Testing of textiles and leather can encompass a very large range of activities. Test items can range from raw materials right through to finished articles such as garments, upholstery and footwear. Any intermediate products may also be presented for testing. Examples would include yarns, sewing threads, cured and possibly dyed hides, cloth after weaving/knitting and before or after dying or printing.

There may also be requests to test other production materials such as dyestuffs, detergents and other additives for compliance with specifications or absence of undesirable contaminants. Additionally products may need to be tested for levels of undesirable materials such as some azo-dyes, formaldehyde, chromium(VI) and organotin compounds.

In this context the types of testing needed in textiles and leather testing laboratories include:-

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank SDL-Atlas for permission to reproduce pictures of testing equipment from their catalogue.

Our thanks to Interstoff Apparels Ltd of Gazipur, Bangladesh, for permission to reproduce some of their training records.