Key takeaways
- Check sets as sets. A sheet set, a curtain pair or a napkin set with one piece in another shade or size is unsaleable, even if each piece passes alone.
- Measure pieces laid flat without tension, and weigh them. Short sizes and light fabric are the findings buyers lose the most money on.
- A broken needle or pin in the goods is a critical defect. Ask for the factory's needle control records and, where you require it, a metal-detector check.
- Colour fastness, fibre content, thread count and shrinkage figures are lab results. On site the inspector screens with a rub test and, where agreed, a quick wash.
Before the visit: what to send the inspector
Home textiles are judged against a specification, a sample and a set of artwork. Send these before the inspection date:
- Purchase order and packing list, by style, colour and size, with the number of pieces per carton.
- The approved sample, sealed, or clear photos of it. For colour, the approved lab dip or a shade band showing the acceptable range. See golden samples and approved samples.
- Size chart with tolerances, for example ±2 cm on a flat sheet or a stated minimum pocket depth on a fitted sheet.
- Fabric weight as GSM, and for towels the weight per piece, with a tolerance.
- Label and packaging artwork: fibre content, care, origin, size, brand, barcode, insert cards, polybag warnings and carton marks.
- Lab reports and certificates already issued, such as colour fastness reports or GOTS and OEKO-TEX certificates, so the inspector can match them to the goods.
- Your defect list and AQL, written into an inspection checklist.
Book the final inspection when production is finished and most of the order is folded, packed and in cartons. Earlier than that, the inspector cannot check packing or draw a sample from the whole lot.
The inspection, step by step
The inspector needs a table large enough to lay out a king-size sheet or a curtain panel, good daylight or a light box, a tape measure, a scale, and a GSM cutter where the factory has one. On the day the checks run in this order:
- Count and pick the sample. Count cartons against the packing list. The sample size comes from ISO 2859-1 for the lot size and AQL; see AQL sampling explained or the AQL calculator. The inspector picks cartons from across the stack, not from a pile set aside by the factory.
- Check the pack before opening it. Fold size, insert card, polybag, sticker and barcode position, and how the set is presented. Once a piece is unfolded, this evidence is gone.
- Shade. Compare each piece with the approved sample in a light box or in north daylight. Then compare the pieces inside each set with each other: flat sheet with fitted sheet, both curtain panels of a pair, all napkins in a pack, bath with hand towel.
- Measurements. Lay each piece flat without stretching it and measure length and width at more than one point. Add the product's own measurements: fitted-sheet pocket depth, curtain drop at both sides, both diameters of a round tablecloth, the overlap of an envelope cushion cover.
- Weight. Weigh towels, quilts and throws per piece. For flat fabric, cut a round swatch from a spare piece or the end of a roll with a GSM cutter and weigh it, where the buyer allows a cut. Compare the average and the lightest piece with the specification.
- Workmanship. Run along every seam, hem and corner. Look for open seams, skipped stitches, wavy hems, open mitres, puckering, loose threads, slubs, holes, stains and print faults.
- Function and fillings. Run every zip end to end, button every button, pull ties, tassels and eyelets, and press and feel fillings in cushions and quilts for lumps and empty corners.
- Colour screen. Rub a damp white cloth on dark shades and on embroidery thread. If the buyer asks and the factory has a machine, wash and dry a few pieces as the care label says, then remeasure and look for bleeding.
- Labels. Read the fibre content, care, origin, size and brand labels on every sampled piece against the approved artwork and the market's rules, and scan the barcodes.
- Cartons and packing. Carton marks, count per carton, carton strength and dryness. Damp folded cotton grows mould in a container.
Each step is photographed, including passes, and each finding is classed critical, major or minor.
What changes for each product
The ten steps apply to all home textiles. Each product adds checks of its own:
| Product | Checks to add |
|---|---|
| Bed sheets and duvet covers | Fitted-sheet pocket depth and elastic, duvet closures and inner corner ties, pillowcase flap depth, a pick glass count as a screen against the thread-count claim |
| Bath towels | Weight per piece, a water-drop absorbency check, pulled loops, dobby border straightness, lint after a wash |
| Cushions and cushion covers | Zip runs, cover-to-insert fit, pull test on tassels, beads and mirrors, insert weight and recovery, fire labels for filled cushions sold in the UK |
| Curtains and blinds | Drop and width per panel, pattern height matched across a pair, eyelets twisted and pulled, heading tape cords, blackout lining held to a light, blind cords and safety devices |
| Table linen | All four sides and both diagonals, mitred corners, border distance from the hem, napkin set size and shade, coating on wipe-clean cloths |
| Quilts, bedspreads and throws | Fill weight and spread, quilting lines, fibre poking through, fringe and tassel pull, US law labels on filled bedding |
| Kitchen linen | Tea-towel absorbency and lint, apron straps and ties, oven-glove insulation and markings |
For hand-made pieces, agree what variation is acceptable before the visit; see crochet lace and embroidered textiles. For certified fibre claims, see organic cotton home textiles.
