Quality
How Leather Quality Control Works
The stages of leather-goods quality control, how AQL sampling works, and what buyers should agree with their supplier before production.
Quality control for leather goods is not a single inspection at the end. It is a series of checks, each designed to catch problems at the stage where they are cheapest to fix.
Leather / material inspection
Incoming hides are checked for grade, thickness, shade, grain integrity and defects before cutting. Leather that falls short is rejected — not worked around.
Pre-production inspection
The approved sample, leather, hardware and measurements are confirmed before bulk cutting begins, so everyone is working to the same standard.
Inline inspection
Stitching, edges, assembly and hardware are checked during production, catching issues while they can still be corrected.
Final and packing inspection
Finished goods are inspected against the approved sample — commonly a final random inspection using an AQL-based sampling plan — for stitch quality, edges, hardware, symmetry and finish, then packing is verified.
Agree the standard first
Agree AQL levels, measurement tolerances and any testing with your supplier before production. We inspect against that agreement and share the results. See our quality control process.