Activewear Quality Control
Quality is not a final inspection. It is a set of decisions made at fabric approval, cutting and inline — by the time the cartons are sealed, you can only reject, not fix.
Three checkpoints, not one
Inline inspection happens during sewing, before the garment is closed. It catches seam puckering, skipped stitches and wrong trim before they are buried inside a finished piece. Mid-line checks measurement drift. Final inspection samples the packed lot against the approved sample.
A factory that only inspects at the end is checking whether it is too late to fix anything.
What we measure on a legging
Waistband relaxed and stretched, rise, inseam, thigh, knee and leg opening — measured flat after the garment has relaxed, because a legging measured straight off the machine reads short. Seam strength at the crotch gusset, elastic recovery after repeated stretch, and opacity under tension.
For bras: underband tension, strap attachment, cup symmetry and hook-and-eye or bonding integrity. For tops: neckline recovery and armhole symmetry.
AQL and what the numbers mean
Most apparel programs inspect to AQL 2.5 for major defects and 4.0 for minor. That is a statistical sample, not a promise of zero defects — it defines how many you should expect to find in a lot and whether the lot passes.
If your channel cannot tolerate returns, ask for a tighter AQL or a higher inspection level. Both cost money and both are agreed before production, not after.
The defects that actually cause returns
Sheer leggings under stretch, waistbands that roll or dig, seam grin at the crotch, colour bleeding in the first wash, and size-to-size inconsistency. Almost all of them are decided at fabric selection and grading, which is why we push both before bulk.
Every lot ships with the inspection record so you can see what was checked and what was found.
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