services/garments-quality-inspection-procedure
- ABC Seams® Pty. Ltd.(2023). Laboratory Tests and Methods for Seams. Retrieved from https://abcseams.com/laboratory-tests-and-methods-for-seams/
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