Quality Control and the Value It Adds to Gloves

Does quality control in disposable gloves matter?

Of course it does, but it is likely that every glove supplier views it differently.

We directly inspect every shipment right at the factory—100% of them, unlike any other independent glove supplier. We work with dozens of factories and trust them to follow our detailed specifications. But, in the words of Ronald Reagan, we “trust, but verify.”

Our experienced, local SE Asia team visits every factory and keeps detailed records of every inspection. In pre- and post-production, after the factory teams do their quality audits, our team does its own quality control audit. They carefully inspect all gloves and packaging to ensure it’s consistent with industry (and company) standards. That cuts down on the number of damaged boxes and cases to help product arrive to our customers in the best possible shape.

Our redundant sourcing program utilizes dozens of factories, which makes in-person quality control especially important. Most factories across the industry have high standards and produce high-quality products, but this personal touch provides us extra control and visibility—enabling predictable supply and high fill rates on our core products.

Like many reputable suppliers, we belong to Sedex (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange), and have also enrolled most of our vendors, which enables greater visibility into our supply chain.

The Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA), one of the most widely used social audit procedures in the world, is a compilation of good practice in ethical audit technique. Among the criteria reviewed are labor standards, health and safety practices, management systems, universal rights, entitlement to work, subcontracting and remote work, and in some cases environmental impact.

When it comes to the disposable glove market, we believe the old Reagan adage mentioned above is still appropriate. We have faith in our partners—but we believe that our clients and partners benefit from the extra quality control steps.