AQL calculator

The standard practice in apparel is General Inspection Level II with an AQL of 2.5 for major defects and 4.0 for minor defects. Critical defects, however, result in an automatic failure of the lot since they are not accepted at all.

Critical defects make the garment unsafe or break a legal requirement, such as a needle left in a seam. Major defects would likely cause a return, such as a broken zipper, a measurement outside of tolerance, or a visible stain. Minor defects are small imperfections, like a loose thread, that most buyers would not return.

Level II is the standard choice for pre-shipment inspection. Level I cuts the sample size when the supplier has a proven record, while Level III increases it after failed lots. The special levels S-1 to S-4 use very small samples and suit checks that are costly per unit, such as a full measurement check against the spec sheet.

The buyer has several options: rejecting the shipment, requesting rework and re-inspection by the factory, accepting with a discount, or sorting the lot piece by piece. The sampling plan only indicates whether the lot meets the agreed quality level. What happens next is contractual.

Yes. The calculator follows the single sampling plan for normal inspection from ANSI/ASQ Z1.4, the table pre-shipment inspections reference. Enter the order quantity as the lot size, keep Level II, and read the sample size and the accept and reject numbers for each defect class.