The Garment Specification Sheet, Decoded for Stocklot Buyers

What a specification sheet contains

A standard sheet covers the style number and description, the fabric composition and weight, the colourways and the trims, the measurement points with their sizes and tolerances, and the packing instructions. In export production it also carries the care and content label wording, the carton marking and the inspection standard applied at the factory.

For a stocklot buyer the useful lines are the composition, the weight, the measurements and the packing. The rest describes a brand order that no longer exists, and it matters only where it tells you something about quality, such as a stated inspection standard of critical and major defect levels.

Where a supplier cannot produce a sheet, ask for the four lines in a message: composition with percentages, GSM, the measurement of a medium, and the packing structure. A supplier who answers those four questions precisely is working from the production record, and one who answers vaguely is not.

Composition and what the percentages hide

Composition is stated as a percentage breakdown, and the percentages matter more than the fibre names. Ninety five percent cotton with five percent elastane is a soft stretch jersey, while sixty percent cotton and forty percent polyester is a harder wearing but less breathable fabric, and the descriptions of both are often written as cotton rich.

Watch for the recycled and blended language. A fabric described as recycled cotton may contain reprocessed fibre of variable quality, and a blend described as viscose may be a mix of viscose and polyester. Neither is automatically bad, and both change what the garment is worth, so the numbers should be read rather than the adjectives.

Trim composition is usually listed separately, and it matters for accessories. Elastane in a waistband, a polyester thread and a metal or plastic zip all behave differently over time, and a lot made with a poor waistband elastic will produce returns regardless of the quality of the fabric.

Measurements and tolerances, the overlooked section

A specification sheet lists measurement points such as chest, body length, sleeve length, waist and inseam, with the expected measurement at each size and an allowed tolerance. Tolerances of half a centimetre to one centimetre are normal in garment production, and a lot outside tolerance is a lot that will not fit as expected.

This is the section that decides whether a size run is worth buying. A factory that cut a run at the top of its tolerance produces garments that fit a size larger, and a buyer who expects a precise fit should check a sample measurement rather than trusting the letter size.

Where a buyer is reselling to a retail customer, the measurement table is also a selling tool. Publishing the actual chest and body length of the garment on a listing reduces returns more than any description of fit, because the customer measures something they already own and compares.

Colourways and the colour approval record

The sheet lists the colourways in the production with a reference such as a Pantone number and, where the order was printed or dyed to a brand standard, the approval reference. That reference is what makes a repeat order possible, because a colour name such as navy describes a wide range of colours and a reference describes one.

Where a lot contains several colourways, the quantities per colour are the useful number. A lot that is ninety percent of one colour is a single colour purchase in practice, while a balanced lot supports a multi colour display, and the two are different products at different prices.

Shade variation is normal across production runs and across pieces, and the sheet usually states a tolerance. A buyer comparing pieces from different cartons should expect a slight variation and check only whether the variation is within what their customer will accept, rather than expecting identical pieces.

Packing instructions and carton marking

The packing section states the fold, the polybag requirement, the size and colour ratio in the carton, and the carton dimensions and weight. This is the section that tells a buyer whether a lot can go straight to a shop or has to be repacked, and it is often the difference between a retail price and a wholesale one.

Carton marking lists the style, size range, colour and quantity on the outside of the box, which makes stock handling far easier. A lot with legible carton markings can be sold to a retailer without opening anything, and a lot with unmarked cartons has to be inventoried before it can be offered.

Where the sheet states a carton gross and net weight, use it to estimate freight before the goods move. Multiplying the carton weight by the number of cartons gives the shipment weight, and that figure belongs in the landed cost calculation rather than arriving as a surprise from the forwarder.

How to use the sheet in negotiation

Quote the specification back to the supplier when you negotiate. A message that restates the composition, the weight and the packing shows that you know what you are buying, and in practice it produces a more precise price and fewer substitutions later.

Use the sheet to compare two lots rather than to compare two descriptions. Two lots described as cotton t shirts are different products if one is 180 GSM and the other is 140, and only the specification separates them. The comparison is the whole point of asking.

Finally, keep the sheet with the order record. When the goods land, the sheet is the checklist for verifying what arrived, from the carton marking to the measurement of a sample garment. A buyer with a sheet can accept or refuse a delivery on evidence rather than on impression.

When there is no sheet at all

Some stocklot offers will never come with a specification, particularly small mixed lots and cleared goods. In that case the substitute is a physical sample, measured and weighed by the buyer, plus photographs of the labels inside the garment. That set of facts can be recorded and used as the specification for the next negotiation.

Where a supplier repeatedly cannot state composition, weight or packing, the honest conclusion is that the goods are being traded rather than produced, and the risk of a mismatch is higher. That does not make the supplier dishonest, and it does mean the price should reflect a purchase with less information.

Over time a buyer builds a specification file from the lots actually bought: fabric weight, measurements, packing and the outcome at retail. That file becomes the buyer’s own standard, and it is what makes a fifth order faster and more reliable than the first, whichever supplier it comes from.

Photograph the inside of a sample garment when there is no sheet, because the care label carries the composition, the origin and sometimes the style reference. That single photograph often answers the question that the seller could not, and it costs nothing to take on arrival.

Weigh and measure the sample and write the numbers into your own record. A buyer who notes that a lot ran at one hundred and sixty grammes with a fifty eight centimetre chest has a benchmark for the next negotiation, and benchmarks are how a buyer stops being dependent on descriptions.

Where a lot is being offered with no information at all, the price should carry a discount for that uncertainty. The trade is not dishonest for selling without a specification, and it is inappropriate for a buyer to pay specification prices for information free goods. The two positions are consistent and both are easy to defend.

Ask what the goods were made for. Even without a sheet, a seller usually knows whether a lot came from a European retail order, a regional brand or a domestic production run, and that single fact sets the expected quality level more reliably than any adjective.

Keep the photographs and the measurements in one folder per supplier, because patterns emerge over time. A supplier whose lots consistently weigh what they were described as weighing is a supplier to keep, and the folder is what establishes that record rather than a memory of the last conversation.

Read the sheet before the price, not after. A buyer who understands the specification can value a lot inside a minute, and the suppliers who work from documents are the ones who survive a second order. That is the habit this document rewards.

Over a year of buying, that folder becomes the most valuable document a trader owns, because it converts memory into evidence and evidence into a price.

Ask about shrinkage and tolerance before you agree a price, because those two numbers decide whether the lot is sellable after the first wash. A sheet that specifies a five per cent shrinkage allowance is telling you the garment will move, and a buyer who plans for it sizes the retail offer accordingly instead of discovering the problem in a customer return.