Section 7: Post-production Quality Inspection

IMPORTANT

BILLY Footwear reserves the rights, at any time that we deem necessary, to request the factory to provide inspection certificates performed by the following third-party inspection institution – Bureau Veritas, Intertek, and SGS – at the factory’s expense. BILLY Footwear may enforce this requirement until we are certain that the factory consistently achieves the satisfactory quality level that we expect from all of our manufacturing partners. 

Essential Physical Quality Checklist for Shoes – recommended to the factory to inspect the following categories when it is applicable to the current production run

The only way to ensure that your products meet our specifications is to subject them to product inspections and testing, by qualified staff and in a certified quality assurance laboratory. The following is a list of some of the most important physical tests that should be undergone.

1. Size and Fitting

The shoes you produce must match all the dimensions corresponding to the appropriate shoe size. If you sell your shoe as a US size 42, and it has the correct heel to toe length but is too narrow – then that batch cannot be shipped. To avoid costly rework, such errors must be identified before your production run starts.

2. Metal Contamination

No matter how strict controls your factory has, a stray needle or work tool can find its way into a shoe – and a single foreign metal object is enough for an entire order to be rejected. Suitable testing with metal detection will catch such foreign objects in time.

3. Bond Testing

Shoes are constructed of many different parts that are all bonded or glued together. Maintaining a consistent level of quality for different fastening processes can be difficult. Before shipping your footwear, you must ensure that it is able to withstand consistent and adequate levels of stress without breaking.

4. Zip and Fastener Fatigue and Quality Testing

After putting a great deal of effort into ensuring durable footwear construction, you don’t want to be let down by a failing zip or fastener. Any fastener you put on your shoe must undergo a durability test to ensure that its lifetime of opening and closing matches the durability of your shoe.

5. Accessory Pull Testing

Any accessory or component that you add to a shoe, such as a decorative Any accessory or component that you add to a shoe, such as a decorative buckle, must be attached securely. An improperly attached accessory will not only damage the appearance of the shoe, but may be swallowed by a child, causing serious bodily injury or death, resulting in an expensive and reputation-damaging recall of your product.

6. Color Fastness – Rub Testing

This test ensures that any coloring used in the manufacturing of your shoe will not leak or bleed onto the wearer, their clothes, or their surroundings. After a walk in the rain, no one wants to take off their shoes to find their white socks have turned pink. This test will ensure that the color of your shoes stays on your shoes only.