Textile Testing Solutions

Intertek delivers Total Quality Assurance solutions for all your softlines products, including textiles like medical textiles and upholstery, apparel like activewear and children’s apparel, and soft home furnishings. Our comprehensive services enable you to ensure quality and safety with precision. We offer the following services for textiles:

Fiber Identification – Most countries importing apparel and soft home furnishing products require fiber identification labels indicating the fiber type and percentage of fiber components. Some countries even use fiber composition to classify quota categories.

Eco Textile Testing – The trend of green consumerism has extended to textile and apparel products. Major European and U.S. textile product buyers have responded to this public awareness by viewing their textile products from an ecological standpoint, and are establishing relevant requirements. Intertek provides a comprehensive spectrum of Eco-Testing services targeting environmental protection and consumer health and safety. Eco-Testing includes: 

• Banned Azo Colorants and Ozone Depleting Chemicals
• Heavy Metal, Pesticide Residues, and Fungicides, such as Dimethylfumarate
• Formaldehyde Content
• Eco-Textile Certification
• GB 18401 Testing

Feather and Down Testing - Intertek offers special feather and down testing for quantitative analysis, filling power, thermal properties, migration, and penetration resistance.

Care Label Instructions - Many countries have mandatory or voluntary standards for care label instructions applicable to textile and apparel. Intertek conducts the following tests to determine the most appropriate consumer care conditions for the tested products:

• Colorfastness to washing, bleaching, and dry cleaning 
• Dimensional stability, appearance retention, and ironing

Performance Testing - Intertek offers a variety of tests meeting specific performance standards related to consumer end use of textile products, including: 

• Dimensional stability to washing and dry cleaning 
• Colorfastness to light, crocking (rubbing), washing, bleaching 
• Physical tests - Strength, abrasion, pilling resistance 
• Chemical Tests - finish analysis and pH
• UV protection performance

Flammability Testing - It is critical that materials used in apparel are in compliance with flammability regulations. In particular, adult apparel and children’s sleepwear have specific requirements that must be acceptable before importing or selling a product. Regulations for upholstery, rugs and carpets should also be followed.

Thermal and Water Vapor Resistance Testing - Thermal resistance testing ensures reduction of heat transfer in garments, while water vapor resistance testing indicates sweat-friendly clothing that allows water vapors to pass through fabric and evaporate quickly for comfort. These tests can be performed on fabrics, films, coatings, foams and leather, including multilayer assemblies, for use in clothing, quilts, sleeping bags, upholstery, and similar products.

In addition to the textile testing solutions stated above, Intertek also offers a full suite of services to identify chemicals found in your products including toxicity assessments, chemical certification and quality assurance solutions.

Intertek is also registered and approved by General Organization for Export and Import Control (GOIEC) to issue the Certificate of Inspection for exports of textiles, garments, carpets, footwear and bags, to ensure your products comply with new import regulations in Egypt.