Knitted Bag Facility Audit: Eighteen Questions in Six Layers, From the Gate to the Needle Bed
What should a knitted bag facility audit actually ask? Eighteen questions in six layers, worked from the gate inward, because the answer that matters is never on the certificate on the wall. Start with whether there is anything to audit, move to what the floor controls, then to what is measured and how often, then to what happens when a measurement fails. An E12 programme at 450 g/m² in 600D polyester, held at 20 degrees Celsius plus or minus 2 and 65 percent relative humidity plus or minus 4, is the reference against which the answers should be checked.
Layer One: Is There Anything to Audit?
The first layer asks whether the site being audited is the site that will make the goods, and it eliminates more candidates than any other layer: ask for the programme number, the line number and the week number in the same breath and see whether all three come back.
The question sounds trivial and is not. A buyer can be shown an immaculate knitting floor and still have goods made somewhere else, because knitting capacity is a queue and a queue is allocated rather than owned. The three-part answer is what distinguishes the two: a site that will make the goods knows the line and the week; a site that hopes to make them knows neither. Ask also whether the audit report the buyer is being shown names the same legal entity that will sign the commercial invoice, because that is the entity a claim would eventually be made against.
- Which line will this programme run on, and in which week?
- Does the legal entity on the audit report match the entity on the commercial invoice?
- Is the knitting done here, or is any operation subcontracted, and which one?
The third question in that list is the one buyers avoid asking, and it is the one with the most useful answer. Subcontracted operations are normal and are not a defect. Undisclosed subcontracted operations are a defect, because the buyer loses traceability at exactly the point a claim depends on it. A floor that names the operation, the party and the reason is a floor that manages its chain.
Layer Two: What Does the Floor Actually Control?
The second layer asks which variables the floor controls in-house, because on a knit programme the gap between what is controlled and what is bought is where quality variance enters.
- Gauge range
- E7, E12 and E14 held in-house; E7 for a structured body, E14 for a packable one
- Needle bed
- 1,270 mm working width, with the bed calibrated and the calibration dated
- Yarn store
- Lot number and cone label retained, with a stated record retention period
- Conditioning
- 20 degrees Celsius plus or minus 2, 65 percent relative humidity plus or minus 4
- Programming
- Machine files held in revision control, with the revision number on the sample
- Finishing
- Steaming and shaping in-house, with a stated relax time before measurement
- Release
- AQL 2.5 under ISO 2859-1, with the sample size and counts stated on the report
Conditioning is the line buyers skip and should not. A knitted panel absorbs moisture, and GSM measured on a humid morning differs from GSM measured the same afternoon after a dry spell, which is why ISO 139 defines a standard atmosphere for conditioning and testing. A floor that can state 20 plus or minus 2 and 65 plus or minus 4 has a conditioning room and uses it. A floor that says it measures at room conditions is telling the buyer that its GSM figures are not comparable to anybody else's.
Layer Three: What Is Measured, and How Often?
The third layer asks what is measured, at what frequency, and against what method number; the answer a buyer wants is a measurement schedule, not a list of equipment.
- Is GSM measured per lot or per roll, and is the result recorded against the lot number?
- Is shade measured on a spectrophotometer, and what Delta E band is accepted between lots?
- Is abrasion tested, and under which method and rub count?
- Is colour fastness to rubbing tested, and under which method and grade?
- Are dimensions measured after steaming and relax, or immediately off the bed?
Question five in that list is the knit-specific one and the answer separates a floor that understands its own process from one that does not. A panel comes off the bed at one set of dimensions and settles at another after steaming and relax. A floor that measures immediately produces numbers that look stable and are wrong by the time the carton is packed. A floor that states a relax time, commonly 24 hours, and measures afterwards, produces numbers a buyer can hold it to at goods-in.
Frequency matters as much as method. Abrasion under ISO 12947-2 on a Martindale machine and colour fastness to rubbing under AATCC 8 are periodic tests rather than per-lot ones, and a floor should be able to say which. Per-lot tests are GSM, shade and dimension. A floor that claims to run Martindale on every lot is either describing something else or spending a great deal of money.
Layer Four: What Happens When Something Fails?
The fourth layer is the one that distinguishes a documented system from a documented intention: ask to see the record of the last three failures and what was done about each.
The request is specific on purpose. Every floor can describe its corrective action procedure; the procedure is usually a paragraph in a manual. The record is different: it shows a non-conformance raised against a lot, a disposition decision, a root cause, an action and a date. A floor with three recent records and a trend it can describe has a system that runs. A floor with no records either has never had a failure, which on a knitting bed is not credible, or has failures it does not write down.
Ask for three records
Not the procedure. The last three non-conformances, with disposition, root cause, action and date.
Ask what was scrapped
A floor that has never scrapped a lot either does not measure or does not record. Both are worse than a scrap figure.
Ask who signs release
A named person, with authority to stop a run. Release signed by nobody is release decided by the queue.
Ask for the re-inspection rule
Who pays, how many days, and whether a second failure moves to 100 percent sorting.
