Garments and Apparel Testing

QIMA offers tailored solutions and customizable checklists for some of the world’s largest apparel brands and retailers to comply with country-specific regulations and international standards at each stage of their supply chain.

QC Tailored for the Apparel Industry

Today’s educated consumer is focused on finding apparel with the best balance of style, quality, and price, manufactured under the highest possible ethical standards. Increased consumer awareness is making apparel quality control more important than ever.

At QIMA, we offer quality control and assurance services for every stage of your apparel supply chain – from source to shelf. QIMA has over 1,000 off-the-shelf customizable product-specific inspection checklists. Our expertise in softline testing will help your brand ensure the safety and quality of your apparel.

Apparel & Garment Testing: Assess the quality of your apparel's materials and workmanship, using a number of quality control checks and tests, including:

Color shading
Colorfastness check (Rub test)
Symmetry check
Size fitting test
Adhesive check (logos, printings, markings fastness)
Fabric weight test (for knitted garments)
Fasteners fatigue and zip quality test
Waterproof test
Down feather leakage testing

Seam slippage test (for woven garments)
Care labeling
Needle damage check (for knitted garment)
Barcode scanning test
Burn test (for 100% cotton garment)
Mold contamination prevention
Metal contamination prevention
Ventilation test

Textile Testing: Evaluate the materials used in your textiles against your quality standards and the regulations of your destination countries. QIMA testing includes:

Fiber identification
Performance testing
Recycled polyester (rPET) fabric testing

Flammability testing
Eco textile testing (banned azo colorants, heavy metals, etc.)

Footwear Testing: QIMA provides a comprehensive range of quality control tests for every kind of footwear, allowing you to verify its durability and make sure its components are free of hazardous substances.

Jewelry Testing: Fashion jewelry made of various materials, including non-precious metals and polymer materials, is tested against relevant safety regulations to ensure that it is free of harmful substances. QIMA also offers a battery of performance tests for every type of fashion jewelry, allowing you to check corrosion resistance, flammability, tension, and other performance characteristics of your product.

Eyewear Testing: Whether your brand offers distance glasses, reading glasses, sunglasses, or prescription-free fashion eyewear, QIMA's quality control testing will help you ensure your eyewear satisfies all quality and performance requirements.

Leathergoods Testing: Ensure that your leather products are made of genuine leather and meet the appropriate standards for durability and safety.

Garment and Apparel Lab Testing Expertise

In addition to the above physical and mechanical tests, QIMA laboratory tests ensure that your garments and apparel meets consumer safety standards and regulatory requirements of your destination market. QIMA's laboratories offer the following tests:

APEO testing
Flammability testing
Harmful substances
Fiber identification
Banned azo colorants
North America chemical testing
Dimensional stability: torque, stretch and recovery, shrinkage
Tensile testing (tensile and tear strength)
Performance: abrasion or pilling (Martindale, ICI)
Weather Testing: waterproof, windproof, thermal, spray test, water / water vapor resistance, water vapor permeability

CPSIA testing
REACH testing
GB 18401 testing
Antibacterial and antimicrobial testing
Formaldehyde testing
Dimethylfumarate testing
Pentachlorophenol (PCP) testing
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) testing
Colorfastness check (CF to light, perspiration, saliva, water, bleach, etc.)
Optical evaluation (appearance after the desired care treatment)

Certifications for the Garments and Apparel Industry

QIMA, through Hansecontrol, offers certification for all types of garments and apparel, which allow you to demonstrate to your consumers that your products have superior quality, and have been manufactured with adherence to good chemical management practices and sustainable sourcing principles: