The Most Comprehensive Analysis of Yarn Count Defects in History, Worth Saving!

1. Yarn-Related Defects

(1) Nep

Appearance: Small cotton fiber bundles, similar in size to yarn knots, are spun into the yarn and appear on the fabric surface. When pulled out, the yarn will break or be on the verge of breaking. Such defects often occur in roving spun from low-grade raw cotton.
Causes:
  1. Dead cotton fiber bundles exist in raw cotton and are not completely removed during the scutching process.
  2. The needles on the cylinder or flat of the carding machine are not sharp enough, or the gauge between them is improperly set, failing to fully card the fibers.

(2) Cotton Seed Husk Particles

Appearance: Tiny, non-fibrous dark specks on the gray fabric surface.
Causes:
  1. During ginning, cotton fibers are separated from seeds with husk fragments attached to fiber ends, or seeds are crushed and mixed into raw cotton.
  2. The scutching process fails to completely remove cotton seed husks.

(3) Slub

Appearance: Short, clustered fiber sections (5–20mm long) on warp or weft yarns, which are thicker and have fewer twists than the normal yarn.
Causes:
  1. Uneven fiber density in the roving fed into the spinning frame, with small, dense spindle-shaped fiber bundles.
  2. The aprons and rollers of the spinning frame fail to grip the fed roving uniformly.

(4) Flyer (Floating Fiber Mass)

Appearance: Similar to slubs but thicker and more clumpy rather than elongated. The yarn will not break when slightly untwisted.
Causes: Fiber masses floating in the air of the spinning workshop or accumulating on the machine surfaces near the feeding zone get entangled in the yarn during spinning.

(5) Cockled Yarn (Bamboo Joint Yarn)

Appearance: Spaced large slubs along a length of yarn (usually across the fabric width). The yarn shows bamboo joint-like thickness variations, which is most common in the weft of roving fabrics—hence also called bamboo joint weft.
Causes: The drafting rollers of the spinning frame are set too tight, the roller covers are too loose, or occasional fibers of irregular length are present in the fed roving.

(6) Uneven Yarn

Appearance: Visible thickness variations in the yarn woven into the fabric, mostly occurring in the weft direction.
Causes: Malfunctions or poor performance of the drafting mechanism on the ring spinning frame result in periodic thick and thin sections in the spun yarn.

(7) Cloudy Weave

Appearance: Significant unevenness in weft yarn count, with thick or thin weft threads clustered together during weaving to form cloud-like patches on the fabric surface.
Causes: Regular unevenness in weft yarns, combined with the clustering of thick or thin threads during the weaving process.

(8) Fiber Spot

Appearance: On dyed fabrics, a few fibers remain uncolored or are lightly dyed, showing white specks.
Causes:
  1. Presence of dead cotton fibers in the yarn.
  2. A small amount of polyester fibers is accidentally mixed in during spinning due to negligence or poor quality control. Polyester fibers cannot be dyed unless disperse dyes and high-temperature dyeing processes are used.

(9) Different Lots

Appearance: For fabrics made of chemical filament, textured yarn, or blended yarn—though yarn count and density meet specifications—distinct shade differences appear between warp or weft yarns after dyeing.
Causes:
  1. Filaments of the same denier but different production lots are used during weaving. Differences in dye absorption, elasticity, or bulkiness lead to shade variations after dyeing.
  2. Blended yarns used in weaving meet count and density requirements but have varying blend ratios, resulting in uneven dyeing.

(10) Poor Yarn Conditioning

Appearance: After desizing, scouring, and bleaching, E/C (polyester/cotton) blended fabrics show periodic width variations across the cloth.
Causes: After winding on the ring spinning frame, blended yarns require heat setting with high-pressure saturated steam in a sealed container to stabilize their physical properties. Insufficient temperature or duration during conditioning fails to set the yarn, leading to alternating tight and loose transverse sections on the fabric after scouring and bleaching.

(11) White Specks

Appearance: Undyed fiber bundles on dyed fabrics, particularly noticeable on medium-to-dark shade fabrics.
Causes: Mostly occurs on medium-to-low grade dyed cotton fabrics. Neps formed by dead cotton fibers in the yarn are not removed during scouring and mercerizing. These dead fibers have poor dye affinity, resulting in white specks after dyeing. This defect is common in fabrics woven from carded cotton yarns of 20Ne or finer.

2. Woven Fabric Weaving Defects

(1) Wrong Yarn

Appearance: In knitted fabrics, continuous transverse loops are woven with yarns thicker or thinner than the specified count. Usually single-strand, but occasionally multiple strands appear side-by-side or spaced apart, resulting in uneven density and thickness compared to normal areas.
Causes: Operators mistakenly use yarns of incorrect count or denier during knitting. Using finer yarns makes the fabric thin and sparse; using coarser yarns makes it dense and thick.

(2) Wrong End (Coarse/Fine End)

Appearance: In woven fabrics, one or several adjacent warp yarns are of incorrect specified count. Finer warp yarns are called fine ends; coarser ones are called coarse ends.
Causes: Incorrect yarn count cones are used during warping, leading to the use of non-specified warp yarns. This defect is often present throughout the entire fabric roll.

(3) Wrong Pick (Coarse/Fine Pick)

Appearance: In woven fabrics, one or several consecutive weft yarns are of incorrect specified count. Finer weft yarns are called fine picks; coarser ones are called coarse picks.
Causes: Incorrect yarn count cones or weft bobbins are used during weaving. Operators usually stop the machine to remove defective picks once detected, but automatic bobbin-changing looms often miss such errors.

(4) Wrong Weaving (Incorrect Weave Structure)

Appearance: Weaving process error, resulting in a fabric weave different from the original design (e.g., left twill woven as right twill).
Causes: Mostly caused by incorrect heald drafting. Other causes include faulty pattern cards for jacquard fabrics or incorrect arrangement of warp yarns in multi-specification warp fabrics.

(5) Wrong Draw (Doubled Ends)

Appearance: Two adjacent warp yarns are drawn through the same heald eye and woven as a single thread, appearing noticeably thicker. This defect is present throughout the fabric roll. It can be completely avoided by removing one of the doubled yarns if detected at the start of weaving.
Causes:
  1. Negligence during warping, where two yarns are treated as one.
  2. Poor yarn separation after sizing, causing two yarns to stick together.
  3. Two warp yarns are threaded through the same heald wire during drafting.

(6) Mispick (Double Picks)

Appearance: Two (occasionally three or more) weft yarns are inserted into the same shed. The length of doubled picks varies, often spanning the full fabric width or 10cm near both selvedges.
Causes:
  1. Full-width double picks occur when the loom restarts after a stop without checking the shed position, or when the weft detector malfunctions and fails to stop the machine for weft breaks.
  2. Partial-width double picks result from insufficient leno yarn length, improper setting or dullness of side cutters, or failure to remove weft tails after weft breaks.

(7) Set Mark (Fine) / Thin Place

Appearance: Weft density is lower than specified. Along the fabric length, weft density gradually decreases to a minimum and then returns to normal, forming a narrow, sparse strip.
Causes:
  1. Weft detector malfunction, leading to continued warp feeding without weft insertion.
  2. Improper warp tension control during weaving.
  3. Excessively tight warp tension adjustment before restarting the loom after a stop.

(8) Set Mark (Coarse) / Thick Place

Appearance: Weft density is higher than specified. Along the fabric length, weft density gradually increases to a maximum and then returns to normal, forming a narrow, dense strip.
Causes:
  1. Improper warp tension control during weaving.
  2. Excessively loose warp tension adjustment before restarting the loom after a stop.

(9) Pick-Out Mark

Appearance: Remnants of weft removal on gray fabric. After removing defective weft yarns and resuming weaving, the affected area shows excessive fiber fuzz.
Causes: When operators detect wrong picks, severe thick/thin places during weaving, they stop the machine to cut and remove the defective weft. The friction from weft removal causes heavy fuzz on warp yarns, resulting in a fuzzy strip on the fabric after re-weaving.

(10) Broken End

Appearance: One or more warp yarns break, increasing the gap between adjacent yarns. In plain weave fabrics, it resembles doubled ends; in twill weave fabrics, the twill lines are interrupted.
Causes: Warp yarn breaks during weaving, but the automatic stop motion malfunctions, allowing weaving to continue without repairing the broken end.

(11) Broken Pick

Appearance: A weft yarn breaks, but the two broken ends are close together, making the defect barely noticeable.
Causes:
  1. Weft yarn breaks during weaving but continues to be inserted, resulting in only a small missing section.
  2. Severe slubs or flyer on the weft yarn cause breakage during removal.

(12) Centipede Mark (Missing Pick in Twill Weave)

Appearance: Exclusive to twill weave fabrics. Warp yarns float on the fabric surface at the same position in each repeat unit, resembling a centipede’s legs.
Causes: Missing one pick in twill weaving reduces the number of interlacing points, causing some warp yarns to float over two consecutive weft yarns.

(13) End Snarl

Appearance: A short section of a warp yarn is twisted and snarled before being woven into the fabric. This defect is more common in fabrics woven with high-twist yarns.
Causes: Excessive slackness of a single warp yarn during warping leads to localized snarling.

(14) Filling Snarl

Appearance: A short section of a weft yarn is twisted and snarled before being woven into the fabric. This defect is more common in fabrics woven with high-twist yarns.
Causes:
  1. Pre-existing snarled sections in weft bobbins or cones.
  2. Poor winding formation of weft bobbins, causing unsmooth yarn unwinding.
  3. Insufficient weft tension or unclear shed opening during weaving.

(15) Reed Mark

Appearance: Wide gaps between two warp yarns on gray fabric, with visible sawtooth marks on weft yarns caused by reed dent pressure.
Causes:
  1. Deformed or loose reed dents fail to hold warp yarns in position.
  2. Excessive tension on one or several spaced warp yarns during weaving.

(16) Temple Mark

Appearance: Needle pricks or scratches 2–5cm wide inside the selvedge. In severe cases, weft yarns in the affected area become wavy.
Causes: Improper needle size of the temple, or a seized or poorly rotating temple ring.

(17) Shuttle Trap Mark

Appearance: Near the selvedge, multiple warp yarns break consecutively. Even after repair, many yarn tails remain, and the re-woven area shows uneven density.
Causes: The shuttle gets stuck in the shuttle race, cutting multiple warp yarns. This is usually caused by poor shuttle design or obstruction of shuttle picking and shed opening movements. This defect is avoidable with shuttleless looms.

(18) Reedness (Checkerboard Mark)

Appearance: Two adjacent warp yarns bunch together, widening the gap between the pair and the next, forming small checkerboard patterns with weft yarns.
Causes:
  1. Excessively large shed opening angle during weaving.
  2. Significant tension difference between upper and lower warp layers.
  3. Uneven dent density of the reed.

(19) Yarn Tail

Appearance: Loose yarn tails protruding from the fabric surface or selvedge.
Causes: Failure to trim warp/weft tails after splicing, or malfunction of the loom’s side cutter failing to cut weft tails after weft insertion.

(20) Knot

Appearance: Tight, thick knots on the fabric surface, forming raised bumps.
Causes: Overly large knots made when repairing broken warp/weft yarns protrude from the fabric surface.

(21) Float

Appearance: Warp or weft yarns float on the fabric surface without following the specified weave structure.
Causes: Insufficient shed opening angle, uneven heald suspension, or excessive slackness of individual warp yarns.

(22) Cobweb Weave

Appearance: Continuous floats of warp or weft yarns at the same position result in a web-like structure with no interlacing points in that area.
Causes: Same as float defects but more severe.

(23) Weaving Hole

Appearance: Holes of varying sizes formed by broken warp and weft yarns on gray fabric. This defect is more common in high-density fabrics.
Causes: Shuttle friction, catching by take-up rollers, or shuttle trap can cause warp/weft breakage and hole formation.

(24) Slack End

Appearance: A single warp yarn protrudes from the fabric surface at interlacing points, creating a raised effect. Commonly referred to as warp buckling in mills.
Causes: Insufficient tension on an individual warp yarn during weaving, or excessive slackness after repairing a broken warp end.

(25) Slack Filling

Appearance: A single weft yarn protrudes from the fabric surface at interlacing points, usually barely noticeable.
Causes: Insufficient tension on an individual weft yarn during weaving.

(26) Tight End

Appearance: A single warp yarn lies flat, with interlacing points indented into the fabric surface. This is more obvious in twill and satin weaves; severe cases cause uneven fabric surface.
Causes: Excessive tension on an individual warp yarn during weaving, or overly tight splicing after warp breakage.

(27) Tight Filling

Appearance: A single weft yarn lies flat, with interlacing points indented into the fabric surface. This defect is rare and less noticeable than tight ends.
Causes: Unsmooth unwinding from weft bobbins/cones, leading to occasional excessive weft tension during insertion.

(28) Gap Mark

Appearance: Several adjacent warp or weft yarns tilt in an arc, forming gaps on the fabric surface.
Causes: After removing large slubs, flyers, end snarls, or filling snarls, adjacent warp/weft yarns are not properly combed and aligned with a steel comb.

(29) Repair Mark

Appearance: Remnants of repair work remain after fixing severe defects such as broken ends, thin places, or thick places.
Causes: Although repair workers use steel combs to fix defects like broken ends or set marks, yarn arrangement remains irregular and distorted.

