All woven fabric has some level of irregularity; selvedge denim even sells its share of it as character. The commercial question is where character ends and defect begins — and whether your mill catches it before it becomes your customer return.
The Big Seven
| Defect | Looks like | Cause | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bar mark | Horizontal shadow band | Tension change on loom stop | Major — reject |
| Broken pick | Short missing weft segment | Yarn break not repaired | Major |
| Weft crack | Fine window/line across width | Pick beaten too close | Major |
| Misdraw | Warp threads out of sequence | Threading error | Critical |
| Oil stain | Dark streak | Loom lubrication | Major if not washable |
| Slub (excess) | Thick irregular lump | Intended slub yarn, over-count | Minor / by spec |
| Edge curl / torn selvedge | Edge rolls in or frays | Selvedge construction fault | Major on selvedge product |
How Inspection Should Work
- Light box: fabric passes over an illuminated inclined table; the human eye still beats machines for bar marks.
- 4-point system: defects scored by size; rolls over a points-per-100-yards threshold are rejected or downgraded.
- Severity map: where the defect sits on the roll matters — a bar mark at marker position is a returned jean; the same mark in offal is nothing.
What to Demand From Your Mill
Inspection reports per roll, an agreed 4-point threshold in your contract, and — for critical programs — the right to witness or video the inspection. A mill that grades its own fabric honestly is a mill you can scale with; the alternative is discovering defects after cutting, when the fabric is already spent.
Character vs. Defect, In One Line
If the irregularity is distributed, intentional, and on the spec sheet, it is character. If it is isolated, unintended, and unreported, it is a defect. The spec sheet is the referee.