Two questions come up in almost every first email from a new buyer. The first is whether we can send a sample before they commit. The second is how long it takes and what it costs.
The answer to the first is yes — it is standard practice, and we would rather you saw the goods than guessed. The second has a more specific answer, and it is worth understanding before you start, because most of the delay in a first order happens here rather than in production.
Three different things get called "a sample"
Buyers often use the word loosely, and that causes confusion. In muslin production there are three distinct steps:
- Fabric swatch — a piece of the actual gauze, so you can feel the weight and see the construction. Arrives quickly and costs little.
- Strike-off — your artwork printed on the actual fabric, so you can judge colour and print quality before a screen or a print run is committed.
- Pre-production (PP) sample — a finished, sewn item built to your full specification, including labels and packing. This is the piece you sign off before bulk.
They answer different questions. A strike-off will not tell you whether the seam holds. A PP sample will not tell you whether the colour holds on a production run. Serious buyers ask for both, in that order.
How long sampling takes
This is where our numbers are more specific than most, because we run our own production rather than brokering it:
| Step | Time |
|---|---|
| Making the sample (stock fabric, standard construction) | 1–3 days |
| International courier to your door | about 1 week |
So a sample on stock fabric is typically in your hands roughly a week and a half after we agree the specification. That is the timeline for a sample made from fabric we already hold — if your order needs custom dyeing or a new fabric construction, the fabric has to be produced first and the clock starts later.
What sampling costs
We charge 300 RMB (roughly US$40) per sample, plus the international courier cost, which the buyer covers.
Sampling terms are confirmed with your quotation, so if you are ordering several samples or you are at the stage of a defined project, ask — the commercial detail belongs in the quote rather than in a blog post.
One thing worth saying plainly: a supplier who offers unlimited free sampling is usually pricing that cost into the bulk unit price. There is no free sample, only a sample that has been paid for somewhere else.
How we confirm colour and print
This is the part of our process that buyers tell us saves them the most time, so it is worth describing.
When you send us a design and a colour reference, we produce two separate sets of samples:
- A print strike-off — your artwork on the fabric, so you can judge the pattern, the repeat and the print quality.
- Colour samples in A / B / C directions — the same base fabric dyed or printed to three slightly different colour targets, so you can point at the one you want instead of describing it.
The reason we split them: when colour and pattern arrive together, buyers tend to judge them as one thing. A pattern that looks wrong often just has the wrong background colour. Separating the two means you approve the pattern once and the colour once, rather than going round both again together.
How to pass on the first try
Most sampling rounds are lost to information, not to workmanship. The briefs that come back approved the first time usually have all of the following:
- A Pantone reference, not a description. "Soft dusty blue" cannot be mixed. "Pantone 5435 C" can.
- Vector artwork — AI, EPS or a clean PDF. A screenshot or a JPEG limits what can be done with the repeat and the colour separation.
- Explicit sizes, and whether they are cut size or washed size. Cotton gauze shrinks; if you state a finished size, state it after washing.
- GSM and layer count, written down. This is the number that decides what the product feels like.
- The edge finish you want — plain, wavy or scalloped. It is not a default and it changes the cost.
- Label and packing requirements — main label wording and position, care label, tracking label if you are importing into the US, retail packing format.
Send all six and the first sample is usually the last one. Leave two of them out and you will spend three weeks finding out what they were.
The realistic number of rounds
Across the orders we run, most products take about two rounds to approve, and a well-briefed product often clears in one. If you are on round four, the brief is usually the problem rather than the sample.
Where sampling usually goes wrong
- Approving a strike-off and treating it as a PP sample. They are different documents with different purposes.
- Approving by eye without a written record. Six weeks later nobody can agree what was approved.
- Chasing a lower sample cost by using a lighter fabric. The sample gets approved, and then the bulk arrives at the specification you actually paid for — which is not the one you approved.
- Not telling the factory which market the product is for. Testing requirements and label rules differ, and they are cheapest to design in at sampling stage.
The short version
A sample on stock fabric: 1–3 days to make, about a week in transit, 300 RMB plus courier. Two rounds is normal, one round is achievable with a complete brief, and the strike-off and the PP sample are two different approvals.
If you have a product in mind and want to know what the sample would look like on your specification, send us the design and the details — we will confirm the fabric, the GSM, the edge finish and the sampling timeline before anything is made.