What does a buyer check when visiting a garment factory?
A buyer checks seven areas in order: fabric store, cutting room, sewing floor, in-line quality control, finishing and packing, warehouse and dispatch, and worker facilities. Each area produces evidence that cannot be supplied by photographs or a brochure.
The order follows the garment, so the buyer sees every stage in sequence. A visit takes 3 to 4 hours for a factory of 500 to 1,000 workers. Buyers carry the tech pack or sample for the style under discussion and compare it against garments on the line.
Photography rules are agreed in advance, and a buyer requests permission before photographing workers or other buyers' goods. The buyer records the factory's registered name, the address on the trade licence and the building's name, and compares them with the quotation and the bank account in the proforma invoice. A mismatch between the quoting company and the owner of the premises indicates a trading company or a subcontract.
What does each production area reveal?
The fabric store shows stock and testing; the cutting room shows marker efficiency; the sewing floor shows machine type and line balance; in-line QC shows defect control; finishing shows pressing and packing standards; the warehouse shows dispatch discipline.
| Area | What to look at | Evidence of a sound operation |
|---|---|---|
| Fabric store | Rolls labelled by lot, shade and width; inspection table | 4-point system inspection records; shrinkage and GSM test reports |
| Cutting room | Spreading tables, cutting machines, marker plans | Fabric utilisation of 85 to 90 percent in knit and woven markers; bundles tagged by size and ticket |
| Sewing floor | Machine count by type: lockstitch, overlock, flatlock, bartack | Line layout showing flow, operator names and skill matrix per station |
| In-line QC | Inspectors at stations and at the end of each line | Defect charts posted at each line; AQL checks logged |
| Finishing | Thread trimming, pressing, needle detection, folding | Metal detector in use; garment-by-garment checks |
| Warehouse | Carton labels, cartons by order, stacking | FIFO storage; order-labelled cartons; documented dispatch |
| Worker facilities | Exits, extinguishers, canteen, toilets, drinking water | Unobstructed exits, marked fire routes, drill records |
The 4-point system is a fabric inspection method (ASTM D5430) that assigns 1 to 4 penalty points per defect by size, and a roll with more than 40 points per 100 square yards is rejected. A factory running it holds the records. A factory without inspection tables in the fabric store passes fabric defects to the sewing floor.
Capacity is checked arithmetically. Daily output equals the number of sewing operators multiplied by working minutes, multiplied by line efficiency, divided by the garment's standard minute value (SMV). A buyer counts the operators on the lines allotted to the order and tests the factory's claimed output against this formula.
Which questions reveal whether production is in-house?
Five questions test in-house production: who owns the building and machines, which processes are subcontracted, where the garments for this style are being made today, which wash or print houses are used, and whether the buyer can see the line running the order.
- Ask who holds the trade licence for the building, and compare it with the quoting entity.
- Request a list of subcontracted processes, such as printing, embroidery, washing and dyeing, and the subcontractors' names.
- Ask to see the line currently running a comparable style, with its work orders.
- Compare the machine count on the floor with the claimed monthly capacity.
- Request the previous 3 months of export documents or inspection reports for similar garments.
Subcontracting is normal in garment manufacturing: a factory with its own sewing floor sends washing, printing or embroidery to specialist units. The concern is undisclosed subcontracting of sewing, which moves the order to a floor the buyer has not inspected and whose compliance is unknown. The answer to question two decides whether the visited floor is the floor that makes the order.
A factory name painted on the gate matches the name on the quotation only when the company owns the premises. Trading companies and buying houses show a different pattern: an office, a showroom and a sample room, with no cutting room or sewing floor.
How are worker conditions assessed on a visit?
A buyer assesses worker conditions through four observations: exits and fire equipment, the age and ID of workers on the floor, posted working hours, and the existence of a grievance channel. A visit supplements a formal social audit and does not replace one.
Visible indicators are specific. Fire exits are unlocked and unobstructed, extinguishers carry inspection dates, and machine guards and eye guards are in place. Workers are adults, and hours posted on the wall match the legal limit, which under the Bangladesh Labour Act is 8 hours per day plus up to 2 hours of overtime, 48 hours per week plus 12 hours of overtime. Drinking water, ventilation and toilets are functional.
Building safety in Bangladesh is inspected by the RMG Sustainability Council (RSC) for member factories, and the factory's RSC status and inspection findings are available on request. Formal assessments such as BSCI and SMETA record these conditions across multiple days with worker interviews. A buyer reads the factory visit and the audit report together, and notes any difference between them.
What quality records does a buyer ask to see?
A buyer asks for four records: fabric test reports for shrinkage and GSM, in-line defect charts, the last three pre-shipment inspection reports, and the factory's AQL procedure. Together they show whether quality is measured or assumed.
Each record corresponds to a control point. Fabric tests precede cutting, defect charts track sewing, and final inspection reports show outgoing quality against an AQL inspection table with stated levels. A factory working to AQL 2.5 for major defects and 4.0 for minor defects holds reports in that format.
Records that are blank, uniformly perfect, or filled in on the day of the visit indicate that the system exists on paper only. Real defect charts show defects, and a line with zero recorded defects across a week is not a measured line.
Where do factory visits fit when sourcing from Bangladesh?
A factory visit in Bangladesh runs best with the order specification in hand and a fixed route through the buildings. Buyers who come and inspect in person walk the stages above in sequence, from fabric store through dispatch, and put the subcontracting questions to management in the same sitting.
Buyers who confirm that a style is made at a stated site check it against this list. For buyers who then place orders, menswear made to your specification follows the sampling and inspection steps covered in the production guides. Buyers who need goods without a visit start from trousers currently in stock, where the finished garment is the evidence. Buyers who want to inspect finished goods first can review trousers currently in stock.