Decide the fabric and trims
Name the cloth and trims, or write down exactly what the factory proposes, because fabric is half the price.
DEFINITION: GSM, fabric specDOCUMENT: bill of materials
Fabric is usually half the garment price or more, so this decision is half your cost. Name the cloth yourself, construction, weight and composition, or have the factory propose one and write down exactly what was proposed. “Same as sample” is how a 180 gram t-shirt arrives at 140 grams.
GSM is grams per square metre, the cloth’s weight and the fastest single check on whether you got what you paid for. The bill of materials is the list of everything in the garment beside the cloth: thread, labels, buttons, zips, elastic, interlining. Small money, large problems: a zip that fails is the whole garment failed.
If you want to understand the cloth itself, the fabric part of the raw materials guide builds a fabric price from its parts, and the weight calculator turns any construction into grams.
If you do not yet know what cloth your product is usually made from, which cloth for which garment below sets out the usual cloth, its construction and the weight band it normally falls in, for fourteen common products, and then lists the lines a mill needs before it can price any of them.
What a bad answer looks like: “same as sample” or “180 gram cotton” with no construction, no composition and no supplier named, so there is nothing to weigh the bulk against.
Which cloth for which garment
Fabric is usually half the price of a garment or more, so this is the half of the tech pack worth getting right first. Find your product in the left column, and take the row as the shape of a sensible question rather than as an answer.
| Garment | Usual cloth | Construction | Finished weight g/m² |
|---|---|---|---|
| T shirt, basic | Single jersey. Cotton, or cotton with polyester | Weft knit, single jersey | 140 to 200 |
| Polo shirt | Pique. Cotton, or cotton with polyester | Weft knit, single or double pique | 180 to 240 |
| Sweatshirt and hoodie | French terry, or brushed back fleece | Weft knit, loop back or brushed back | 240 to 400 |
| Shirt, formal | Poplin, or twill. Cotton, or cotton with polyester | Woven, plain or two by one twill | 100 to 140 |
| Shirt, casual | Oxford, chambray, flannel, seersucker | Woven, plain or twill, often brushed | 120 to 200 |
| Trousers, chino | Cotton twill, often with elastane | Woven, three by one twill | 220 to 300 |
| Jeans | Denim. Cotton, or cotton with elastane | Woven, three by one warp faced twill | 270 to 475, that is 8 to 14 ounces |
| Dress and blouse, light | Viscose challis, crepe, georgette, poly satin | Woven, plain or crepe | 70 to 130 |
| Outerwear shell | Polyester or nylon taffeta, ripstop, canvas | Woven filament, plain or ripstop | 50 to 200 |
| Leggings and activewear | Polyester or nylon with elastane | Circular knit interlock, or warp knit tricot | 180 to 280 |
| Underwear and lingerie | Fine jersey, rib, tricot, mesh | Weft or warp knit | 100 to 180 |
| Suiting and tailoring | Wool or wool blend worsted, poly viscose | Woven, plain, twill or hopsack | 180 to 320 |
| Baby and children | Interlock, rib, single jersey. Cotton | Weft knit | 140 to 220 |
| Workwear and uniform | Polyester cotton twill, drill, canvas | Woven, two by one or three by one twill | 200 to 320 |
These are typical trade ranges compiled by VeriMills for orientation. They are not a specification and they do not replace a supplier quotation or a test report. Weights are for the finished cloth after dyeing and finishing, which is what arrives, not the greige weight a mill may quote. The same garment is made at half these weights for a promotional order and at double them for a heavy winter one, and both are legitimate.
One line each, on what actually goes wrong
| Garment | Worth knowing before you specify it |
|---|---|
| T shirt, basic | Under about 140 the shoulder seam and the label show through. Over about 200 it stops behaving like a t shirt and starts behaving like a light sweatshirt. |
| Polo shirt | Pique holds its shape where jersey does not, which is the whole reason the collar survives. Say whether the collar and cuff are knitted separately or cut from the body cloth, because they are priced differently. |
| Sweatshirt and hoodie | Brushed back is warmer and pills sooner. Loop back is cooler and lasts. Say which, because the same 320 grams buys either. |
| Shirt, formal | A shirting is quoted by its yarn counts and its ends and picks, not by weight. Weight is the check you run afterwards. |
| Shirt, casual | Brushing removes weight. If you agree a weight, agree whether it is measured before or after finishing, or the bulk will be light and both of you will be right. |
| Trousers, chino | If you want stretch, write the elastane percentage, usually one to three. Elastane also decides the shrinkage, so it changes the pattern, not only the feel. |
| Jeans | Denim is the one cloth still sold in ounces per square yard. One ounce per square yard is 33.9 grams per square metre. Also name the dye, indigo or sulphur, and the wash, because the wash can cost more than the cloth. |
| Dress and blouse, light | Viscose loses strength when wet and moves after washing. Ask for a wash test on the actual cloth before you approve it, not on a swatch of something similar. |
| Outerwear shell | Specified in denier, not only in grams, and the coating or membrane is a separate line. Water resistant and waterproof are two different products at two different prices. |
| Leggings and activewear | Elastane is usually 8 to 20 per cent. The test that matters is opacity when the cloth is stretched on a person, which no gram figure will tell you. |
| Underwear and lingerie | The trims cost more than the cloth here. Elastic, lace, hooks and rings are the bill of materials, and each needs its own line. |
| Suiting and tailoring | Some mills quote grams per running metre instead of per square metre. Fix which one before you compare two prices, or you are comparing nothing. |
| Baby and children | The specification that decides whether you can sell it is chemical and mechanical, not the weight: restricted substances, nickel release on any metal, and the rules on cords and drawstrings. |
| Workwear and uniform | Ask for tear strength and colour fastness to washing at 60 degrees. This is the one category where a cheap cloth is visible within a month. |
How a cloth is written down so a mill can price it
A weight on its own is not a specification. These are the lines a mill needs, and a quotation that arrives without them is a quotation for something the mill has chosen.
