# Garment Selection QA for Buyers & Wearers

Human page: https://retifist.com/literature-reviews/garment-selection-qa-buyers-wearers

> **Not medical advice.** Pre-wear checks are **literacy**, not allergy testing or device certification.

## Executive summary

Before you wear or resell a latex garment, industrial dipped-goods specs offer a **borrowed vocabulary**—holes, powder, protein, odor, bloom, gauge variation—even though **fashion catsuits are not ASTM D3578 gloves** [^2]. NIOSH separates irritant, delayed chemical, and immediate protein reaction *patterns* for workplace NRL products [^3]. Use this when buying secondhand sheet goods, inspecting a custom commission, or deciding go/no-go on first wear. Pointer to [Allergy and Skin Contact](/literature-reviews/allergy-and-skin-contact) for allergy classes.

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## Borrowed QC vocabulary (analogy, not certification)

ASTM **D3578** is the product standard for **dipped NR examination gloves** (holes, powder, protein, tensile) [^2]. ASTM **D5151** detects water-leak holes in **medical gloves** [^4]. Fashion sheet/garments sit **outside** that scope — transfer is analogy only.

Dipped-goods defects include entrapped air → pinholes, webbing, low wet gel, incomplete leach → worse aging/discoloration [^5].

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## Pre-wear checklist (wearer literacy)

1. **Light + stretch** for pinholes and thin spots.
2. **Powder/talc** — medical powdered gloves banned as unreasonable risk [^6].
3. **Odor** — reodorants mask at 0.25–0.5 phr; root cause preferred [^7].
4. **Bloom vs crack** — [Aging, Storage and Care](/literature-reviews/aging-storage-and-care) [^8].
5. **Stop rule** — new rash/breathing symptoms → stop wear; see #03.

21 CFR **801.437** requires NRL caution on **medical devices** [^9].

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<details>
<summary>Deep dive: Protein assay methods (glove lineage)</summary>

ASTM **D5712** — total aqueous extractable protein [^13]. ASTM **D6499** — antigenic protein [^14]. ISO **12243** — assay method only [^15].

</details>

<details>
<summary>Deep dive: Aging symptom inspection taxonomy</summary>

Ozone cracks perpendicular to stress [^16]. Incomplete leach → discoloration [^17].

</details>

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## Endnotes

[^2]: ASTM D3578.
[^3]: NIOSH Pub. 97-135 (1997).
[^4]: ASTM D5151.
[^5]: Vanderbilt Latex Handbook, Pages 205–206.
[^6]: FDA 81 FR 91722.
[^7]: Vanderbilt Latex Handbook, Pages 133–134.
[^8]: Aging, Storage and Care — site review.
[^9]: 21 CFR 801.437.
[^13]: ASTM D5712-15(2020).
[^14]: ASTM D6499-24.
[^15]: ISO 12243:2003.
[^16]: Vanderbilt Latex Handbook, Page 118.
[^17]: Vanderbilt Latex Handbook, Page 119.