Metres or Kilograms: How Greige Fabric Is Measured and Invoiced

Why is greige often sold by weight and finished fabric by length?

Greige — also written grey fabric, grey goods or loom-state — is priced close to its fibre content, and fibre is bought by weight. Yarn itself is specified by weight: an English cotton count (Ne) states how many 840-yard hanks of that yarn weigh one pound, so a mill's costing for loom-state cloth is built up from kilograms of yarn long before anyone measures a metre. From that point on we use one term: greige.

Buyers, converters and garment makers consume fabric by length: a lay plan, a marker and a cutting table all work in metres. So the same order can legitimately exist in two units at once — the seller thinking in kilograms, the buyer planning in metres — and the conversion between them is not a courtesy, it is part of the specification.

How do you convert GSM, width and length into weight?

Three quantities fix the fourth. GSM (also written g/m² — grams per square metre; one term, GSM, from here on) is weight per unit area, so multiplying it by the width in metres gives weight per unit length:

• Grams per linear metre = GSM × width (m). Example: 120 GSM × 1.60m = 192g/m.
• Metres per kilogram = 1,000 ÷ grams per linear metre. Example: 1,000 ÷ 192 = ≈ 5.2m per kg.
• Order weight (kg) = GSM × width (m) × length (m) ÷ 1,000. Example: 120 × 1.60 × 5,000 ÷ 1,000 = 960kg.

The formula is exact; the inputs are not. GSM and width each carry a tolerance on a real order, and both move through finishing — so state which state of the cloth (loom-state or finished) the GSM and width refer to whenever you run this conversion across a process step.

What does a kilogram of fabric buy in metres?

Read any row alone and it is a complete fact — that is deliberate, because this is the arithmetic that turns a per-kilogram offer into a per-metre cost basis you can compare. The heavier and wider the cloth, the fewer metres a kilogram buys.

Why does delivered weight differ from invoiced weight?

Buyers assume a gap between the invoiced weight and the warehouse scale means short shipment. Usually it does not — cotton is hygroscopic, and its weight moves with the moisture it holds. The trade handles this with a convention: commercial weight is calculated at a standard moisture regain, and the widely used commercial convention for cotton is 8.5% regain on oven-dry weight. Fabric weighed in a dry warehouse can sit below its conditioned weight; fabric weighed in monsoon humidity can sit above it. Neither scale reading is "wrong" — they are readings of different moisture states.

Greige adds a second, less obvious mover: loom-state weight includes the warp size that desizing later removes, plus natural waxes and oils. So greige weight and finished weight are not the same figure for the same cloth, and a per-kilogram greige comparison quietly includes material that will not survive preparation.

• Agree the regain convention in writing. Name the figure and the basis (conditioned vs ambient weight) on the contract — do not leave it to whichever warehouse owns the scale.
• Weigh and measure at the same point. A weight taken at the mill and a length taken at your warehouse are not one measurement — disputes live in that gap.
• Remember what greige weight contains. Size and waxes leave in preparation; confirm figures for the state of cloth you are actually buying.

Where do metre and kilogram bases cause disputes on the same order?

• Two offers on two bases. A per-kilogram offer and a per-metre offer for the same construction cannot be ranked until both are converted onto one basis at the same GSM and width.
• Width basis mismatch. Full width and cuttable (usable) width can differ; a per-metre basis on full width is not the same money as per-metre on cuttable width.
• State-of-cloth mismatch. Greige GSM against finished GSM, or loom-state width against finished width — the conversion is only valid within one state of the cloth.
• Moisture at weighing. Invoiced conditioned weight against an ambient scale reading, as above.
• Length measurement method. Roll tickets and re-measured length can disagree; agree whose measurement governs and at which point of delivery.

Why does the 160 GSM line matter commercially?

Weight is not only a conversion input — it selects the minimum your order is governed by. Our dyeing minimum steps at 160 GSM: 1,500m per colour under 160 GSM, 3,000m per colour at 160 GSM and above. Of the 435 greige lines in our fabric library that state a numeric GSM, 249 — just over 57% — sit under that 160 GSM threshold in loom state, which is one reason lighter cloth is the practical entry point for smaller dyed programmes. Loom-state weight is the right basis here because greige is what enters the dyehouse — and because GSM can rise through finishing, a greige line just under the threshold can finish at or above it, so treat this as an indication and confirm the governing minimum per enquiry. (Fabric library register of 2026-07-08; GSM figures are calculated from construction, not measured lot weights.)

The full set of confirmed processing minimums, and the routes available below them, is on low-MOQ fabric sourcing from Pakistan.

What should the contract state about measurement basis?

• The invoicing basis — per metre or per kilogram — stated once, unambiguously.
• The GSM and width the conversion uses, each with an agreed ± tolerance, and the state of cloth (loom-state or finished) they describe.
• The width basis — full width or cuttable width.
• The moisture regain convention and whether invoiced weight is conditioned weight.
• Whose measurement governs — which scale, which length count, at which handover point.

None of these lines costs anything to write, and each one closes a dispute before it opens. If a quotation reaches you on a basis you cannot convert, ask for the missing figure rather than estimating it.

On Burhan-coordinated orders, two of these lines have standing answers: greige is invoiced per metre, and the moisture regain convention is set per customer requirement — the convention is agreed per order against your programme’s requirement and written on the order, rather than imposed as a house figure. Both are restated on each order confirmation.

Related knowledge

• How to read fabric construction

  The other half of the specification: what the construction notation fixes, and the GSM ↔ oz/yd² conversion this page builds on.

• What a greige fabric specification must state

  The full field list an actionable greige enquiry needs — measurement basis is one line of it.

• Greige vs RFD vs PFD

  Why greige weight and finished weight describe different cloth — the processing states side by side.

• From greige to finished: how width, weight and length change

  The physical side of the same decision — how each figure the conversion uses moves between states.

• Low-MOQ fabric sourcing from Pakistan

  The confirmed minimums the 160 GSM threshold selects between, and how to work below them.

Frequently asked questions

On typical values: the conversions on this page are exact arithmetic, but their inputs — GSM, width, moisture state — are properties of a real lot and carry tolerances. Worked examples use illustrative widths and our published indicative GSM bands; confirm every figure on your construction and contract. Burhan Enterprises is a sourcing and export partner and coordinates through partner mills and processing units.