The specification
Thread count, grams per square metre, pile and construction, written so that two mills quote the same thing.
ConstructionWeightFinish
A mill can only quote what it can read. The specification is the document that makes two quotes comparable, and in home textiles it is shorter than a garment tech pack but far less forgiving, because almost the whole price sits in the cloth.
Three tables below this page are the specification in checklist form. Which cloth for which item names the cloth and the measure that governs it, item by item. The properties to ask for is the performance half, and how to phrase each request so the answer means something. Making and packing is the half that is always left out and is where two quotes for the same sheet part company.
Write the construction, not the thread count. Warp count, weft count, ends per inch, picks per inch, ply and the finished grams per square metre. Those numbers cannot be inflated and the thread count falls out of them as arithmetic. A quotation offering a 400 thread count against another offering a 200 may be the identical cloth counted two different ways, and until you have the construction you have no way of knowing.
For towels the construction is the pile: grams per square metre, the pile ratio against the ground, loop length, single or double sided, and whether the pile yarn is combed, zero twist or ordinary. For quilts it is the shell construction and the filling separately. For curtains it is width, weight, the heading and whether it is lined. For rugs it is pile height, pile weight and the backing.
Say the finish in words as well: mercerised, enzyme washed, silicone softened, easy care, sanforised. Each of them costs money and each of them changes what arrives. The vocabulary block on the overview, under the words that decide the price, defines every term used here.
A useful discipline: write the specification so that a mill you have never met could quote it without asking you a single question. If you cannot, the gaps you left are exactly where two quotes will differ for reasons you will not be able to see.
Which cloth for which item
Home textiles are specified differently from garments. A sheet is bought on its yarn and its thread count, a towel on its weight and its pile, a quilt on its filling. Find your item, and note which measure its row says actually matters.
| Item | Usual cloth | The measure that matters | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat sheet, fitted sheet, pillowcase | Cotton percale or sateen. Cotton with polyester for hotel and contract | Yarn count, and ends plus picks per inch | 40s to 80s yarn. 180 to 400 threads per inch |
| Duvet cover | As sheeting | Yarn count and thread count, plus the closure | 180 to 400 threads per inch |
| Bath towel and hand towel | Terry. Cotton, or cotton with a polyester ground | Grams per square metre, and the pile | 400 to 700 grams per square metre |
| Kitchen and tea towel | Flat woven cotton, waffle, huckaback, terry | Grams per square metre | 150 to 280 grams per square metre |
| Bath mat | Heavy terry, tufted cotton, or chenille | Grams per square metre, and the backing | 700 to 1500 grams per square metre |
| Table linen | Cotton or polyester cotton, plain, damask or jacquard | Grams per square metre, and the finish | 180 to 320 grams per square metre |
| Blanket and throw | Woven or knitted wool, acrylic, cotton, polyester fleece | Grams per square metre | 200 to 500 grams per square metre |
| Quilt, comforter and duvet | Shell cloth plus a filling | Shell weight and filling weight, quoted separately | Shell 80 to 130, filling 100 to 400 grams per square metre |
| Cushion cover | Canvas, jacquard, velvet, linen blend | Grams per square metre | 200 to 400 grams per square metre |
| Curtain and drape | Woven polyester, cotton blend, or coated blackout | Grams per square metre, and light blocking | 150 to 350 grams per square metre |
| Mattress and pillow protector | Terry or jersey, with or without a film | Grams per square metre, and whether waterproof | 80 to 220 grams per square metre |
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. Ranges are for finished goods. Contract and hospitality qualities sit at the bottom of most of these bands on weight and at the top on strength, which is the opposite of what a retail buyer expects.
