The 1% Rule: Why We Reject the First 3 Meters of Every Fabric Roll

When a fabric roll arrives from the mill, it is under tension. It has been pulled, stretched, and wound tightly by machines. If you cut it immediately, the fabric “remembers” its original shape and will shrink or warp the moment it hits water.

At CdGarment, we follow the 1% Rule. We don’t just check for holes; we check for “stress.”

The Secret is in the Rest

Most discount factories pull a roll off the truck and put it straight onto the cutting table. We don’t. We unroll the fabric and let it “relax” on flat racks for 24 to 48 hours.

Why? Because fabric is alive. Like a muscle, it needs to recover. If we skip this 24-hour rest, your Size Medium could become a Size Small by the time it reaches your customer’s laundry room.

How We Verify the “Relax”

• The Tension Map: We measure the fabric width at the start, middle, and end of the roll. If the width varies by more than 1%, the roll is rejected.

• The 3-Meter Sacrifice: The first few meters of any roll are often subject to the highest mechanical pull. We often set these aside for testing rather than production to ensure every garment in your order is identical.

• Shrinkage Matching: We test a swatch from every single roll. If Roll A shrinks 2% and Roll B shrinks 4%, they are never cut together.

Simple Insight

A factory that rushes the cutting stage is a factory that doesn’t care about your “Repeat Customer” rate. Quality isn’t just about how you sew; it’s about how you wait.