Delivery · Checklist
What to check when the first delivery arrives
The first carton is the only one you will open with full attention. It decides whether the program continues, and it is also the only chance to catch a specification that was understood differently on the other side. Seven checks, in the order they are worth doing — and none of them needs a laboratory.
In short
- Check against the approved sample and the written specification, not against the quotation or the memory of a conversation.
- Weigh ten pieces, not one. A mean on target with a wide spread is a worse delivery than the same mean with a tight one.
- Compare the measured piece weight with length × width × GSM before concluding anything about short weight.
- Measure the unfolded size. The folded size belongs to the pack, not to the product.
- "Shedding" is two different faults. Fuzz stays attached; lint leaves. A dark cloth and a minute of rubbing separate them.
- Open cartons from the start and the end of the run. Weight variation is a tail-end problem, so the top of the pallet can be perfect.
- Write the findings next to the physical sample. A record that lives only in an email thread cannot be checked against the next order.
Sources: the manufacturer's production notes confirmed on 2026-10-13 and 2026-10-14, the product files for the bulk and individually packed lines, and the sample-approval record set out on the packing page. No acceptance threshold, sampling plan, or test method is published here, because those are agreed between buyer and seller rather than fixed by this site.
Against what
Check against the approved sample, not the quotation
A quotation names a product and a size. A specification names the material with its blend ratio, the unfolded and folded size, the nominal GSM, the agreed piece-weight tolerance, the texture, the pack format, the print, and the label. Only the second one can be checked. If the order was placed against the first, the delivery has nothing to be measured against except an expectation.
This is why the approved sample matters more than the paperwork. The sample is the physical reference for hand, texture, and color, and those three are the properties a written specification describes least well. Keep it, label it with the reference number the factory quoted, and keep it with the record — not in a drawer in another building.
What a complete specification contains is set out on the materials page; what a sample is expected to record before approval is on the packing page. If neither exists for an order, the first check is not on the delivery.
Weight
Weigh ten pieces, and look at the spread
Piece weight is the fastest check that produces a number. It is also the one most often read wrongly, because a single piece on a scale answers a question nobody asked: whether that piece is on weight, not whether the delivery is.
Weigh ten pieces from one pack and write down all ten. The average tells you whether the run is centred; the spread tells you whether it is under control. A delivery whose mean is exactly on target and whose pieces range widely will disappoint a user more than one whose mean sits slightly low and whose pieces agree with each other.
Before calling short weight, run the arithmetic: length in metres times width in metres times GSM gives the theoretical piece weight. A delivered figure below the calculation is not automatically a fault, because the calculation is not a measurement — but a delivered figure that is consistently below it is worth a question. The arithmetic and worked examples are on the GSM section.
| Stage | What varies | Where it shows up in a delivery |
|---|---|---|
| Web forming | The fiber lay-up is not perfectly even, so weight varies across the width and along the length of the web. | A piece cut from one edge and a piece cut from the middle can differ at the same nominal size. |
| Slitting and rewinding | Tension and compression differ between the core of the roll and its outer layers, so thickness differs between the start and the end of one roll. | A small number of packs sit outside the agreed figure, usually toward the end of the run rather than the beginning. |
Both stages are described in more detail on the production page. The practical consequence for a first delivery is simple: sample cartons from more than one position on the pallet, and from more than one pack inside a carton.
Size and hand
Measure unfolded, then judge by hand
Measure a piece flat, unfolded, and compare it with the size on record. The folded dimension belongs to the pack format and will differ from an unfolded measurement by design; measuring the fold and reporting a short size is a common false alarm.
Hand is not measurable, and it is still the check that decides whether a program is renewed. Compare the delivered piece against the approved sample directly, side by side, under the same light. Three properties are worth naming separately, because a buyer and a factory often mean different things by them: softness, thickness, and surface texture. At equal GSM a plain surface is thinner than a pearl surface in this production, so thickness without the texture name is not a comparison.
Color needs the light it will be seen in. A black towel read under a warm lamp is not the same black as the same towel under daylight, and this is a regular source of disagreement that has nothing to do with the dye lot.
Shedding
"It sheds" is two faults, and they are fixed differently
| Fault | What is happening | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Fuzz | Fiber ends lift from the surface. The fiber is still attached to the cloth. | The surface looks hairy or rough. The towel still works; it feels wrong and photographs badly, which is usually why it comes back. |
| Lint | Fiber or debris leaves the cloth. The fiber is gone. | Fiber appears on skin, on a mirror, or on a dark surface. In a salon service the client sees it before the staff does. |
Fuzz has two drivers — fiber composition and the water-jet entangling that bonds the web — and raising pressure reduces fuzz at the cost of stiffness and thickness. Lint follows the fiber: polyester sheds most readily, and viscose, lyocell, and cotton sit close together at the low end. No fiber in this range is zero-lint. The full explanation, and the pearl-texture thresholds observed in this production, are on the production page.
A minute is enough to tell them apart. Photograph the towel surface, then wipe a dark cloth across it. Fiber that stays on the towel is fuzz. Fiber that transfers to the dark cloth is lint. The two get different corrective actions, so a report that says only "shedding" sends the conversation in the wrong direction.
Pack and carton
Pack, print, and the carton that ships
Count one pack, then count the packs in one carton, then check that the carton carries the agreed marking. Print, label, and barcode are three separate operations, and a delivery can be right on the cloth and wrong on the label — which is the expensive version, because the goods are already made.
For an individually sealed pack, check the seal and the film, not only the print. A pack that opens in transit turns a sealed-format program back into a bulk one after the freight has been paid.
Weigh one full carton and compare it with the carton weight on the packing list. A carton that is light by roughly one pack's worth is a counting error, and it is much easier to resolve at the loading dock than after the goods have been distributed.
The record
Seven fields, and they are the whole value of the check
A first delivery check is worth exactly as much as the record it leaves behind. These seven fields are the ones a second order can be compared against.
Record for the approved reference
- The material and its blend ratio, not "viscose blend".
- Unfolded size, and folded size.
- Nominal GSM, and the measured piece weight on a scale.
- Texture, and whether it matches the named reference.
- Pack format, and for a sealed pack the film and seal quality.
- Color, under the light it will be seen in.
- The date the sample was made, and the reference number the factory quoted.
The same seven fields are what a sample needs before it can be approved, which is not a coincidence: the first delivery is checked against the sample, so the two must be described the same way. The sample checklist is on the packing page.
Limits
What this page does not claim
Not a test method
Nothing here replaces a laboratory test or a third-party inspection. No absorbency rate, wet strength, or lint count is reported for any piece, and this page does not describe how to measure one.
Not an acceptance threshold
No tolerance, sample size, or pass mark is published here. Those are agreed between buyer and seller for a specific specification, and a number invented on this site would be worse than no number.
Not a fault-finding guide
The checks separate a delivery that matches its specification from one that does not. They do not diagnose why a fault occurred; the causes are set out on the production page.
Not a substitute for the sample
A record without the physical sample is a list of words. Hand, texture, and color cannot be checked against a description.