One line each, on what actually goes wrong
| Item | Worth knowing before you specify it |
|---|---|
| Flat sheet, fitted sheet, pillowcase | Percale is a plain weave and breathes. Sateen is a satin weave and shines. On a fitted sheet also fix the pocket depth and the elastic, all round or corners only. |
| Duvet cover | Say button, zip or envelope, say the closure length, and say whether internal corner ties are wanted. Each is a real cost. |
| Bath towel and hand towel | Under 400 is a thin contract towel. Over 700 feels luxurious and dries slowly. Also fix the pile height, whether the pile is single or double, and the border or dobby. |
| Kitchen and tea towel | A terry kitchen towel will not dry a glass. If the towel is for glass and cutlery, it must be flat woven or waffle, and it needs a low lint claim. |
| Bath mat | The backing decides whether it slips and whether it survives a machine wash. Latex, dot print or none is a specification line, not a detail. |
| Table linen | If a stain release or water repellent finish is wanted, name it and name how many washes it must survive. A finish with no durability claim is a finish for the first wash only. |
| Blanket and throw | Fringe, hem or blanket stitch edge is the biggest single making cost here, and it is the thing samples quietly change. |
| Quilt, comforter and duvet | The filling weight is most of the price and the shell is most of the feel. Also fix the quilting pattern and the box or channel construction, because they decide whether the filling stays put. |
| Cushion cover | Say the closure, invisible zip, exposed zip or envelope, and say plainly whether the insert is included. Half of all cushion disputes are that one sentence. |
| Curtain and drape | Blackout is a coating class and a percentage, not a word. Ask for the percentage and the number of coats. Also fix the heading, the hem depth and the fullness ratio. |
| Mattress and pillow protector | Waterproof means a laminated film. Say whether it must also be breathable, because the two together cost more than either alone. |
How the cloth itself is written down
Under every item above there is a woven or knitted cloth, and a mill prices that cloth from the same lines whether it ends as a shirt or as a bed sheet.
| 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. |
What this means for the cloth by item table
What this is The cloth ordinarily used for each common home textile item, the measure the trade actually buys it on, and the range that measure usually falls in. Compiled by VeriMills as orientation for a buyer writing a first specification.
How to read it One row per item. The third column is the important one, because it changes from item to item: sheeting is bought on yarn count and thread count, terry on weight and pile, a quilt on its filling weight. The fourth column is the band that measure normally sits in, and the notes table underneath gives the one thing that usually goes wrong.
What moves it Market and channel rather than season. A hotel sheet and a retail sheet in the same cotton are different products, and the contract version usually weighs less while testing stronger.
How to use it To decide what to ask before you ask it. Take the measure your row names, write a target and a tolerance for it, then let the supplier quote against that instead of against a photograph.
The trap These are trade ranges for orientation and not a specification. Thread count in particular is quoted dishonestly often enough that the number alone proves nothing without the yarn count beside it.
The properties to ask for, and how to ask
A specification says what the goods are. These say whether the goods survive. On home textiles they matter more than on garments, because the customer washes bed linen and towels every week for years.
| Property | What it means | How to ask for it |
|---|---|---|
| Weight per square metre | The mass of one square metre of finished cloth. The first thing a buyer can check on arrival with a cutter and a scale. | Give the target and the tolerance in the same line. Plus or minus 5 per cent is the usual ask. |
| Thread count | Ends plus picks per square inch, counting single yarns. A real measure of how closely a sheeting is woven. | Ask for the yarn count alongside it. A high thread count reached by counting the plies of a multi ply yarn is the oldest trick in bed linen, and 80s single yarn at 300 beats coarse yarn at 1000 every time. |
| Shrinkage | How much the cloth moves after washing, measured separately along the length and across the width. | Name the maximum you accept, the number of washes and the temperature, all in the same sentence. Shrinkage after one wash is not a specification. |
| Colour fastness | Whether the colour stays put, tested separately against washing, rubbing, light, water and perspiration. | Graded on a scale where higher is better. Ask for the grade against washing and against rubbing both dry and wet, because a dark towel that crocks will mark everything it touches. |
| Absorbency | How fast a towel takes up water, usually reported as the seconds a drop takes to disappear into the pile. | Ask for it on finished goods, not on greige. A softener that makes a towel feel good in the shop can also stop it absorbing, which is the single most common towel complaint. |
| Pilling and abrasion | Whether the surface bobbles or wears through under rubbing. | Matters most on blends, on fleece and on anything a body lies on. Ask for the grade after the number of cycles you name. |
| Tensile and tear strength | The force the cloth takes before it breaks, and the force it takes to continue a tear. | The number that separates a contract sheet from a retail one. Ask for it whenever the goods go to a hotel, a hospital or a laundry. |
| Dimensional accuracy | Whether the finished item is the size the label says, after washing. | Give cut size and finished size and the tolerance. A fitted sheet that misses the pocket depth by two centimetres is unsellable and is not a fabric fault. |
| Restricted substances | Chemicals that must not be present above a set limit, including formaldehyde, certain azo dyes and heavy metals, plus the pH of the finished cloth. | The cleanest way to buy this is to ask for goods certified under a recognised scheme and to check the certificate yourself rather than take a logo on trust. |
Every one of these is a test, and a test needs a laboratory. We do not publish grades or pass marks here, because a grade only means something beside the test method and the wash cycle it was measured under. Ask for the report, and ask that it names the method.
