Knowledge Library
Fabric Knowledge
Sourcing knowledge written from a working export desk in Karachi, not a glossary. Every page here carries the numbers a decision actually turns on — confirmed processing minimums, indicative GSM bands, construction notation — and says plainly where a figure is fixed and where it depends on your specification.
The numbers most of these pages come back to
| Process | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Digital / sublimation print | 100m per colour, per design |
| Rotary print | 3,000m |
| Dyeing — under 160 GSM | 1,500m per colour |
| Dyeing — 160 GSM and above | 3,000m per colour |
| Greige — commissioning new weaving | 10,000m |
Everything else depends on the specification and is confirmed at inquiry. Greige taken from an available construction is a separate, far lower-commitment purchase and is not subject to the 10,000m figure — that number applies to putting a construction on a loom that is not already running.
Reference data
Statistics computed live from the fabric library register — citable, dated, never typed in.
- The Woven Fabric Index: 1,583 Fabric Qualities in Numbers
Statistics computed live from the Burhan Enterprises fabric library: processing-stage split, GSM distribution, composition and weave families.
Updated
Fabric by end use
Chosen backwards from the garment: what it must survive, and the construction that answers it.
- Choosing Fabric by End Use
How the right fabric is chosen backwards from what the garment must survive — the specification chain from end use to composition, weave, weight and dye route.
Updated
- Workwear Fabric: What to Specify and Why
Why workwear fabric is 60/40 poly-cotton, 14 × 14 / 82 × 48 in a 3/1 twill, dual portion dyed — what each fibre does, and why sweat decides the dye route.
Updated
- Summer Ladies Wear Fabric: Cotton Lawn
Why summer ladies wear is cotton lawn at 80–90 GSM — how it stays light without being see-through, and why polyester feels good in the hand but wears hot.
Updated
- Chino Fabric: What to Specify and Why
Why chino fabric is 98% cotton / 2% spandex at 150–230 GSM, what the + 40D and + 70D in a construction actually mean, and how the three constructions compare.
Updated
- Shirting Fabric: What to Specify and Why
Why shirting is 100% cotton, 40 × 40 / 120 × 60 at 95–120 GSM — and why the same fibre in the same plain weave is stiff here and flowy as a summer lawn.
Updated
Start here — sourcing guides
What a small brand actually has to decide, and what it costs in committed metres.
- Low-MOQ Fabric Sourcing from Pakistan
How small brands source custom fabric from Pakistan without unworkable minimums — the real routes, confirmed print and dyeing MOQs, and what to ask for.
Updated
- Fabric Suppliers for Small Clothing Brands
Buying fabric as an independent brand is a different job from booking a garment factory. What you buy, in what unit, at what minimum — and what sets it.
Updated
- How to Source Fabric from Pakistan
The end-to-end route for a first fabric order from Pakistan: what to send, what must be approved before bulk, and how UK DCTS and EU GSP+ duty preference works.
Updated
- How to Verify a Fabric Supplier in Pakistan
A working due-diligence checklist for fabric suppliers in Pakistan — tax registration, premises, sampling protocol, trial orders, and the red flags.
Updated
- Fabric Certifications: What Buyers Should Ask
How to verify GOTS, OEKO-TEX and other certification claims before you order — the five questions, the registers, and what a transaction certificate proves.
Updated
- How to Buy Fabric Wholesale: Quantities, Minimums and the Three Routes In
What wholesale means in woven fabric, why minimums attach per colour rather than per order, and three routes to buy at trade terms without a mill relationship.
Updated
- Pakistan vs India vs China for Fabric Sourcing
See how Pakistan, India, China, Bangladesh and Turkey compare for fabric sourcing — fibre base, EU and UK duty schemes by name, and where each origin wins.
Updated
- Can You Reorder the Same Fabric?
Why a repeat order rarely matches the first exactly — dye lots, yarn lots and finishing drift — and what to fix at first order so the second one lands close.
Updated
- Sourcing Partner vs Sourcing Agent
Agent, buying house, trading house, partner or direct to the mill — what each does, who carries the risk, and when going direct is the right call.
Updated
- Importing Fabric from Pakistan to the UK
What a UK buyer actually handles when importing fabric from Pakistan — documents, HS codes, DCTS origin evidence, Incoterms and who is responsible for what.
Updated
Fabric guides
One base at a time: how it is built, what it weighs, what to specify.
- Cotton Poplin
Cotton poplin count and construction: typical yarn counts, ends × picks, and what to specify so bulk matches your swatch. From Burhan Enterprises.