| Woven cloth | What to write |
|---|---|
| Composition | Every fibre with its percentage, in falling order. 97 per cent cotton and 3 per cent elastane, not "cotton stretch". |
| Yarn count | Warp and weft, in the count system you name. 40s by 40s in English cotton count, or 20 tex by 20 tex. Say the system, because the numbers run in opposite directions. |
| Ends and picks | Threads per inch, warp first. 133 by 72. With the count above, this is what a shirting actually is. |
| Weave | Plain, two by one twill, three by one twill, satin, oxford, dobby, jacquard. |
| Finished weight | Grams per square metre after finishing, with the tolerance you will accept. Plus or minus 5 per cent is the usual ask. |
| Width | Cuttable width in centimetres, and whether that includes the selvedge. A cloth 4 cm narrower than promised can cost you a whole size in the marker. |
| Finish | Mercerised, sanforised, peached, calendered, easy care, water repellent. Each is a separate cost and each is a separate wash test. |
| Shrinkage | The maximum you accept, warp and weft, after the wash cycle written into the same line. |
| Knitted cloth | What to write |
|---|---|
| Composition | As for a woven, with the elastane percentage written even when it is small. |
| Yarn count | The count and whether it is combed or carded, ring spun or open end. Combed ring spun costs more and pills far less. |
| Stitch | Single jersey, interlock, one by one rib, two by two rib, pique, French terry, fleece. |
| Gauge | Needles per inch on the machine. A finer gauge gives a closer, more expensive cloth at the same weight. |
| Finished weight | Grams per square metre after finishing, with a tolerance. This is the number a buyer checks first and it is the number most often missed. |
| Width | Tubular or open width, in centimetres. Tubular has no side seam, which changes the pattern. |
| Finish | Biowash, enzyme wash, silicone soft, peached, anti pilling. Say it, because "soft" is not a finish. |
| Shrinkage and spirality | Shrinkage both ways, and the twist allowance. Spirality is why a t shirt side seam walks round the body after three washes. |
What this means for the cloth by garment type table
What this is The cloth ordinarily used for each common garment, its construction and the weight band it usually falls in, compiled by VeriMills as orientation for a buyer writing a first specification.
How to read it Read one row at a time, left to right. The garment is in the first column, the cloth and its construction in the middle two, and the last column is the finished weight in grams per square metre, given as a band because every one of these garments is legitimately made light and heavy. The notes table underneath carries one plain fact per row, which is usually the thing that goes wrong.
What moves it Season, market and price point, not the calendar. The same t shirt is 150 grams for a giveaway and 200 grams for a retail brand, and the fibre price moves the cost of both without moving the band itself.
How to use it To turn a picture into a written line. Take the row for your product, put the construction and the weight into your tech pack, then ask the factory to confirm or correct it in writing. A factory correcting your number tells you far more than a factory answering a blank page.
The trap These are trade ranges for orientation, not a specification, and they are not our quotation. Do not paste a number from here into a contract without the factory confirming it against the actual cloth.