(30) Teariness (Weft Skewing)

Appearance: Weft yarns are not straight, with small areas showing unidirectional weft skew. This is common in fabrics where warp is filament and weft is spun yarn, or warp is much finer than weft (e.g., poplin, flannelette, oxford cloth).
Causes:
  1. Improper weave design leading to slippage of warp-weft interlacing points.
  2. Low weft density combined with excessive warp tension during weaving.
  3. Intermittent over-clamping of the fabric during dyeing and finishing processes.

(31) Broken Selvage

Appearance: Three or more consecutive selvedge yarns break, causing the selvedge to split.
Causes:
  1. Excessive tension on selvedge yarns during weaving leads to breakage.
  2. Improper use or mismatched specifications of the temple cause selvedge yarn breakage.

(32) Tight Selvage

Appearance: The selvedge is woven straight, but the fabric body near the selvedge shows wrinkles. When the fabric is spread flat, the selvedge appears tighter than the main fabric, or the fabric sags.
Causes: Excessively high tension on selvedge warp yarns during weaving.

(33) Slack Selvage

Appearance: Uneven selvedge with a ruffled, 荷叶 – like shape. When the fabric is spread flat, the main fabric is smooth but the selvedge is wrinkled or curled.
Causes: Excessively low tension on selvedge warp yarns during weaving.

(34) Serrated Selvage

Appearance: The outer edges of both selvedges are uneven and serrated.
Causes:
  1. Insufficient number of selvedge warp yarns, or failure to repair broken selvedge yarns.
  2. Excessive picking force or weft unwinding tension.

(35) Uneven Warp Let-Off

Appearance: Periodic slight variations in weft density across the fabric length, creating alternating dense and sparse sections.
Causes: Unstable warp tension or inconsistent warp let-off rate during weaving.

(36) Missed Stitch (Knitting Defect)

Appearance: In knitted fabrics, the distance between two adjacent courses of loops is wider than normal, with the connecting threads between transverse loops appearing straight.
Causes: In weft-knitted fabrics, yarn fails to enter the knitting needle during weaving, resulting in a missing course of loops.

(37) Incorrect Yarn Arrangement

Appearance: For yarn-dyed fabrics or fabrics with multi-specification yarns in the weave, yarns are not arranged as designed, leading to unsatisfactory patterns or stripes. This defect is common in striped, checked, and jacquard fabrics with multi-specification warp yarns.
Causes:
  1. Incorrect number of warp yarns for stripes/checks or incorrect weft insertion count for checks, resulting in distorted patterns.
  2. Failure to arrange multi-specification warp yarns as required during warping, or failure to insert specified weft yarns during weaving.

(38) Starch Lump

Appearance: Dry starch lumps or specks on the surface of gray fabric.
Causes: Sizing paste is not fully gelatinized, or the squeeze rollers are worn and uneven, leading to starch deposition on the fabric.

(39) Mildew Stain

Appearance: Grayish-black or reddish mildew spots on the surface of gray fabric.
Causes: Storage in a high-humidity environment for an extended period.

3. Woven Fabric Dyeing & Finishing Defects

(1) Gasoline Spot (Oil Drop Stain)

Appearance: Mostly occurs on E/R (polyester/rayon) blended fabrics. After dyeing, oil drop-shaped spots appear with slightly darker shades than the normal fabric. Under magnification, fiber fuzz at the stained areas shows tiny beads at the tips and is denser than normal.
Causes: Caused by uneven singeing. Fuzz at the stained areas is not fully burned off, forming fused beads at the tips with higher dye absorption, resulting in darker staining.

(2) Fuzz/Nap

Appearance: After dyeing and finishing, fine fuzz remains on the fabric surface with a shade different from the main fabric.
Causes:
  1. Insufficient singeing fails to completely remove surface fuzz.
  2. Excessively strong nozzle jet flow in jet dyeing machines causes fiber fuzzing.

(3) Imperfect Penetration of Dye

Appearance: Straight longitudinal shade variations on dyed fabrics.
Causes: Warp yarns shift during dyeing, leading to uneven yarn density and varying gaps between adjacent yarns, resulting in visual shade differences.

(20) Carrier Spot

Appearance: Drop-shaped dark dye spots on polyester fabrics after dyeing.
Causes:
  1. During atmospheric dyeing of polyester fabrics, poor dispersion of dye carriers leads to localized high dye concentration on the fabric surface.
  2. Volatilized dye carriers during atmospheric dyeing condense on the dyeing machine top and drip onto the fabric.

