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 garment and apparel lab testing 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: Our experts 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)
Fastener fatigue and zip quality test
Waterproof test
Down feather leakage test
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: We 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
Chemical 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: Our labs test fashion jewelry made of various materials, including non-precious metals and polymer materials. Your materials are tested against relevant safety regulations to ensure that they are free of harmful substances. QIMA also offers a battery of performance tests for every type of fashion jewelry that check for 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.
Leather Goods Testing: Ensure that your leather products are made of genuine leather and meet the appropriate standards for durability and safety.
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. Our laboratories offer the following tests:
APEO testing
Flammability testing
Harmful substances
Fiber identification
Banned azo colorants
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
Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) Screening
GB 18401 testing
PFAS Testing
Antibacterial and antimicrobial testing
Formaldehyde testing
DMF 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)
Licensed apparel — sports collaborations, character lines, music and entertainment merchandise, fashion partnerships — operates under dual accountability: destination-market chemical and labeling regulations and the licensor's restricted substance lists and quality standards. The two don't always match, and the gap is where failures happen.
Our free Licensed Merchandise Compliance Checklist breaks down the three failure patterns most likely to cause licensed apparel launches to slip — with a self-assessment scoring rubric to prioritize fixes.
Download the Licensed Merchandise Compliance Checklist (10-minute self-assessment).
QIMA offers certification for all types of garments and apparel, which allow you to demonstrate the superior quality of your products to your consumers, and adhere to chemical management best practices and sustainable sourcing principles.
Certifications include:
Our world-class garment testing labs will determine which test you need for your market. With labs located in over 80 countries, our industry knowledge and expertise has been locally-cultivated to deliver region-specific QC and QA programs that enable your business to thrive.
