Trust and assurance · Claims and rework
Most orders arrive as approved. When one does not, the difference between a week of rework and a lost season is whether the claim process was settled before the order started. This page sets out the sequence, the evidence each side needs, and which terms are fixed per order rather than promised in general.
The sequence
The order of these steps is not a formality. Each one produces the record the next one is judged against.
A claim starts with what arrived: shipment reference, affected quantity, carton numbers, style, colourway and size breakdown, plus photographs of the fault in place. A claim written as "the quality is bad" cannot be assessed, and it cannot be answered with anything except a question back.
Measurement deviation with the chart reference, workmanship against the inspection standard agreed for the order, colour against the approved lab dip or swatch, packing against the packing instruction. The vocabulary matters because the finding is checked against your own approved records.
The approved sample, its measurement chart and the recorded comments are the reference the bulk run was made and checked against. Assessment establishes whether the goods departed from that reference — and, if they did, whether the cause sits in the unit's process, in a material supplied to it, or in a change requested after approval.
The routes are rework, replacement, or a price adjustment on goods you keep — and in the same range of cases, a finding assessed as within the agreed tolerance is answered as such. Which route applies is set by the finding and by the terms confirmed for your order, not by negotiation pressure at the end of a season.
Return freight, rework lead time and any credit are stated in the terms confirmed for your order. They depend on the finding and on the delivery basis agreed, which is why they are written into the order confirmation rather than published here as a blanket figure.
Where claims come from
Claims rarely originate in a sewing line. They originate in decisions that were left open — and each of these is cheap to close early.
The most common source of a claim is a requirement that was agreed in conversation and never written into the spec — a softer handfeel, a shorter hem, a different shade expectation. Writing it down before sampling is cheaper than proving it afterwards.
If bulk was released without a sealed sample and its measurement chart, every discussion later becomes an opinion. The sealed record is the only thing that makes an assessment fast and neutral.
Disputes at final inspection usually trace to an acceptance level that was assumed rather than agreed — a third-party inspector applying a different standard than the unit did. Agreeing the method and the acceptance level in the order terms removes most of this before it starts.
Questions before the next step
These answers define the decision boundary for this page. Commercial terms and factory-specific feasibility still require project review.
The window is stated in the terms confirmed for your order rather than published as a standard figure. It exists because evidence degrades: once goods are mixed into stock, relabelled or sold on, they can no longer be assessed against the sealed sample. Treat the arrival date of the shipment as the start of the window and raise the finding as soon as it is seen.
Freight follows responsibility for the fault, which is why the assessment comes first. Where the finding is confirmed as a departure from the approved reference on our side, the return or rework cost sits with us; where it is not, we say so with the same evidence. Which costs attach to which outcome is stated in the order terms so it is not a surprise later.
The source of the fault is established first — unit process, material supplied to it, or a change requested after the sealed sample. A material fault traced to the mill is taken up with that mill rather than closed by reminding you that you approved a swatch. What was approved was the reference; a supply departing from it is a supply problem.
It can, and the plan is agreed with you rather than decided for you. Where a rework cannot complete inside the agreed shipment window, the options — a revised date, a partial shipment with the balance following, or a price adjustment on the accepted portion — are put to you with the timing each one implies.
From research to a useful brief
You do not need every answer before the first conversation. Share the product direction, available files, quality expectations and known commercial context.