(21) Warp Stripe/Yarn Texture Streak

Appearance: Rain-like longitudinal stripes on piece-dyed woven fabrics. Severe cases are visible even on gray fabric. The visibility of this defect varies with lighting conditions, viewing angle, and distance.
Causes:
  1. Differences in warp yarn count, evenness, twist, and cross-sectional shape.
  2. Improper dye selection, particularly common in green dyeing.
  3. For textured polyester fabrics, inadequate desizing before dyeing leaves residual size, which absorbs less dye and causes lighter longitudinal stripes.

(22) Barry Dyeing/Filling Band in Shade

Appearance: Transverse shade bands (darker or lighter) on woven fabrics or across consecutive courses of weft-knitted fabrics after dyeing.
Causes:
  1. Presence of thick/thin places on gray woven fabric.
  2. Uneven yarn feeding tension during knitting.
  3. Uneven heating during texturing of polyester filaments for knitting.

(23) Dye Spot

Appearance:
  1. Tiny spots of the same color on medium-to-light shade dyed fabrics.
  2. Tiny spots of foreign colors on bleached or light shade fabrics.
Causes:
  1. Poor dye dissolution, leaving undissolved fine particles.
  2. Dye dust contamination during transportation onto fabrics awaiting processing.
  3. Inadequate cleaning of equipment before processing light shade fabrics after dark shade runs.

(24) Rope Mark

Appearance: Irregular longitudinal shade variations and wrinkles on fabrics dyed in rope form.
Causes: Insufficient or lack of heat setting before rope dyeing (jet or winch dyeing), malfunctioning fabric guide rollers during dyeing, rapid temperature changes, too low liquor ratio, or fabric tangling in the dyeing vat.

(25) Padding Mark

Appearance: During open-width padding dyeing, the fabric folds longitudinally between squeeze rollers. The folded area absorbs less dye due to thickness differences, resulting in lighter shade. This defect mostly occurs at both ends of a fabric roll.
Causes:
  1. Pre-existing creases from pre-treatment processes are not fully eliminated during heat setting.
  2. Malfunction of the fabric expander on the padding machine fails to spread the fabric flat.
  3. Poor splicing between fabric rolls causes wrinkling or unevenness.

(26) Moiré (Wood Grain Mark)

Appearance: Wood grain-like luster spots on the surface of dyed fabrics.
Causes:
  1. Excessive fabric shrinkage during beam dyeing causes layer shifting.
  2. Over-tight winding during beam dyeing disrupts normal dye liquor circulation.

(27) Uneven Dyeing on Selvage

Appearance: Selvedges show different shades from the main fabric after dyeing.
Causes:
  1. Slack or tight selvedges on gray fabric.
  2. Selvedges are clamped by high-temperature clips during heat setting before dyeing.
  3. Selvedge curling during dyeing.
  4. Uneven winding during open-width beam dyeing leads to selvedge oxidation.
  5. Insufficient reduction during open-width beam dyeing with sulfur or vat dyes.
  6. Uneven dye absorption between selvedges and main fabric during open-width padding.
  7. Inadequate washing after dyeing leaves residual chemicals on selvedges.

(28) Fading of Selvage/Discoloration

Appearance: Selvedges of finished dyed and finished fabrics show shade differences from the main fabric.
Causes:
  1. Excessively high temperature of tenter clips during resin finishing causes dye sublimation.
  2. Excessively high temperature of cylinder dryers causes tight wrapping of selvedges around cylinders, leading to dye sublimation.

(29) Edge Mark (Knitted Fabric Defect)

Appearance: On tubular knitted fabrics, abnormal dyeing occurs at the folded edges of the flattened tube.
Causes:
  1. Deterioration of lubricants applied during knitting.
  2. Improper storage or prolonged storage of gray fabric causes selvedge discoloration or contamination due to air and sunlight exposure.
  3. Excessively high temperature of tenter frames during tubular heat setting.

(30) Iron Mark

Appearance: Large, light-shaded crease marks on dyed fabrics, varying in size and direction. Mostly occurs on E/C blended woven fabrics.
Causes: In continuous belt-type scouring and bleaching machines, stainless steel conveyor belts dry out at high temperatures and stick to folded fabric sections, reducing dye absorption in the affected areas.

(31) Colored Spot (Cross-Stain)

Appearance: Large, irregular foreign color stains on the fabric surface.
Causes:
  1. Wet fabrics come into contact with dyed fabrics of different colors, causing color transfer—more noticeable with contrasting colors.
  2. Inadequate cleaning of equipment during processing or transportation.

