Author: True Port Global Editorial TeamReviewed by: True Port Global
Published: 31 August 20267 min read
The pre-shipment check is the last moment a glove order can be corrected while correcting it is still cheap — after loading, every problem crosses an ocean before you meet it. This is a working document, not an article: a nine-section checklist covering the sample basis, what to check, and the evidence to request before dispatch. Every sampling rule and acceptance limit is a bracketed placeholder, because the limits are yours — a checklist that invents your acceptance policy for you is how disputes start. Copy it, fill it in, and attach it to the order — for any supplier, True Port Global included.
Agree it at order stage, not at dispatch. Fill in your sampling rule, defect classes and acceptance limits, attach the checklist to the RFQ or order confirmation, and state who inspects — the supplier, you, or an inspection company you appoint. Sprung on a supplier the week of shipment, the same checklist becomes a negotiation; agreed up front, it is simply the order's exit criteria. Use the identical filled-in version for every supplier you buy from, so results are comparable across sources.
PRE-SHIPMENT QC CHECKLIST — BULK GLOVE ORDER
1. ORDER REFERENCE
PO / order no.: [number]
Supplier: [name]
Product: [glove type + model/SKU, as on the order confirmation]
Checked against: [order confirmation / RFQ + approved sample ID and date]
Inspection date: [date] Inspected by: [name / company]
Where: [factory / warehouse / port, before container loading]
2. SAMPLE BASIS
Lot size: [total units presented for inspection]
Sampling rule: [your rule — e.g. ISO 2859-1 (AQL), level and limits
you set; or fixed count per size; or 100% for small lots]
Sample size: [units], drawn at random by [who] from
[sealed export cartons across the whole lot]
Acceptance: [your accept / reject numbers per defect class]
3. MATERIALS & CONSTRUCTION (vs approved sample)
Shell material: [leather grade / synthetic / knit + coating as ordered]
Lining: [type and weight as ordered, if any]
Construction: [stitching, seams, cuff style, length, reinforcements]
Colors/marking: [as ordered, incl. size marking and any hi-vis rule]
Match to sample: [visual + hand comparison against approved sample:
pass / deviation noted]
4. SIZING & MEASUREMENTS
Sizes checked: [which sizes, how many of each]
Key dimensions: [your measured points and tolerances, e.g. overall
length, palm width, cuff length — vs approved sample]
Fit check: [tried on-hand in each size: yes / no]
5. WORKMANSHIP & VISUAL DEFECTS
Defect classes: [your definitions — e.g. critical: holes, broken or
missed seams, wrong material; major: loose threads at
stress points, stains, misprints; minor: cosmetic]
Limits: [your accept / reject numbers per class, per 2.]
Found: [count per class, with photos of each defect type]
6. ON-HAND FUNCTION CHECKS
Seams & stress: [flex, pull at thumb crotch and fingertips: pass/fail]
Grip surface: [dry grip on the material you handle; wet if relevant]
Closure/cuff: [fastening works, cuff sits as intended]
Pairing: [left/right correctly paired, sizes not mixed in pair]
7. QUANTITY & SIZE MIX
Total count: [method — carton count x pack rate + spot openings]
Size mix: [counted mix vs ordered mix, e.g. M/L/XL/XXL %]
Shortfall rule: [your tolerance, if any, and what triggers a recount]
8. PACKING & LABELLING
Inner packing: [pair band / polybag / header card as ordered]
Units per inner: [as ordered] Units per carton: [as ordered]
Carton: [board grade holds when stacked; weight within
[your max kg]; drop/crush condition acceptable]
Markings: [shipping marks, barcodes scan, labels match PO
and destination requirements]
Private label: [artwork version matches approved proof, if branded]
9. EVIDENCE & DISPOSITION
Evidence to
receive: [inspection notes + photos traceable to this PO;
test report / DoC for any standard the order
specified — product-specific, with lab and date]
Result: [pass / pass with noted deviations / hold]
If hold: [your rule — rework, re-inspection, or renegotiation
before release; who decides, by when]
Sign-off: [name, company, signature, date]An inspection samples the lot; it manages risk, it does not eliminate it. What it buys you is a documented decision — against your own specification and approved sample — made before the goods are on the water instead of after.
An inspection is only as good as what it inspects against. Tie the check to the order confirmation and the approved sample by ID and date — not to a catalogue page or a memory of what was agreed. If there is no approved sample on file, that is the first finding, not a detail to work around.
