QUALITY ASSURANCE SERVICES FOR SOFTLINES
A Proactive Approach to Brand Protection

In today’s highly complex and changing consumer marketplace, those in the softlines and textile industry, including manufacturers, brands and retailers, need to be confident that the products they deliver to market meet consumer expectations along with the required safety, regulatory and government standards globally. Meeting these objectives is crucial. Non-compliant products risk being recalled, while poor quality can result in consumer dissatisfaction and product returns.

Quality assurance services for softlines encompass a full-range of quality and safety compliance testing, inspection and consulting services to protect your brand by evaluating your softlines products. A comprehensive program can provide you with:

• Product evaluation at development and pre-production stages
• Testing to national and international standards
• Assessments for regulatory and safety compliance
• Product evaluation for appearance, quality and performance
• Technical support network to answer questions, interpret results, and help manage your quality assurance program
• Defect analysis of customer complaint items or manufacturing defects
• Comparative analysis of own brand products to the competition
• Design evaluations regarding particular design concerns or applicable regulatory and safety requirements

What are the key benefits

• Meet regulatory requirements for each distribution country
• Minimize the risk of substandard merchandise and costly customer returns
• Enhance risk management and brand protection

OUR APPROACH

At Bureau Veritas, we provide full quality assurance services on an ongoing basis to help protect your reputation and brand. We can work with you to identify quality concerns prior to distribution, monitor your private label brands throughout their life cycles, and assess all your products, including textiles, apparel and home furnishings for regulatory compliance. Our services incorporate extensive testing capabilities including:

• Technical outerwear testing including moisture vapor transmission, air permeability analysis, waterproof performance and thermal insulation properties
• Down and feather analysis including composition, oxygen content, turbidity and fill power
• Flammability testing for general wearing apparel, children’s sleepwear and home furnishings (rugs, carpets, blankets, mattress pads)
• Toxicology testing for formaldehyde, lead content, EN-71, AZO dyes and nickel free
• Care label verification and development to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of the Federal Trade Commission
• Colorfastness testing for washing, crocking, lightfastness, perspiration, water, saliva, etc.
• Detailed fabric and garment construction analysis including fabric weight, thread count, and yarn size
• Yarn analysis including type of spinning process
• Fiber composition and identification on specialty fibers such as wool and cashmere, along with all fiber blends
• Mechanical safety review on children’s clothing to verify the product meets the Consumer Product Safety Commission regulations for small parts, sharp edges, drawcords, etc.
• Hosiery evaluations on socks and pantyhose including detailed fit analysis
• Physical testing including tensile strength, tear strength, abrasion, pilling, etc.
• Trim testing for buttons, zippers, snaps, elastics, metal hardware, etc.