Updated
- Cambric
What cambric is in Pakistan’s trade, its ≈ 60–90 GSM weight band, how it differs from poplin and lawn, and why its weight makes it cheap to dye at low minimums.
Updated
- RFD Fabric
RFD stands for Ready for Dyeing — cloth prepared for colour, not finished goods. What preparation it has had, what it still needs, and what to put on the order.
Updated
- Cotton Twill
Learn what cotton twill is, what 2/1 and 3/1 mean, how S and Z diagonals differ, why drill is a twill but canvas is not, and which constructions we run.
Updated
- Cotton Lawn
What cotton lawn is, the 60×60/102×84 construction we publish at 80–90 GSM, how lawn differs from cambric and voile, and how a light cloth keeps its cover.
Updated
Comparisons
The choices buyers get wrong most often, side by side.
- Poplin vs Cambric
Poplin is warp-faced with more body (110×90); cambric is lighter and softer. Weave, hand, GSM and end use compared — and which to specify for your garment.
Updated
- Greige vs RFD vs PFD
Greige is loom-state cloth, RFD is prepared for colour, PFD is prepared for one print route. How far along each is, and which to put on the order — with why.
Updated
- Air-Jet, Rapier or Shuttle: What the Loom Type Means for Your Fabric
Air-jet, rapier and shuttle looms compared on weft insertion, selvedge, defects and suitability — and how to identify the loom from the selvedge.
Updated
- Stock-Lot Greige vs Made-to-Order Weaving
What stock-lot fabric is, the five risks in stock-lot greige, when it is the right buy, and how stock lots are verified by header matching before you commit.
Updated
Technical guides
Reading and checking a specification before you approve it.
- How to Read Fabric Construction
40×40/120×60 = 40s warp × 40s weft, 120 ends × 60 picks per inch. Decode any woven spec in a minute — and what the numbers leave out. From Burhan Enterprises.
Updated
- What a Greige Fabric Specification Must State
The nine fields a greige fabric specification must state, what goes wrong when each is omitted, and a copy-ready enquiry structure. From Burhan Enterprises.
Updated
- What Is Actually in Greige Fabric: Sizing and the Preparation Sequence
What is in greige fabric besides yarn — warp size, waxes, oils — and what desizing, scouring, bleaching and mercerising each remove. From Burhan Enterprises.
Updated
- Metres or Kilograms: How Greige Fabric Is Measured and Invoiced
How greige fabric is measured, invoiced and compared — the GSM × width formula, metres per kilogram, moisture regain, and what the contract must state.
Updated
- Choosing the Base Fabric for Digital and Rotary Printing
How to choose a base fabric for digital and rotary printing — what each route demands, why density sets print definition, and how to specify the base.
Updated
- From Greige to Finished: How Width, Weight and Length Change
How width, GSM and length change from loom state to finished, why no standard loss percentage exists, and the sample-approval procedure that controls it.
Updated
- Greige Fabric Inspection: Header Matching, and Which Faults Survive Finishing
How greige is inspected by header matching — headers from every roll checked against the approved sample — and which loom-state faults survive finishing.
Updated
- Standard Greige Constructions: A Reference Table
Standard greige constructions from the Burhan Enterprises fabric library — count, density, loom-state GSM and status — and which sits behind each market name.
Updated
- Storing Greige Fabric: Yellowing, Size Degradation and What to Check on Arrival
What degrades in stored greige — size, whiteness, oils, mildew — how to spot aged cloth on arrival, and why most ageing shows only after dyeing.
Updated
- Why Two Greige Lots Dye Differently: Batch, Lot and Shade Continuity
Why the same quality dyes differently between batches — the four lots behind every shade, and what to record so a repeat order is reproducible.
Updated
- Fabric Lead Times, Stage by Stage: Who Controls Each Clock
Every stage of a fabric order from Karachi — weaving 30-60 days, dyeing 30-60 days after lab-dip approval, 25-35 days at sea — and who controls each clock.
Updated
- Fabric Consumption per Garment: How Garment Counts Become Metres — and Which Minimum They Land On
Calculate fabric consumption per garment from pattern area, cuttable width and marker efficiency — and see how garment counts land on metre minimums.
Updated
On typical values: weight bands, constructions and behaviours across these pages are general guidance and vary by construction, fibre, finishing route and supplier. Physical swatches, lab dips, strike-offs and approved finished samples override anything illustrated here. Burhan Enterprises coordinates through partner units and does not own manufacturing facilities.
Would rather just ask someone?
Send the garment, the total meterage and how many colours and designs it splits into. We'll tell you which route fits, which minimum it lands on, and what has to be approved before bulk.