Ask about the bed queue
What happens to a run that fails at day 26 of a 30-day window. The honest answer involves a slot moving.
Ask what changed last season
A floor that has changed nothing in a year is either perfect or static. Static is the more common answer.
Layer Five: What Is Documented for the Buyer?
The fifth layer asks which documents the buyer will actually receive, and the answer should separate the four that travel with the goods from the reports that stay on file.
Four documents travel: the commercial invoice, the packing list, the bill of lading or air waybill, and any certificate the destination market requires by law. Everything else stays on file and is shared on request. Social compliance audit reports, whether under amfori BSCI or under Sedex SMETA, are on-file documents; they are evidence about the site and not evidence about the shipment. A buyer who expects a social audit report to move goods through customs has confused the two categories.
On the product side the same distinction applies, and it is the one that catches buyers most often. A scope certificate covers a site and a product group; a transaction certificate covers the specific lot. Under the Textile Exchange chain-of-custody standards, the recycled content claim on a specific shipment rests on the transaction certificate. Asking for the scope certificate and filing it is the compliance equivalent of asking whether a site was ever audited and concluding that a particular carton is compliant.
Layer Six: What Would You Want to See Unannounced?
The sixth layer asks what would look different on an unannounced visit, and the useful answer is a floor that describes its own weak point rather than one that claims there is none.
In practice the weak point on a knitting floor is almost always the same area: the interface between knitting and finishing, where panels queue before steaming. It is where a rush run gets compressed, where a relax time gets shortened from 24 hours to 4, and where a dimension problem is created that only appears at goods-in. A floor that names that interface unprompted has told a buyer more than a perfect tour does. A floor that says nothing would change has either never been audited honestly or has not looked.
The Eighteen Questions in One List
Eighteen questions, three per layer, in the order they should be asked, with the answer shape that should satisfy each one.
| Layer | Questions | Answer that should satisfy it |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Is there anything to audit | Line, week, entity, subcontracting | A line number, a week number, and a named subcontracted operation if there is one |
| 2. What the floor controls | Gauge, bed, yarn store, conditioning | E7 to E14 in-house, 1,270 mm bed, lot records, conditioning at ISO 139 atmosphere |
| 3. What is measured | GSM, shade, abrasion, fastness, dimension | Per-lot GSM and shade, periodic abrasion and fastness, dimension after relax |
| 4. What happens on failure | Records, disposition, release authority | Three recent non-conformance records and a named person who can stop a run |
| 5. What the buyer receives | Travelling documents, market certificates | Invoice, packing list, transport document, market certificate; transaction certificate for the lot |
| 6. Unannounced view | Weak point, queue interfaces, relax time | A named weak point, usually the knitting-to-finishing interface |
What an Audit Cannot Tell You
An audit cannot tell a buyer whether a programme will repeat, and no certificate on a wall answers that question; only 100 pcs delivered and inspected at AQL 2.5 under ISO 2859-1 answer it.
This is the reason the audit should come after the first order rather than before it, on any programme under about 5,000 pcs. A site visit costs a day of travel and a day of reporting, which on a 100-pcs first programme is more than the goods. The order of operations that costs least is: send the brief, run the 7 working days of sampling, place 100 pcs, inspect at AQL 2.5, and only then audit if the volume justifies it or if hardware and coatings have entered the specification.
What an audit does and does not settle
- Does settle: which line, which week, and whether the entity on the report signs the invoice
- Does settle: whether conditioning, measurement and release follow a stated method
- Does settle: whether failures are recorded, and who has authority to stop a run
- Does not settle: whether a programme repeats 800 times per colourway
- Does not settle: whether a shade holds across three separate dye lots
- Only delivered goods inspected under ISO 2859-1 settle the last two
The audit is therefore a second-order check, and treating it as a first-order one is a common and expensive sequencing error. Run the eighteen questions in writing first, because a floor that answers them well usually audits well too, and a floor that answers them badly will fail the visit as well. For the written version of that list, see questions to ask a knitted bag supplier.
Ask the eighteen questions of our knit programme
Send the list, or send the eight numbers and we will answer it unprompted. Our knit team replies in writing, at MOQ 100 pcs per style and colourway, sampling in 7 working days and bulk in 30 days. Start on the contact page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many questions should a knitted bag facility audit ask?
Eighteen, in six layers of three: is there anything to audit, what the floor controls, what is measured, what happens on failure, what the buyer receives, and what an unannounced visit would show. Fewer than twelve misses the failure-record layer, which is the one that separates a running system from a written intention.
Should an audit come before or after the first order?
After, on any programme below roughly 5,000 pcs. A visit costs two days against goods worth a hundred pieces. Send the brief, sample in 7 working days, place 100 pcs, inspect at AQL 2.5, then audit if the volume justifies it or hardware enters the specification.
Why ask for the line number and the week number?
Because knitting capacity is a queue and a queue is allocated rather than owned. A buyer can be shown an immaculate floor and have goods made elsewhere. A site that will make the goods knows the line and the week; one that hopes to does not.
What should the conditioning answer be?
