Standard specifications

 Manufacturers, buyers and sellers of products

have to develop specifications for common
use.

 Specification: a set of requirements to be

satisfied by, a material, product, system or
service.

 When you write down information about how

good you want a product to be and how to
determine it is good enough, you are writing
a specification.
 Anyone can write a specification for any thing.

 Over the years many organizations dealing in

textiles have written specifications for what
they sell or what they want to buy.

 That means, different companies

specifications for the same product are often
different.

 Even the test methods chosen to measure the

same characteristic are different.
 So, every time they have to be sure that they
are talking about the same specifications and
test methods.

 So, a specification or test method becomes

“standard” because one or more groups of
people agree to use it.

 The concept of agreed-on standards is not

limited to specifications and test methods but
also applies to definitions, classifications and
procedures.
 A dictionary can be regarded as a list of
standard definitions.

 The process for reaching agreement on

specifications, definitions and test methods is
called “standardization”.
Developing a standard specification
1. Recognizing the problem; manufacturers,
sellers, buyers and consumers can work
together to improve product quality through
standard setting organization.

2. Gathering interested parties; these interests

usually include government regulators with the
previous parties.

3. Listing product characteristics; committee

members have to develop a list of constructions
and performance characteristics.
4. Choosing the requirement for each
characteristic; which satisfy the enough
acceptable quality regarding to the cost and the
end use of the product. And also decide how
each characteristic is to be measured (test
method).

5. Using the specification on a trial basis; to ensure

that the specifications used are satisfied and
enough for requirements or not.

6. Revising, if necessary; some time new

characteristic (with a requirement and a test
method) need to be added to the specification.
7. Approving as a standard specification;
specification writing committee finishes its
work when the members are satisfied on all
specification details. Then formal voting
process is taking place.

8. Promoting the product as meeting the

specification: over time, consumers prefer
products that have a consistent record of
high quality.
Trade names and trademarks as
quality indicators
 Trade name: a word or phrase used by a
manufacturer to identify it self individually as
a business.

 Trademark: any name, symbol, figure, letter,

word or mark used by manufacturer to
designate his goods and usually registered
with the patent and trademark office to
assure its exclusive use by its owner.
 Anatomy of a specification
 The original work of developing it began in 1940 by the National
Retail Merchants Association (NRMA).

 ASTM; American Society for Testing and Materials

 Most ASTM textile specifications are written in a particular format of

exactly seven numbered sections.

 Each ASTM specification is identified by a four-digit number preceded

by a letter, following by two more digits representing the year of last
revision

 D 3993-81 As shown in fig. 2.3 p. 29, 30 & 31

 Section 1. Scope: Scope indicates what particular end products

the fabrics are to be used in.

 Section 2. Applicable documents: list of the standard test

methods used to measure the characteristics required in the

specification.

 Most of them are ASTM standard test methods and the rest are

usually methods of the American Association of Textile

Chemists and Colorists (AATCC)

 Section 3. definitions: refers to the overall list of ASTM
definitions that may appear in the test method.

 Section 4. uses and significance: this section is critical to

understanding the point of specification writing.

 Section 5. sampling: includes two important points: 1.

the fabric should be tested at the stage in which it will
reach the user. 2. statistical requirements to obtain
reliable test results.
 Section 6. specification requirements: includes the table in
which each fabric characteristic, the requirement for each
characteristic and the appropriate method of test are actually
listed.

 Section 7. test methods: this section provides needed details

about carrying out each specific test.

 Section 8. indexing term: recent concern within ASTM about

locating documents by subject in alphabetical indexes.
Organizations involved with specifications
 As mentioned before, fibre manufacturers,
textile manufacturers, apparel manufacturers
and consumers of textile products developed
specifications.

 Two national membership organizations

mentioned earlier, ASTM & AATCC are very
heavily involved in standardizing
specifications and test methods.
1- Individual companies: impose performance
requirements for use of their trademarks, such as;
Dan River, Milliken, JC Penny.

2- Government: many branches of the federal

government buy by specification, including the
military through the Defense Personnel Support
Center (DPSC).
 Federal agencies involved with safety write
specifications for textile products to be in
compliance with federal laws, especially
flammability laws.

 Safety requirements are the main responsibility of

the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

 Other federal regulations affecting the textile

industry, such as fiber content labels and care
labels are administered by Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) in the department of
commerce.
3- Industry Associations:

American Fiber Manufacturers Association (AFMA)

American Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI)
Knitted Textile Association (KTA)
International Nonwoven and Disposables Association
(INDA)
American Apparel Manufacturers Association (AAMA)
Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI)
National Knitwear and sportswear Association (NKSA)
International Fabricare Institute (IFI)
4- National standard-setting organizations:

three organizations in the united states are directly

involved in developing standard specifications, test
methods, and so on for textiles:

1) American Association of Textile Chemists and

Colorists (AATCC)

2)American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)

3) American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

5- international standardization organization (ISO)

 The major worldwide specialized organization for

standardization is the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO)

 Its work “brings together the interests of standards

procedures and standards users ”

 ISO is a nongovernment organization, but many of its

national members are government agencies.

 It has over 160 technical committees working toward

establishment of international standards.
Thank you