Greige, RFD, dyed or printed: which finish state to order
Every fabric on our range is the same greige cloth taken to a different point of processing. The question is not which fabric, it is how far down the finishing chain you want us to take it before it ships.
The four stages
- Greige. Straight off the loom, still carrying sizing. Cheapest, fastest — about two days' production — and the most flexible, because you control every wet process after it. You need a dye house or a plan.
- RFD (ready for dyeing). Greige that has been scoured and bleached, so it is clean, absorbent and stable. You still dye or print it, but you skip running preparation yourself, and it behaves predictably in the dye house.
- Piece-dyed. One solid shade through the whole cloth, matched to a signed lab dip. Deepest fastness, lowest cost per metre at volume, 1,000 m minimum per colour.
- Printed. A pattern or artwork on the face, screen or digital. Use it when you need a design, placed colour, or more than one or two colours.
How to choose
- You have your own dyeing or printing in-market → order greige, or RFD if you would rather not run scour and bleach.
- You want finished cloth and a solid colour → order piece-dyed with a Pantone or physical standard.
- You want a pattern → order printed, and send artwork at RFQ.
- You are still deciding the colourway → take RFD now to lock the base cloth and price, dye later.
What each adds to lead time
Greige is the two-day baseline. RFD adds preparation time. Dyed adds lab-dip rounds plus bulk dyeing. Printed adds strike-off approval plus the print run. We quote the full lead time against whichever stage you pick.