ABOUT THE CATALOGUE

he extent of defects that occur at various stages of manufacturing largely determine the quality of a woven fabric. There are various procedures through which the quality of fabric can be assessed based on the nature and extent of defects. Awareness and implementation of such quality assessment systems in the industry will result in three major benefits: (a) The reasons for defects can be understood and therefore corrective steps can be taken to prevent recurrence of such defects. (b) The quality of the fabric can be assessed as per the internationally accepted procedures, before the material is offered to the buyers, so that the likelihood of rejection by the buyer on account of poor quality can be avoided. (c) The made-ups and apparel manufacturing units can assess the quality of fabric being procured by them, before accepting the consignments. The level of awareness and skills to assess the quality of fabric are not adequate in the decentralised powerloom, made-ups and apparel manufacturing sectors. The need for such awareness becomes more acute in the wake of highly competitive trade environment emerging on account of ATC/ WTO agreements. The industry is required to be conscious and aware about the quality requirements and the tools to assess the quality. There is no ready reckoner, at present, which serves as a tool for the industry in quality assessment/ inspection of woven fabric, except some foreign books. In order to fill this gap and also meet the objectives as mentioned in the first paragraph above, the Textiles Committee has brought out this comprehensive catalogue. It provides details about 45 defects, which are the most common at various stages of manufacturing of woven fabric, their causes and procedures for mending of such defects. In addition, the catalogue also provides the details of methods/ systems for quality assessment/ inspection of woven fabric as per internationally acceptable procedures. Original samples of defective fabrics were collected from the industry and reproduced here by scanning. The contents of the catalogue were finalized based on rich experience of Textiles Committee in quality inspection of textiles and reference material available in various international publications. The utility of this catalogue was also validated through training programmes organised by the Textiles Committee for the industry personnel about quality inspection/ assessment during the year 2001-02. This has been designed to serve as a working tool for in-house use in quality control by the industry and also for the purpose of training of the industry personnel by the Textiles Committee.

Experienced Quality Assurance Officers of the Textiles Committee, located in all its 30 offices, have the requisite capability to conduct the training programme for the industry personnel in quality appraisal of woven fabric, using this catalogue as a training tool. The contact details of the 30 offices are given at the end of the catalogue. The Textiles Committee urges the industry to avail of these services for training of their personnel. Bringing out this catalogue is yet another initiative on the part of the Textiles Committee to serve the Indian textile and clothing industry in a meaningful manner. The Committee has several such publications and working tools to its credit. Some of these are: guidelines for classification of woven and knitwear garments, compilation of rules of origin/GSP of various countries, dos and donts for manufacturing of eco-friendly textiles etc. Apart from these, the Committee has been providing several other services to assist the industry in quality improvement. Today the Committee runs the largest network of textile testing laboratories in the country (18 laboratories), provides consultancy services on implementation of ISO 9000/ ISO 14000/SA 8000 systems (150 companies so far), extends pre-export quality inspection/ certification services and undertakes industry specific studies such as status of processing industry, consumption pattern of textiles etc. The Committee has also launched several training programmes for capacity building of middle level executives of the decentralised textile and clothing industry. Our Mission is to emerge as single stop service centre for quality improvement in textile and clothing industry. Textiles Committee trusts that the industry will find this catalogue useful and fully make use of this in their efforts to improve the quality. Any constructive suggestions to improve the contents and the presentation style of the catalogue are most welcome. The Textiles Committee places, on record, its appreciation for the efforts made by the Secretary and his colleagues in Head Office and the Regional Offices of the Committee in bringing out this catalogue.

MR GANESH KUMAR GUPTA Chairman Textiles Comittee

Dated 18th May 2002, Mumbai