(32) Scum Spot (Foam Contamination)

Appearance: Foam residue adheres to the fabric surface and dries into large, whitish patches or streaks.
Causes:
  1. Excessive foam in dye liquor due to improper selection of dispersants and auxiliaries.
  2. Excessive foam in reduction baths, particularly common after vat dyeing.
  3. Presence of non-diazotizable impurities in phenol developing solutions leads to foam and scum formation.

(33) Tarring Staining (Agglomeration Stain)

Appearance: Agglomeration between dyes or between dyes and auxiliaries during dyeing results in dark, streaky stains on the fabric surface.
Causes:
  1. Poor dye dissolution and dispersion, contamination with other chemicals, or excessively hard dyeing water.
  2. Incompatible dye-auxiliary combinations, or improper timing and sequence of auxiliary addition.

(34) Roller Stain

Appearance: Small, regularly spaced spots on the fabric surface caused by contamination from unclean rollers during dyeing and finishing. Rollers may be coated with oil, chemicals, dye, or other debris.
Causes:
  1. Oil residues on guide rollers.
  2. Tar-like dye precipitates or fiber lint adhering to squeeze rollers.
  3. Oil and dirt deposits on drying cylinders.

(35) Chemicals Staining

Appearance: Spotted or patchy discoloration, staining, or fabric degradation caused by contact with unintended chemicals.
Causes: Accidental contact with or infiltration of non-formulated chemicals into the fabric during processing.

(36) Dyeing Stop Mark

Appearance: A 2–10cm wide transverse mark on the fabric, darker or lighter than the normal shade, with watermark-like edges.
Causes: Sudden machine stoppage due to power failure, fabric winding issues, or mechanical faults during padding dyeing or padding reduction processes, trapping the fabric between squeeze rollers.

(37) Color Spot (Storage Stain)

Appearance: Darker spots of the same color appear on finished packaged fabrics when opened.
Causes: Sealed packaging of dyed and finished fabrics traps condensed moisture, causing migration of dyes and auxiliaries with poor wet fastness and forming spotted stains.

(38) Blurred Pattern

Appearance: Printed pattern lines are not sharp, resulting in a fuzzy design.
Causes: Mostly occurs in roller printing, caused by poorly engraved printing rollers or insufficient doctor blade pressure.

(39) Misregister

Appearance: In multi-color printing, patterns fail to align as designed, leading to overlapping or gaps with exposed white fabric.
Causes: Improper alignment between printing rollers in multi-color printing processes.

(40) Paste Starvation

Appearance: Partial or complete absence of printed patterns as designed.
Causes:
  1. Printing paste in the roller printing machine’s paste trough is exhausted without timely replenishment, or the automatic paste feeding system malfunctions.
  2. Malfunction of the paste pump in rotary screen printing machines.

(41) Broken Line in Print

Appearance: Interrupted lines in fine-line printed patterns.
Causes:
  1. Insufficient engraving depth of printing rollers for fine lines, or overly large mesh size of rotary screens, hindering paste penetration.
  2. Excessively high viscosity of the prepared printing paste.

(42) Print Crease

Appearance: Shuttle-shaped or longitudinal unprinted areas on printed fabrics due to fabric folding and overlapping during printing.
Causes: Wrinkling and overlapping of the fabric surface during printing prevent paste application to the covered areas.

(43) Screen Blockage

Appearance: Small unprinted dots on printed fabrics, or dots with blurred edges due to paste agglomeration.
Causes: Mostly occurs in screen or rotary screen printing. Lumpy particles in the printing paste adhere to the screen mesh, blocking paste penetration.

(44) Color Bleeding

Appearance: Printed patterns lack sharp edges, with colors bleeding into adjacent areas.
Causes:
  1. Excessively low viscosity of the printing paste.
  2. Overlapping of printing pastes in multi-color printing.

(45) Print Roller Contamination (Background Stain)

Appearance: Uniform light staining of the white background in white-ground printed fabrics, mostly occurring in roller printing.
Causes:
  1. Insufficiently polished printing roller surfaces that easily adhere to printing paste.
  2. Poor contact between the doctor blade and printing roller, or a dull doctor blade that fails to scrape excess paste effectively. This defect is most common in white-ground prints with large black or dark-colored patterns.

(46) Doctor Blade Mark

Appearance: A single-color longitudinal streak on printed fabrics, with sharp start and end points. Wider streaks show a colorless center fading gradually towards both edges.
Causes: Lumps or agglomerates in the printing paste are pressed by the doctor blade and dragged across a section of the printing roller surface.