What this means for the home textile properties table
What this is The performance properties a home textile buyer should put in writing, what each one actually measures, and how to phrase the request so the answer means something.
How to read it The first column names the property, the second explains it in plain words, and the third is the sentence to put in your specification. Notice that most of them are meaningless without a condition attached, such as the number of washes or the temperature.
What moves it The finish, far more than the fibre. A softener can halve a towel's absorbency, an easy care finish can cut tear strength, and both are applied at the last stage, long after the cloth you approved was woven.
How to use it Pick the three or four that decide whether your customer complains, and write those into the order with a target and a method. A specification asking for everything is ignored. A specification asking for four things is tested.
The trap A test report on the sample is not a test report on the bulk. Ask which one you are holding, and ask for the bulk report before the goods ship rather than after.
Making and packing, the part always left out
On a garment the pattern carries most of the making detail. On a made up home textile there is barely any pattern, so the making detail has to be written, and it is where two quotations for the same sheet come out twenty per cent apart.
| Line | What to write |
|---|---|
| Hems | Depth and type for every edge, and whether mitred at the corners. A three centimetre hem and a one centimetre hem are different products and different prices. |
| Stitching | Stitches per inch, the stitch type at each seam, and the thread. On bed linen this is what fails first. |
| Edges and borders | Selvedge or turned side hem, dobby border, satin band, piping, cording, fringe. Each is a separate operation. |
| Embroidery and print | Placement, size, stitch count or number of print colours, and the wash durability. Stitch count is how embroidery is priced. |
| Labels | Main, care, size, content and origin, the exact wording, the languages required for your market, and the position of each on the item. |
| Folding and inserts | How the item is folded, the insert card, the belly band, the ribbon, and who prints them. |
| Retail packing | Polybag or PVC box or gift box, its size, the barcode, and any warning wording your market requires on the bag. |
| Export packing | Pieces per inner, inners per carton, carton dimensions and gross weight, the assortment, and the shipping marks. This decides the freight cost, so it belongs in the pack, not in an email later. |
Packing is not a detail on home textiles. It is bulky, it fills a container quickly, and how it is folded and boxed decides the freight, so it belongs in the specification and in the quotation, not in an email afterwards.
Where to read the rules yourself
Free, and from the people who wrote them. Fibre composition and care labelling are law in your market, and they apply to a bed sheet exactly as they apply to a shirt.
| Source | What it settles |
|---|---|
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Information hub, technical bulletins (opens in a new tab) Coats, a thread manufacturer | Thread, stitch and seam types for made up goods. Hems, edges and the stitch density that decides whether a sheet survives a hotel laundry. |
Every outside source this site uses, paid and free, is listed on the sources board. Fire and flammability rules for furnishings differ sharply by country and are listed there too, under labelling and import rules.