Textile Inspection Service

When cloth is stored in our warehouse, it may be secure, safe and ready for delivery, but what else can we do with that wasted time?

Inspect for faults and measure! As part of our range of value-added services, we can inspect for the following faults.

Faults: Bow Curvature of the warp or weft in a cloth. The cloth is said to be warp of weft-bowed according to which set of threads is curved. Skew (sometimes known as "off grain" or "grain fault"). A fabric condition in which the warp and weft yarns although straight are not at right angles to each other. Slub An abnormally thick place in a yarn. Whilst this is a clear fault in many textiles, there are some textiles which incorporate a slub yarn – a yarn in which slubs are deliberately created to produce a desired effect. In these cases the cloth inspector’s visual judgement is crucial. Cloth containing slub yarn can still be judged fault where individual slub is abnormal enough to detract from the desired effect. Broken Pick A pick (a single weft thread) that is inserted for only part of the fabric width. Broken End A warp thread that is not continuous for the length of an individual piece of cloth. Frosting Mark / Strip Mark A Frosting mark is an unusual fault, being much like a wash mark, but occurs when the cloth has not in fact been washed! It can be seen clearly on this photo as a white line down the garment – it is not a white thread though. Mending Impression Where the cloth has been mended, normally a simple full width join, it can leave an impression on subsequent layers of the roll. Strung Fault This is a fault which has already been identified, and is usually marked with a short piece of different coloured thread attached to the selvedge closest to the fault. Services: Scoring We can inspect using a point scoring system favoured by some of the major retailers such as the Marks and Spencer 6 point system, or the Debenham’s 4 point system. And of course we can tailor (excuse the pun!) reports according to your specific requirements. Report Forms Full reports are produced for all cloth inspected. To see a typed example please click here (MSWord-46Kb). This format can be amended to include specific client requirements. Measuring We can undertake just to measure cloth, and our clients often find that the cost of measuring is insignificant relative to the shortages discovered on rolls. All measuring equipment is calibrated to a tolerance of +/- 0.25% as required by ISO Standards. Equipment We use several machines including CTI modern inspection systems with variable angle inspection panel, edge control for accurate re-rolling, automatic width and length monitoring, and individual mapping of faults when required. Lighting We use TL84 adjusted light tubes for all our machines, but can readily swap to TL83, D65 or other specifications as required. Re-Bagging All inspected/measured rolls are rebagged and labelled – with original labels retained on roll. The PSL Group are members of The Textile Institute & The ASBCI (Association of Suppliers to the British Clothing Industry)