The trims, and what to write for each
Everything in the garment that is not the cloth. Together it is a small share of the cost and a large share of the failures, because a zip that jams or a label that is wrong stops the whole piece being sold.
| Trim | What to write in the pack | Where it goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Sewing thread | Type such as spun polyester or core spun, the ticket number or tex, the colour matched against the approved fabric swatch, and the stitches per inch for each seam. | Thread is well under one per cent of the garment cost and causes a large share of returns. Never leave it as "matching thread". |
| Interlining | Fusible or sew in, the base cloth, the weight, and the fusing temperature, time and pressure the supplier specifies. | A collar that bubbles after one wash is an interlining chosen without a wash test. Ask for the fused panel to go through the wash test, not the cloth alone. |
| Buttons | Material, size in ligne, number of holes, colour, finish, and the attaching thread and stitch. | Buttons are quoted in ligne, not millimetres. One ligne is 0.635 mm, so a 40 ligne button is 25.4 mm. Also state the pull test you expect on childrenswear. |
| Zips | Chain size, type such as coil, moulded or metal, length, open or closed end, slider and puller, tape colour, and the brand or a named equivalent. | A failed zip is a failed garment, and it is the single most common reason a returned jacket cannot be resold. This is not the line to save on. |
| Labels | Main label, size label, care and content label, origin. Woven or printed, the exact wording, the languages, and where each one is sewn. | The care and content label is a legal document in the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, not decoration. Getting it wrong stops the goods at the border, not at the shop. |
| Elastic | Width, construction such as woven, knitted or braided, the elongation and recovery, and how it is applied, whether inserted, exposed or in a casing. | Elastic that has lost its recovery after washing is the fault buyers discover last, because a new sample always performs. |
| Drawcords, tapes and ribbons | Width, material, length, the tipping or aglet, and the finish on the cut ends. | On childrenswear the length and position of a cord is regulated, not a design choice. Check before you draw it. |
| Lining, padding and wadding | Composition, weight, whether quilted and at what spacing, and the filling weight separately from the shell. | Filling is sold by weight and is most of the cost of a padded garment. A garment described only as "padded" has no price. |
| Hangtags, tickets and packing | Every printed piece, the barcode format, the polybag with its size and any required warning, the folding, the assortment and the carton count. | Packing is often quoted separately and forgotten in the comparison. Ask for it inside the unit price or clearly outside it, but say which. |
The list above is the bill of materials. A tech pack that names the cloth and stops is half a tech pack, and the half it leaves out is the half that is quoted from memory.
What this means for the trims list
What this is The bill of materials for a garment, trim by trim, with the lines a factory needs in order to price each one and the fault each one usually produces.
How to read it The first column is the trim, the second is what belongs in your tech pack for it, and the third is the failure a buyer meets when that line is left blank. Nothing here is a price, because trim prices depend on quantity and on the supplier you or the factory nominate.
What moves it Quantity and nomination. A nominated brand of zip or thread costs more than the factory's own choice and is worth it on anything that must last, and every one of these lines moves in price with the order size.
How to use it As a checklist before you send an enquiry. Go down the list, write a line for each trim your product has, and delete the ones it does not. What is left is the part of a tech pack most first time buyers omit entirely.
The trap Nominating nothing is a decision, not the absence of one. If you leave a trim blank the factory picks it, prices its own choice, and you find out when the goods arrive.
Where to read the rules yourself
Free, and from the people who wrote them. Labelling and care are law in your market and not a matter of opinion, so these are worth reading once before your first order rather than after your first rejection.
| Source | What it settles |
|---|---|
| Threading Your Way Through the Labeling Requirements (opens in a new tab) US Federal Trade Commission | What a label must say to be sold in the United States: the fibre content, the country of origin and the identity of the business. Written for people who are not lawyers. |
| Clothes Captioning, complying with the Care Labeling Rule (opens in a new tab) US Federal Trade Commission | The care instruction itself: what you must say, what evidence you need before you may say it, and where the label goes. |
| Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 on textile fibre names and labelling (opens in a new tab) European Union, consolidated text | The only list of fibre names you are allowed to use in the European Union, and the rules on how a composition is expressed. Annex 1 is the list itself. |
| The same regulation as retained in United Kingdom law (opens in a new tab) The National Archives, legislation.gov.uk | The British version of the same rules, which is what a buyer selling into the United Kingdom needs rather than the European Union text. |
| Care symbols (opens in a new tab) GINETEX, the association that owns the symbols | What each washing, bleaching, drying, ironing and professional care symbol means, from the body that defines them. The symbols are trademarked, so this is the source, not a copy of it. |
| Information hub, technical bulletins (opens in a new tab) Coats, a thread manufacturer | The trims half of a tech pack. Thread types and sizes, needles, stitch and seam types, zips and interlinings, written by the people who make them. |
| Garment manufacturing articles (opens in a new tab) Online Clothing Study, an industry publisher | The mechanics of a tech pack, a measurement chart and a size set, explained step by step. Useful before your first pack and not much use after your tenth. |
| OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 (opens in a new tab) OEKO-TEX | What the most commonly offered chemical certificate actually covers, and how to check a certificate number instead of trusting a logo in a presentation. |
Every outside source this site uses, paid and free, is listed on the sources board. The two publishers above are technical references rather than rule makers, and the rest are the rule makers themselves.