Check the fabric before it is cut
Most home textile faults start in the fabric: a shade bar across a roll, a light weight, a weaving fault that repeats every metre. By the final inspection they are sewn into finished goods. For a first order or a large one, book a during-production inspection when the fabric has arrived and cutting has started.
At that visit the inspector grades sampled rolls with the four-point system, which scores visible faults by length and converts them to points per 100 square yards. The method is described in ASTM D5430; the pass mark is whatever your contract sets. The inspector also checks shade from roll to roll and across the width, GSM and width. See the four-point fabric inspection system for a worked example.
The same visit checks the first finished pieces off the line against the approved sample, so that a wrong pattern or size can be corrected before the whole run is sewn.
Common home textile defects and their classes
Your defect list decides the class. These are the classes most buyers use:
| Defect | Usual class |
|---|---|
| Broken needle, pin or metal fragment in the goods | Critical |
| Sharp edge on a mirror, bead or eyelet | Critical |
| Accessible blind cord loop without the safety design the market requires | Critical |
| Shade difference inside a set, or against the approved sample beyond the shade band | Major |
| Size outside tolerance, fitted sheet that will not fit the labelled mattress | Major |
| Weight or GSM below specification | Major |
| Zip that jams, missing buttons, insert that will not fit the cover | Major |
| Wrong or missing fibre, care or origin label | Major |
| Colour transfer on a rub test or bleeding on a wash | Major |
| Open seam, hole, visible stain | Major |
| Loose thread ends, small slub, slightly wavy hem | Minor |
One critical defect fails the lot on its own. Major and minor defects are counted against the accept and reject numbers for your AQL; see critical, major and minor defects.
What the inspector checks and what needs a lab
| At the factory | In an accredited lab |
|---|---|
| Shade against the sample and within sets, sizes, weight and GSM, seams and closures, fill spread by hand, dry and wet rub with a white cloth, a quick wash where agreed, labels, packing | Fibre content, thread count, dimensional stability after washing, colour fastness to washing, rubbing and light (ISO 105 or AATCC methods), restricted substances, flammability |
A rub test on site shows gross colour transfer. It does not give a grey-scale grade. Clear To Load has no laboratory of its own: we pull and seal samples for an ISO/IEC 17025-accredited lab you choose or we suggest, and check the lab report against the goods. See lab testing coordination and lab testing for goods made in India. For chemical rules, see azo dyes and restricted substances and EU textile labelling.
Where home textiles are made, and booking an inspection
Home textiles for export come from several clusters. Panipat in Haryana is a DGFT Town of Export Excellence for carpets, other textile floor coverings and bed linen. Karur in Tamil Nadu is a Town of Export Excellence for handlooms and makes bed, table and kitchen linen, curtains and towels. The Erode district administration lists handloom bedspreads, towels and furnishing fabrics among its products. Solapur in Maharashtra holds the registered Solapur Terry Towel geographical indication.
Clear To Load is based in Jodhpur, with inspectors in Delhi NCR and Saharanpur within reach of Panipat. Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra orders are covered by an inspector who travels in, with the travel cost quoted before you book. Inspections are priced by the man-day; see pricing. A man-day covers fewer queen-size quilts than tea towels, because each sampled piece is unfolded, measured and refolded. The report follows within 24 hours and ends in one verdict: Cleared to load, Hold or Not cleared. Read more on home textile inspection or book an inspection.
Sources
- ISO 2859-1, Sampling procedures for inspection by attributes, Part 1 (iso.org)
- ASTM D5430, Standard Test Methods for Visually Inspecting and Grading Fabrics (ASTM)
- ISO 105-A02, grey scale for assessing change in colour (iso.org)
- DGFT: Appendix 1B, Towns of Export Excellence (Panipat, Karur)
- IBEF: Handloom industry and exports
- Erode district administration: About district (updated 6 Feb 2026)
- IP India GI registry: Solapur Terry Towel (application 9)