Quality & testing
What gets checked in a textile product, why each check exists, and a plain-language guide to the standards a buyer will encounter.
What is checked, and why
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Dimensional stability
Shrinkage is measured after repeated wash cycles, not one. A fabric that survives its first wash and then creeps a size smaller over the next five has failed; the single-wash figure alone can hide that.
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Colourfastness
Checked three ways: to washing, to rubbing, and to light. Each answers a different question: does the colour survive the laundry, does it transfer onto skin and upholstery, and does it hold up in sunlight.
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Abrasion resistance
The standard measure is the Martindale method, which rubs a fabric against an abradant in a figure-of-eight motion and counts the cycles to failure. It is the closest a laboratory number comes to "how long will this last in hard use".
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Pilling
Surface pilling appears first where the garment rubs against itself. Early pilling usually points to short-staple or loosely spun yarn; it is a symptom of yarn quality, not just an appearance problem.
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Seam strength and slippage
Garments usually fail at seams before fabric. Stitch density, seam type and thread choice decide whether a seam holds, and slippage testing shows whether the fabric itself lets go of the stitching under load.
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Trims and hardware
Zips are cycle-tested; buttons and rivets are pull-tested. A garment whose fabric outlives its zip has still failed for the person wearing it.
Standards a buyer may encounter.
A short glossary of the standards most often referenced in this category, in plain language:
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OEKO-TEX® Standard 100
Tests finished textiles for harmful substances against defined limits. It is a product-level certification held by the manufacturer of the certified material, which is why we phrase it as a sourcing preference: where possible, we source materials certified to this standard.
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EN ISO 13688
The general requirements standard for protective clothing, covering ergonomics, innocuousness, sizing and marking. Other protective-clothing standards build on top of it.
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ISO 15797
Defines test methods for industrial washing and finishing of workwear, the reference point for whether a garment survives commercial laundering rather than a domestic machine.
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EN ISO 20471
The high-visibility clothing standard, governing the colour, retroreflectivity and placement of visible materials.
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REACH
The EU regulation restricting chemical substances in consumer goods, including textiles. Compliance is a legal requirement for products placed on the EU market, not a differentiator.
Certification versus claim
A certification is audited, issued by an independent body, and verifiable: anyone can check it. A claim is asserted by the seller and verifiable by no one. Much of the language used in this category blurs that line; we distinguish between the two in our own communication, and we describe standards only in the first sense. What those checks are applied to is set out in our materials guide and our development process.
Quality you can verify, not just read about.
If you are specifying a textile product, we are glad to talk through what it should be tested against.