Twenty degrees Celsius plus or minus 2 and 65 percent relative humidity plus or minus 4, which is the standard atmosphere defined in ISO 139. A floor that measures at room conditions produces GSM figures that cannot be compared with anybody else's or with its own from last month.
When should dimensions be measured on a knitted panel?
After steaming and relax, commonly 24 hours, and never straight off the bed. A panel leaves the bed at one set of dimensions and settles at another. Floors that measure immediately produce numbers that look stable and are wrong by the time the carton is packed.
Which tests are per-lot and which are periodic?
GSM, shade and dimension are per-lot. Abrasion under ISO 12947-2 and colour fastness to rubbing under AATCC 8 are periodic, typically per yarn or per season. A floor claiming to run Martindale on every lot is either describing something else or spending heavily. A floor should be able to state which category each test falls into without hesitation.
What is the most useful question in the whole audit?
Asking for the last three non-conformance records. Every floor can describe its corrective action procedure; the procedure is a paragraph in a manual. The record shows a disposition, a root cause, an action and a date, and those four cannot be invented on request. Those four cannot be invented on request, which is exactly why the question is worth asking.
What if a floor says it has never scrapped a lot?
Treat it as a signal rather than as good news. On a knitting bed, never scrapping means either no measurement or no recording, and both are worse than an honest scrap figure. Ask instead what the scrap rate was last season and what changed. Ask instead what the scrap rate was last season and what changed afterwards.
Which documents should the buyer expect to receive?
Four travel with the goods: the commercial invoice, the packing list, the bill of lading or air waybill, and any certificate the destination market requires by law. Social audit reports stay on file and are evidence about the site, not about the shipment. Social audit reports stay on file and are evidence about the site, not about the shipment.
What is the difference between a scope and a transaction certificate?
A scope certificate covers a site and a product group. A transaction certificate covers the specific lot, in its quantity and with its recycled content. Under Textile Exchange chain-of-custody rules the claim on a shipment rests on the transaction certificate. Filing a scope certificate and treating it as lot coverage is the most common compliance error.
Is subcontracting a defect?
No. Undisclosed subcontracting is the defect. Ask which operation, which party and why, because a floor that names all three manages its chain, and a floor that does not leaves the buyer without traceability where a claim depends on it. Ask which operation, which party and why, and expect all three in one answer.
Can an audit tell me whether a programme will repeat?
No. Repeating is a property of the machine file, the yarn lot and the relax time, and only delivered goods inspected under ISO 2859-1 demonstrate it. The audit settles which line, which method and which records exist; the first 100 pcs settle repetition. The audit settles which line and which methods exist; the first hundred pieces settle repetition.
People Also Ask
Should the audit be announced or unannounced?
Announced for a first visit, because the useful output is records rather than surprises. Ask at the end what would look different unannounced; a floor that names its own weak point has told you more than a perfect tour does.
How long should a knit facility audit take?
Half a day on site and half a day on records. Anything shorter is a tour; anything longer on a single-product floor is usually padding. The records half is the one that produces evidence, so do not let it be cut short.
Do I need an audit for a 100-pcs programme?
No. Ask the eighteen questions in writing and inspect the delivered goods at AQL 2.5 instead. A visit earns its cost above roughly 5,000 pcs a season, or earlier if coatings and metal hardware enter the specification.
Which audit scheme should I ask for?
Ask which scheme the site is registered under and request the report and its date rather than a certificate. Social audit findings are evidence about a site at a moment in time, and the date on the report is what makes it interpretable.
What is the single clearest sign of a well-run knit floor?
Revision control on the machine files, with the revision number written on the sample. It means the floor treats a knitting programme as a controlled document rather than as a file on a laptop, and that habit is what makes repetition possible.
Sources and further reading
Every figure on this page is either our own programme data or attributed below. Open the originals before you write them into a specification.
- ISO 139:2005 — Textiles, standard atmospheres for conditioning and testingISO The standard atmosphere behind the 20 plus or minus 2 degrees and 65 plus or minus 4 percent conditioning figures.
- ISO 2859-1 — Sampling procedures for inspection by attributes, Part 1: AQL-indexed sampling schemesISO The sampling standard behind the AQL 2.5 release gate named in the layer-two parameter list.
- ISO 12947-2 — Textiles, determination of abrasion resistance, Part 2: MartindaleISO The abrasion method a floor should name when asked what it tests and how often.
- amfori — trade with purposeamfori Home of the amfori BSCI social audit reports that stay on file rather than travelling with the goods.
- Recycled Claim Standard and Global Recycled StandardTextile Exchange The chain-of-custody standards behind the transaction certificate that covers a specific lot.
Ask for Records, Not for a Tour
The eighteen questions are weighted towards records because a tour can be prepared and a record cannot. Three non-conformance records, a conditioning log and a revision-controlled machine file tell a buyer more in an hour than a walk down an immaculate aisle does in a morning.
Ask them in writing first, place 100 pcs second, and audit third. For the written list, see questions to ask a knitted bag supplier. For the release standard used on those hundred pieces, see knitted bag quality control.