List of Garment Defects: Causes and Remedies with Images

Shubham Anil Jain
Sr. Consultant
Cent Edge Solutions LLP, Bangalore, India
Email: [email protected]

Introduction:
The act of sewing involves joining two pieces of fabric together by creating stitches using a needle and thread. One of the fundamental procedures in the production of clothing is sewing. The largest sector of the ready-made clothing business is the sewing sector. To maintain the required level of garment quality, several errors or defects occur in the stitching sector. We shall examine numerous causes of garment defects and their solutions in this post due of their importance.

Various Garment Defects with Their Causes and Remedies:

1. Skip stitch:

Causes:

• Inability of the hook, looper, or needle to enter the loop at the proper moment.
• An upper or lower loop with inconsistent thread tension.
• As a result of needle deflection.
• If the loop size of the needle is too tiny
• When fabric flagging occurs when stitching

Remedies:

• Check the positioning and timing of the needle relative to the hook or looper.
• Thread tension has to be changed.
• There should be a new needle.
• Thread and needle size need to be adjusted.
• The pressure foot’s pressure setting needs to be correct.

2. Broken stitch:

Causes:

• Improper thread unwinding from the package is a common cause.
• Increased thread tension.
• More than usual needle heating.
• Thread of lower quality

Remedies:

• Reduce the tension in the tension disc as a remedy.
• Lessen the thread tension.
• Using sturdy yarn.
• Swap out the needle if necessary.
• Apply a coarser needle.
• Using needles of superior grade.
• Apply lubrication.

3. Open seam:

Causes:

• Improper handling of clothing’s component parts.
• Incorrect positioning and synchronization of the needle with the looper, hook, etc.

Remedies:

• Clear stitch line marks
• Correct positioning and timing of the needle relative to the looper or hook.
• There should be measurable tension.

4. Seam puckering:

Causes:

• During sewing, there is uneven stretching on the fabric plies.
• Insufficient thread tension.

Remedies:

1. Feed dog, eyelets, and thread guides need to be frequently inspected for damage.
2. A higher-quality machine feed mechanism is required.
3. Don’t tamper with the tension, SPI, or presser foot pressure.

5. Crease mark:
In the sewing section, creases are a regular mistake.

Causes:

• Imperfect tension.
• If the percentage of thread and fabric shrinking is not the same.
• If the time isn’t exactly right.

Remedies:

• Perfect tension is the best solution.
• The percentage of thread and fabric shrinkage must be the same

6. Needle hole:

Causes:

• Due to the missing needle.
• Insufficient cleaning.
• Breakage of yarn at a knot.
• Extremely tight yarn twist.

Remedies:

• Thoroughly cleaning the machine.
• An air gun is used to eliminate dust.
• Check with a broken needle

7. Seam slippage:
The fabric on either side of the seam distorts.

Causes: Happens mainly in this type of fabric.

• Fabrics with low no. of warp & weft yarns.
• The fabric on either side of the seam distorts as the fabric yarns slide away resulting in a permanent gap.

Remedies:

• Increase seam allowance.
• Use a higher stitch density.
• Opt for a lapped fell seam.

8. Ropy hem:
It is one that doesn’t lay flat and appears crooked.

Remedies:

• Typically brought on by careless operator handling.
• Tell the sewer to make sure the hem is properly started in the fabric, before they begin sewing, a folder.
• Watch out for excessive holding back when the seam is being sewed.
• Apply the lightest possible roller or presser foot pressure.

9. Un-cut threads:
It is a loose or extra threads along the seam line.

Causes:

• It appears as a result of incorrect finishing or cutting.

Remedies:

• Use a UBT or thread trimmer.
• Operator education.
• The finishing of the garments should be properly inspected

10. Shade variation:

Causes:

• Variations in the time and speed of the production process (such as the dyeing process)
• Incorrect pile direction (for polar fleece, velvet, and corduroy)
• Combining various textiles used in manufacturing
• Inaccurate numbering, bundling, and/or trimming

Remedies:

• A change in shade can be efficiently avoided by using the same base material and parameter set for each production batch.
• It is crucial to check that workers combine outfits of the same color when touring a facility that manufactures raw materials. The incorrect pairing of cuts that differ in shade is avoided by properly numbering the various textile types.

11. Out of tolerance sizing:
The dimensions or sizes of the garment parts do not fall within the buyer’s tolerance restrictions.

Causes:

• Incorrect information provided by cutting and sewing operators

Remedies:

• Ensure that the dimension specifications are available to the operators.
• Ensure proper pattern making
• Inspect the first piece of each size in an order

12. Trim bleeding:

Causes:

• Trim quality not as per specification
• Garment finishing not appropriate

Remedies:

• Internal QC checks
• Good quality trims
• Garment label should contain care instructions
• Garment finishing should follow the manufacturer’s care instructions for trim

Conclusion:
Customer happiness is the key factor in quality. Good quality raises the worth of a good or service, creates a brand name, and produces a good reputation for the exporter of clothing, all of which lead to satisfied customers, strong sales, and foreign exchange for the nation. A lot of factors contribute to a garment’s perceived quality, which when taken as a whole helps the consumer reach the desired degree of satisfaction. Therefore, quality control in the areas of the garment, pre- and post-sales services, delivery, pricing, etc., is crucial for every exporter of clothing.

References:

1. Gopalakrishnan D, Nayak A. Defects in garments. 2008.
2. Kiron MS. Seam defects and common seam quality. 2014.
3. Karthik T, Ganesan P, Gopalakrishnan. Apparel manufacturing technology. 2018.
4. Fashion 2 Apparel. Garments defects, causes and remedies. 2016.
5. Clothing Industry. Major sewing defects garments. 2018.
6. Study on different types of defects and their causes and remedies in garments industry, Journal of Textile Engineering 5(6):300-304, November 2019.

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Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. He is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.

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