Pakistan sits on top of its own cotton crop, which is why so much of the world's terry, bed linen and institutional cloth is made here, and why the market is crowded and the quality range inside it is wide. The useful news for a buyer is that most of what goes wrong is controllable from your own desk.
What to put in an enquiry so a mill can quote it
A quotation is arithmetic. If any of these ten lines is missing, the mill either guesses, and you get a price for something you did not want, or it writes back asking, and you lose a week. Send all ten in the first message.
- The product, precisely. "Towels" is not an article; "bath, hand and face towel, matched set" is.
- Composition. 100% cotton or the exact polyester/cotton split, and whether you want combed or carded, ring-spun or open-end yarn.
- GSM or thread count. Grams per square metre for terry, waffle and knits; thread count for woven flat goods. Never "good quality".
- Size. Finished size in centimetres or inches, and say which. Give pocket depth for fitted sheets and drop for table linen.
- Colour reference. A Pantone TCX number or a swatch you post. "White" is not a colour: optical white, natural white and cream are three different products.
- Border, hem and construction. Dobby border depth, hem type, single or double needle, mitred corners, piping, selvedge or overlock.
- Branding. Woven satin label, printed label, care and content label, embroidery or none, and where each one sits.
- Quantity per SKU. Not the total. The same total spread over forty SKUs is a different order, at a different price, from one size in one colour.
- The date you need it. The date it must be in your warehouse, not the date it must leave the factory.
- Delivery terms and destination. Ex-works Islamabad, FOB Karachi, CIF or DDP, plus the discharge port or door address.
The sampling sequence
Sampling is not one event. It is a sequence, and each stage catches a different class of mistake. Skipping a stage to save time is the most reliable way to lose a production run.
- Reference or counter sample. You send a physical piece to be matched, or the mill sends something close from its own range. This fixes the target.
- Shade submission. Lab dips or a shade card in the actual base cloth, not on paper. Approve one, in writing, against a physical standard.
- Pre-production sample. The real construction, in the approved shade, with the real hems, labels and packing. Both sides seal, date and keep this piece; everything afterwards is judged against it rather than against an email.
- Size set. One of each size. Grading between sizes is where made-up goods usually go wrong.
- Production sample. A piece pulled off the line once the run has started, checked against the sealed sample before the bulk is finished.
Agree that sequence, and who signs off each stage, before you place the order.
The three problems buyers report most
1. Colour variation between dye lots
Dyeing is a batch process. Two lots of the same recipe can land slightly apart, and two fabrics that match under showroom light can separate under a shop's fluorescents: that effect is metamerism, a property of the dyes rather than a mistake. What reduces it: approve against a physical standard, never a screen; state which light sources the match must hold under; order the whole colour requirement as one lot where you can; and ask for the dye-lot number to be marked on every carton, so a variation is traceable to a lot instead of contaminating your view of the shipment.
2. Shrinkage after washing
Cotton relaxes. Woven cloth is held under tension through weaving and finishing and gives some of it back the first few times it is washed: normal fabric behaviour rather than a defect, which is precisely why it must be written down instead of assumed. State the tolerance you will accept and the wash programme it is measured against, and have both confirmed at sampling rather than after delivery. Say whether your quoted size is the cut size or the finished size after washing, then wash the pre-production sample on your own programme before you approve it. A tolerance nobody wrote down is one you will lose.
3. Width and size consistency
For fabric on the roll the trap is width: ask whether the quoted figure is the full woven width or the usable width after the selvedge is trimmed, because your cutting plan depends on the second. For made-up goods the trap is drift, pieces at the end of a long run measuring differently from pieces at the start. Measure the approved sample yourself, record every dimension, state the tolerance and where it is measured, then ask for measurements taken from several pieces at different points in the run.
What payment terms look like in this market
The norm across Pakistani textile manufacturing is a deposit against the order with the balance settled before the goods leave. Paragon's own documented terms are 30% advance and 70% before pick-up, squarely in line with that norm.
Understand what each half does. The advance buys yarn and books dyeing capacity: working capital, not profit. The balance is your last piece of leverage, so inspect before you release it. Settle delivery terms in the same conversation: Ex-works Islamabad, FOB Karachi, CIF and DDP allocate freight, insurance, customs and risk very differently.
How to run a small first order
Treat the first order as an experiment on a small budget, not as a purchase.
- One article, one colour, one size. Test everything at once and you will not know which variable failed.
- Order it in the packing you actually intend to use, with the real labels. Packing causes more delays at the port than cloth ever does.
- Inspect against the sealed pre-production sample, physically, side by side.
- Record the result: measurements from several pieces, shade against the standard, seam and label placement, carton count and weight.
- Place the repeat order against the same approved sample and specification number. Consistency between order one and order two is the only real test of a supplier.
One question worth asking every supplier
Ask what they can evidence, and what they cannot. A manufacturer who tells you plainly where their documentation stops is easier to plan around than one who claims everything and shows nothing. We publish industry-typical ranges as ranges and print "on request" where we have no documented figure of our own. The FAQ page answers the commercial questions in the same register, and custom manufacturing sets out how private label work runs from your specification to your carton.