Why most mill minimums are 500 m, and how a 100 m minimum works
Ask a large Indian or Chinese mill for a first order and the minimum is usually 500 to 1,000 metres per construction, often per colour on top. That number is a scheduling decision, not a rule of physics.
What sets a minimum
- Warp preparation. A weaver's beam holds thousands of metres of warp. Setting one up — warping, sizing, drawing-in — is the same work whether you weave 200 m or 5,000 m off it, so mills amortise it over a big run.
- Loom changeover. Getting a construction on and off the loom, and getting it running clean, is lost production time. Bigger runs spread that cost.
- Dye-house batch size. A dye jigger or soft-flow has a practical minimum load. Below it, cost per metre climbs and shade control gets harder — hence the per-colour minimum on processed goods.
How a lower minimum works
- Greige from 100 m. We schedule shorter greige runs and carry the warp-setup cost differently, so 100 m of loom-state cloth is a real order, not a favour. No per-colour minimum, because greige has no colour.
- Processed from 1,000 m per colour. Dyeing and printing still carry the batch-size floor, so processed minimums look like everyone else's. If you need less, take RFD and dye locally.
- No container commitment. You are not required to fill a 20-foot container. Part loads and consolidation are normal.
Why it is worth it for a buyer
A 100 m minimum lets you run a real trial — enough to cut, sew, wash-test and show a customer — before you commit volume. It also lets you carry a second supplier in parallel on the same style without doubling your inventory. The trade-off is that very small runs cost more per metre; the price band reflects the quantity.
Send the construction and the quantity and we will quote the band.