Innovative Product Development Support for Apparel and Textiles

The commonly used model of assessing garment performance and compliance by testing total finished product, alongside factory audits and production inspections – is familiar to everyone. Failures found late in the production cycle, at the product stage – when it is difficult to make changes – results in delayed time to market and higher risk of recalls and non-compliance with regulatory requirements.

Testing during the design and development phases of the product life cycle can ensure successful results of new features for upcoming styles. Earlier phased testing will minimize risk and delays often caused by testing failures during pre-production and production phases.

OUR APPROACH
With our Softline Product Development services, Bureau Veritas works with apparel design teams to evaluate product issues and incorporates product testing during the design and development phases of the product life cycle. 

What are the key benefits?
• Better manage brand integrity by moving the testing up-front and dealing with the failures at the design stage rather than at the garment stage.
• Accelerate product development timelines to support fast to market or quick fashion programs.
• Evaluate quality of potential new suppliers and identify key strengths and weaknesses of existing suppliers.
• Minimize the risk of substandard merchandise and costly customer returns.
• Enhance risk management and brand protection.
• Gain confidence in the products you deliver to market.

At Bureau Veritas, we provide full quality assurance services on an ongoing basis to help protect your reputation and brand. Our teams of technical specialists can develop a testing plan that best suits your needs. Whether you are a consumer product manufacturer or raw materials supplier, we can identify regulatory and industry best practices for a diverse range of materials. Our services are designed to be customized to fit the needs of your project goals.

Our Softline Product Development services include but are not limited to:
• Product evaluation through testing at development and pre-production stages
• Design evaluations regarding particular design concerns or applicable regulatory and safety requirements
• Testing for comparative analysis of own brand products to the competition
• Defect and failure analysis of customer complaint items or manufacturing defects
• Support potential performance claims through testing at the development stage
• Specification development for new materials
• Training: Educate suppliers and buyers to build awareness of CPSIA regulations, CPSC testing and certification rules
• Technical support network to answer questions, interpret results, and help manage your quality assurance program

We can partner with you to build ready to use and certified libraries of fabrics, trims, and accessories outside seasons or  development calendars.

Frequently Asked Questions

I want to source new lower priced fabrics. How do I ensure the current quality is maintained?
We suggest testing specific performance characteristics that will be most affected in the product end use. For example, if the product end use markets high wickability, conduct a comparison study of the current fabric to the proposed new fabric to determine equal performance prior to the purchase of the new fabric yardage. 

I have a trim that I would like to use across multiple styles but I don’t want to test for every style. What do you suggest the testing approach should be?
Bureau Veritas offers a pre-certification program to manage trim testing, allowing for tracking and support of multiple styles
using the same trim.