Decide up front how many gloves get checked and by what rule. ISO 2859-1 (AQL) is the convention most inspection companies price against; a fixed per-size count or a full count on small lots are equally legitimate. What breaks programs is deciding at dispatch — agree the rule and the accept/reject numbers when the order is placed, and have the sample drawn at random from sealed cartons across the lot, not from a prepared box.
The approved sample is the contract made physical. Compare shell, lining, stitching and cuff against it by hand, not against the photo. Most quiet substitutions live here — a lighter leather split, a thinner lining, fewer stitches per inch — and they are invisible in a carton count.
Pick the few dimensions that matter for your crews — overall length, palm width, cuff length — measure them against the approved sample, and put a tolerance on each. A glove that is honest in construction but half a size small still comes back to you as a complaint.
Define the defect classes in your own words before anyone counts anything: what is critical (unusable or unsafe), what is major (a buyer would reject it), what is minor (cosmetic). The classes and the limits are your acceptance policy — the checklist deliberately does not invent them for you.
A glove is equipment, not fabric. A minute per sampled pair on the hands finds what a table inspection misses: seams that give at the thumb crotch, a palm that glazes on the material you actually handle, pairs bagged as two lefts. Test grip on your surface, not on the meeting-room desk.
Count cartons against the packing rate and open enough of them to trust the arithmetic, then check the size mix against the ordered percentages. A shipment that is complete in total but wrong in mix runs out of XL in week two — which is a shortage wearing a full carton count.
Packing failures cost after the gloves arrive: cartons that crush in the stack, barcodes that will not scan at your warehouse, labels that miss a destination requirement. If the order is private-label, check the artwork version against the approved proof — a reprint at destination is the most expensive printing you will ever buy.
Say what evidence you expect to receive — order-specific notes and photos, plus the product-specific report or declaration behind any standard the order named — and what happens on a fail: rework, re-inspection, or renegotiation before release. A checklist without a disposition rule is an opinion; with one, it is a decision.
This checklist closes the loop the RFQ opens: the copy-ready glove RFQ template writes the specification, and this page verifies the shipment against it. Category judgment calls live in the welding-glove RFQ checklist, the impact-glove procurement checklist, the rigger vs driver guide and the cold-storage and winter buying guide — the sharper the spec they produce, the more this inspection can actually verify.
Nine things: the order reference it inspects against, the sample basis, materials and construction compared to the approved sample, sizing, workmanship and visual defects, on-hand function checks, quantity and size-mix count, packing and labelling, and the evidence plus the pass-or-hold decision. The checklist on this page carries all nine. What it checks against matters as much as what it checks: an inspection verifies the shipment against your specification and approved sample, so a vague spec inspects badly however thorough the inspector is.
There is no single right number — it is a decision you take, not one a supplier takes for you. Many buyers use the ISO 2859-1 (AQL) sampling convention: pick an inspection level, read the sample size off the lot size, and set your own accept and reject limits per defect class. Others use a fixed count per size, or a full count on small lots. The checklist leaves the sampling rule and the acceptance limits as brackets because they are yours to set — what matters is that they are written down and agreed before production, not negotiated at dispatch.
No — and that is the honest answer any supplier should give. The check plan for an order is agreed per order against the buyer brief: specification review, comparison against the approved sample, run checks where applicable, packing review and pre-dispatch evidence. This page is the buyer-side version of that discipline — a checklist you can hand to any supplier, True Port Global included, with your own limits filled in. If you prefer your own inspection company, buyer-appointed inspection before dispatch can be discussed and coordinated as part of the order terms.
Inspection notes and photographs that are genuine, order-specific and traceable to your PO — carton marks, labels, measured samples, defect examples — rather than generic or recycled images. Where your order specified a standard, ask for the product-specific evidence behind it: the test report or declaration of conformity, the issuing lab, its date and the marking on the glove. Ask every supplier — True Port Global included. Agree the evidence list inside the RFQ, before production, so nobody is inventing it the week the shipment is due.
We are a Sialkot-based export partner working through vetted partner manufacturers, and the quality-control process for every order is agreed against the buyer brief before production — specification review, comparison against the approved sample, run checks where applicable, packing review and pre-dispatch evidence. Send this checklist filled in and it becomes that brief. Buyer-appointed third-party inspection can be coordinated as part of the order terms, evidence shared is genuine and order-specific, and private-label packing is checked against your approved artwork. Orders across the glove range start at 100 units. Saudi buyers can start from the Saudi buyer pathway.
Send the glove type, quantity, destination and this checklist with your limits filled in. True Port Global will confirm what gets checked, what evidence you receive, and how third-party inspection fits — per order, in writing.