(47) Print Streak

Appearance: One or more unintended fine longitudinal lines on roller-printed fabrics, not part of the original pattern design.
Causes: Poor engraving or finishing of printing rollers causes pattern edge damage under doctor blade pressure, or hard particles in the printing paste scratch the roller surface along the pattern grooves.

(48) Print Tail

Appearance: In roller-printed fabrics with dot patterns, smudged tails extend from the dots along the fabric length, causing uneven pattern edges.
Causes: Excessive paste pick-up during printing, uneven fabric feeding and take-up tension, or accumulation of fabric fuzz on the doctor blade.

(49) Doctor Blade Flutter Mark

Appearance: Wavy shade variations along the length of printed patterns.
Causes: Improper installation or pressure adjustment of the doctor blade in roller printing machines.

(50) Poor Register Joint

Appearance: Misalignment of continuous patterns at the roller joint in screen-printed fabrics.
Causes:
  1. Poor manufacturing quality of screen printing stencils.
  2. Inaccurate control of stencil spacing during mounting before printing.

(51) Back Cloth Splice Stain

Appearance: A transverse, blurry pattern band across the fabric width in printed fabrics, with varying degrees of blurriness along the band.
Causes: In roller printing, the backing cloth is used in a loop with overlapping splices that are thicker and retain more moisture. Even after drying, the splice area remains wetter than the rest of the cloth. When stacked with the fabric to be printed, it wets the fabric and causes paste diffusion, resulting in blurred patterns.

(52) Printing Stop Mark

Appearance: A 5–15cm wide transverse band across the full fabric width in printed fabrics, where all printing colors mix and blur, with no visible pattern.
Causes: When the printing machine stops, the printing rollers or screens are not lifted immediately and remain pressed against the fabric, causing excessive paste penetration into the fabric.

(53) Water Spot Mark

Appearance: Circular or irregular light-shaded spots on dyed or printed fabrics. The edges of the spots are often darker than the center.
Causes: Condensed water droplets from workshop humidity fall onto unfinished dyed or printed fabrics during storage. The water reacts with dyes in the form of crystal water, causing significant discoloration that cannot be reversed by ordinary drying. However, high-temperature ironing may restore the original color. This defect is particularly noticeable in cellulosic fabrics dyed with vat dyes.

(54) Developer Stain

Appearance: Irregular light-shaded patches on fabrics after padding, dyeing, or printing followed by development.
Causes:
  1. Improper ratio between the padding liquor and developing liquor in phenol dyeing processes.
  2. Excessively high drying temperature after padding.
  3. Incomplete dissolution of reducing agents used in continuous dyeing.
  4. Incomplete air removal from the steamer during heat steaming, causing fabric contact with air.
  5. Uneven temperature distribution inside the steamer during heat steaming.
  6. Incomplete oxidation of dyes.
  7. Direct sunlight exposure of fabrics after dyeing/printing but before development.

(55) Resin Spot

Appearance: Dry, hard resin lumps on resin-finished fabrics, showing glossy reflections and a smooth, stiff texture to the touch.
Causes: Incomplete and uneven dissolution of resin during finishing. The fabric passes through the resin bath, with resin adhering to the surface, then is pressed by squeeze rollers to form hard, adherent patches.

(56) Surface Resin

Appearance: Resin deposits on the surface of resin-finished fabrics. Light scratching with a fingernail leaves visible streaks.
Causes: Excessively high resin pick-up during padding, combined with excessively high initial drying temperature.

(57) Pilling

Appearance: Formation of fiber pills on the surface of resin-finished fabrics. This defect is more common in wool fabrics, polyester staple fabrics, and their blends.
Causes:
  1. Excessive surface fuzz remains on the fabric before resin finishing.
  2. Anti-pilling agents or suitable lubricants are not added to the resin finishing bath.

(58) Yarn Slippage (Knitting Defect)

Appearance: In weft-knitted fabrics, one course of loops is stretched and straightened.
Causes: Incorrect fabric feeding direction during heat setting or resin finishing of weft-knitted fabrics causes stretching and straightening of one course of loops.

(59) Fabric Glazing

Appearance: Excessively smooth fabric surface with unwanted shine, mostly occurring in chemical fiber knitted fabrics.
Causes: Excessively high tension applied to the fabric during resin finishing.

