Knitted fabric Specification: What Each Number Actually Changes

Buyers lose money on knitted fabric in a predictable way: they specify one figure tightly and leave the rest to the supplier. This is a walk through every figure that changes the outcome, in the order it matters.

Why the headline number is the least useful one

Every quotation leads with structure. It is easy to compare and it is the number the factory can hit most cheaply. But it tells you almost nothing on its own: structure sets the frame, and the parameters below set whether the product survives its first year in service. A buyer who compares only the headline figure is buying a sample, not a supply agreement.

For knitted fabric, the practical rule is to fix the headline figure at the level your product needs and then spend your negotiating attention on weight and stitch length. Those two are where cheap goods differ from adequate goods, and they are usually absent from the quotation sheet.

The numbers that decide performance

Read the table as a set of trade-offs rather than a checklist. Moving any single line usually costs money somewhere else, and the cheapest way to hit one figure is often to let another slip.

Structure

Typical range: jersey / interlock / rib / fleece. Determines stretch direction, recovery and how the cut panel behaves.

Composition

Typical range: 100 % cotton / CVC / TC / 100 % polyester. Drives shrinkage, pilling and price more than any machine setting.

Weight

Typical range: 120-320 gsm. Apparel hand and opacity. Tolerance of +/- 5 % is normal, +/- 10 % is a claim waiting to happen.

Stitch length

Typical range: 2.6-3.4 mm. Looser stitch is softer and pills faster; tighter is firmer and heavier.

Courses and wales

Typical range: 18-32 cpi / 14-24 wpi. Density check that catches a lightweight fabric sold as heavy.

How to write a knitted fabric specification that protects you

A specification is only useful if a substitution becomes visible. That means writing the construction and the performance together, and naming the test that proves each one. For knitted fabric, the clause has to pin weight and stitch length, because those two separate a compliant lot from an adequate one:

Single jersey, 100 % combed cotton, 180 gsm +/- 5 %, open width 175 cm, stitch length 2.9 mm, shrinkage <= 5 % after 3 washes, skew <= 5 %, reactive dyed, Pantone 19-1664 TCX

Note what is missing from that line: adjectives. No ‘high quality’, no ‘premium’, no ‘export grade’. Every clause is either a number with a tolerance or a named test. If a supplier cannot quote against a line written this way, that is information about the supplier.

Where the specification usually breaks down

The first failure is skew / torque. Side seams spiral after washing, garments twist on the body. The cause is usually high twist yarn, poor relaxation, or tubular fabric slit without rest. The test that exposes it before you order: AATCC 179 skew after home laundering, measure before and after.

The second is shrinkage beyond claim. Garment drops a size in the first wash. It comes from insufficient compaction, or a compactor setting changed between lots. Test with ISO 6330 domestic wash at 40 C, then ISO 5077 dimensional change, 3 cycles. and write the result into the purchase order, not just the enquiry.

Both failures share a pattern: they appear months after delivery, they are hard to attribute, and the cost lands on the buyer rather than the mill. That is exactly why the test belongs in the specification and the report belongs in the shipment file.

What to put in a knitted fabric enquiry

1. End use and the conditions, which together decide where weight has to sit inside 120-320 gsm.
2. The one figure that must hold, with dimensional change named as the proof.
3. Quantity per colour and per delivery, against a typical MOQ of 500-800 kg per colour.
4. Destination market, because compliance changes the construction, not just the paperwork.
5. A physical standard viewed under a stated light source, not a screen proof.

With those five points we can quote against a real requirement instead of a generic range. Full ranges sit on the knitted fabric page, and the manufacturing side of the same question is on our quality control page.

Questions buyers ask before ordering

Can you match a Pantone colour on cotton jersey?

Within dE <= 1.0 on most shades. Very bright greens and some blues are outside the reactive gamut; we will tell you before sampling rather than after.

Do you offer compacted fabric?

Yes, and we recommend it for any garment that will be washed by the end consumer. Compaction adds cost and removes most shrinkage claims.

What is your minimum for a custom colour?

500-800 kg depending on shade depth. Stock white and black can go lower.

Failure modes worth a clause in the purchase order

Claims rarely come from a batch that was obviously wrong. They come from a courses and wales figure that sat inside the quoted band and outside what the product needed.

The other two, with acceptance numbers attached, are in the full failure analysis for knitted fabric. A supplier who cannot name the mode he sees most often is describing a catalogue, not a process.

Seven lines that turn a quotation into a specification

Most post-delivery arguments are not about quality. They are about a document that never said which figure would be measured, on which instrument, at whose cost.

1. Width (open 160-180 cm / tubular 60-90 cm): state where in the band this order sits. The middle of the band is not what a tolerance is for.
2. Shrinkage: the figure you will accept inside the <= 5 % length, <= 4 % width band, the tolerance on it, and the method used to measure it.
3. Skew (torque) (<= 5 %): name the number, not the word. If the answer only repeats the band, ask which point inside it is being offered for this order.
4. Structure: jersey / interlock / rib / fleece is the market band. Fix the figure you will test at goods-in, and the instrument you will test it with.
5. Deviation rule: anything outside the agreed bands is reported before shipment, not after arrival.
6. Packing and marking: shipping mark, roll or carton count and the tolerance on quantity, since a short shipment is a claim too.
7. Who inspects: third-party, in-house or none, decided in advance, with the AQL level written down.

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