(60) Uneven Fabric Surface

Appearance: When a 1-yard length of fabric is spread flat on a platform, the fabric surface shows unevenness and warping. Mostly occurs in weft-knitted fabrics.
Causes: Poor heat setting or resin finishing results in uneven longitudinal and transverse shrinkage of the fabric.

(61) Poor Elasticity

Appearance: Stretchable knitted fabrics fail to recover their original shape after slight longitudinal and transverse stretching, and show wrinkles.
Causes:
  1. Low crimp stability of the elastic yarn used in weaving.
  2. Excessively high temperature or prolonged heating during heat setting or resin finishing causes partial loss of elasticity in the textured yarn.

(62) Paper-Like Hand Feel

Appearance: The fabric surface is smooth, slightly stiff, and has low elasticity, resembling paper.
Causes: The chemical filaments used in the fabric have very low boiling water shrinkage (e.g., only 2–3%), so they cannot shrink sufficiently during processing, resulting in a paper-like hand feel.

(1) Oily End

Appearance: A single section of a warp yarn is contaminated with oil.
Causes: Warp yarns are contaminated with machine lubricants during winding, cone winding, or weft winding before weaving.

(2) Oily Pick

Appearance: A single section of a weft yarn is contaminated with oil.
Causes: Weft yarns are contaminated with machine lubricants during winding, cone winding, or weft winding before weaving.

(3) Oily Yarn (Knitting Defect)

Appearance: A single section of yarn in knitted fabrics is contaminated with oil.
Causes: Yarns are contaminated with oil during cone winding or transportation before knitting.

(4) Oil Stain

Appearance: Irregularly shaped oil stains of varying sizes on gray or finished fabrics.
Causes:
  1. Splashing of machine lubricants during weaving, dyeing, or finishing processes.
  2. Oil contamination during transportation and handling.

(5) Water Stain

Appearance: Stains left on gray or finished fabrics after water immersion and air drying.
Causes:
  1. Accidental water immersion of gray or finished fabrics.
  2. Residual stains after washing oily ends, oily picks, or oil stains on gray or finished fabrics.

(6) Chafe Mark

Appearance: Differences in luster, shade, or weave structure on the fabric surface caused by friction during processing.
Causes:
  1. Accidental friction during fabric conveying and storage in processing.
  2. Slippage between the elliptical roller and fabric in winch dyeing machines.
  3. Friction against rough surfaces inside processing equipment.

(7) Hole

Appearance: Holes formed by broken warp and weft yarns on gray or finished fabrics.
Causes: Impact by sharp objects during transportation or storage, or use of hooks during manual handling.

(8) Crease Mark

Appearance: Wide, raised fold lines on the fabric surface, not fine streaks. The creases flatten out under tension and often occur along the fabric length or at both ends of a roll.
Causes:
  1. Uneven folding of gray fabric during rolling, combined with excessive pressure from hydraulic bale presses.
  2. Wrinkling at splices between fabric rolls during pre-treatment.
  3. Malfunction of the fabric expander on pre-treatment lines fails to spread the fabric flat, or excessive fabric tension during feeding.
  4. Misaligned or bent guide rollers in pre-treatment machine washing tanks.
  5. Improper angle adjustment or wear of the curved expander roller before squeeze rollers in pre-treatment lines, failing to spread the fabric flat before pressing.
  6. Wrinkling of fabric wrapped around drying cylinders in cylinder dryers.
  7. Failure to eliminate pre-existing creases during fabric stretching or heat setting.

(9) Uneven Napping

Appearance: Uneven length and density of naps on napped fabrics such as flannelette, corduroy, velvet, and towels.
Causes:
  1. Fabric wrinkling or uneven tension during napping.
  2. Improper shearing control during nap trimming for corduroy and velvet.
  3. Uneven loop formation of pile warp yarns during towel weaving.

(10) Nap Shedding

Appearance: Poor nap adhesion on sheared fabrics, with naps easily pulled off.
Causes: Improper weave design results in insufficient holding force on the napped yarns after shearing.

(11) Weft Bowing (Wavy Weft)

Appearance: Large areas of weft yarns shift from their original positions, forming wavy patterns on the fabric surface. This defect is common in fabrics where warp is much finer than weft or warp is filament and weft is spun yarn.
Causes:
  1. Excessively low liquor ratio or excessive fabric length loaded in winch dyeing machines, leading to fabric tangling and uneven tension.
  2. Excessively strong nozzle jet flow in jet dyeing machines with low liquor ratio and heavy fabric load.
  3. Excessively large expanding angle of fabric expanders and guide rollers in open-width continuous processing lines.
Post time: Jan-08-2026