Sourcing managers developing 100% polyester home textile programs must navigate two distinct pre-production sampling checkpoints: the lab dip and the strike-off. While both deliver physical fabric swatches for buyer sign-off, they address fundamentally different manufacturing processes.
A lab dip approves solid dye formulation for solid dyed piece goods. A strike-off approves graphic pattern execution, repeat dimensions, and ink placement for digital print or rotary printed fabrics.
Confusing the two artifacts—or expecting a color approval swatch to guarantee finished texture—risks production delays, off-shade dye lots, and mismatched purchase orders.
Technical comparison: lab dip vs strike-off
| Property | Lab dip (piece-dyeing) | Strike-off (printing) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary function | Verifies solid color shade against standard | Verifies pattern scale, repeat, registration, and ink laydown |
| Target route | Solid piece-dyeing or bleached white | Digital printing, rotary disperse print, or pigment print |
| Visual artifact | Small solid-dyed fabric swatch (e.g. 10×10 cm) | Printed fabric length showing at least one full pattern repeat |
| Evaluation method | Spectrophotometer readings and calibrated light booth | Visual alignment check, scale measurement, and edge sharpness |
| Lighting & input | Standard illuminants (D65 primary, store light secondary) | High-resolution raster or vector artwork file |
| Benchmark tolerance | Spectrophotometer Delta E targets (typically ≤ 0.8–1.0) | Visual pattern fidelity, strike sharpness, ground penetration |
| Production floor (MOQ) | Piece-dye: 3,000 m/color; Bleached white: 2,000 m | Digital: no minimum; Rotary disperse: 5,000 m; Pigment: 5,000 m |
| Turnaround time | 5–7 business days in laboratory dye pots | 3–5 days for digital strike-off; 10–14 days for rotary screens |
| What is NOT covered | Pattern motifs, hand feel, width, wash shrinkage | Solid base shade, hand feel, width, wash shrinkage |
When a lab dip fits your program
Specify a lab dip when your product line relies on unprinted, uniform solid shades across home textile collections:
- Solid piece-dye programs: When sourcing solid-color bed sheets, duvet covers, pillowcases, or curtain linings, the dyehouse dips small swatches in pressurized laboratory beakers to match your Pantone TCX reference or submitted physical standard. At our facility, solid piece-dyeing runs carry a 3,000-meter minimum per colorway, while bleached-white programs require a 2,000-meter floor.
- Instrumental color matching: A lab dip is evaluated quantitatively with a spectrophotometer alongside visual inspection in a standardized light box. Buyers measure spectral reflectance to confirm that color coordinates stay within target Delta E tolerances.
- Preventing metamerism across retail lighting: Two dye formulations can appear identical under standard D65 daylight (simulating noon daylight) but split conspicuously under artificial retail store illumination, such as commercial fluorescent tubes or warm domestic incandescent lamps. When approving a lab dip, always state the primary viewing illuminant (typically D65) and secondary store illuminants (such as TL84, CWF, or Point of Sale LED) directly on the submission sheet.
Remember that a lab dip approves formulation chemistry and color shade only. It does not certify fabric hand, surface brushing depth, or mechanical performance.
When a strike-off fits your program
Specify a strike-off when your order incorporates decorative patterns, botanical motifs, geometric layouts, or engineered graphic designs:
- Validating pattern scale and alignment: A strike-off provides a printed sample on the actual production substrate, allowing your technical design team to verify pattern repeat, line sharpness, color-to-color registration, and ink penetration into the polyester fiber.
- Fast digital sampling without order floors: For new design exploration, multi-color testing, or short capsule runs, digital printing produces a strike-off in 3–5 business days with no minimum order quantity. Our digital disperse printing delivers Grade 4–5 colorfastness, allowing buyers to test motifs without committing to rotary cylinders.
- Screen verification for high-volume rotary production: For large-scale manufacturing of bedding or drapery fabrics, rotary disperse printing carries a 5,000-meter floor per pattern. The strike-off step validates cylinder engraving, screen repeat continuity, and paste viscosity before industrial volume runs. For budget-sensitive decorative textiles, pigment printing also runs at a 5,000-meter floor with Grade 2+ fastness.
Reviewing a strike-off ensures your digital file translates accurately onto woven polyester without motif clipping or ink bleeding.
The core buyer rule: artifact boundaries
A critical rule governs textile quality assurance: a lab dip never approves a print, and a strike-off never approves a solid shade.
Each milestone artifact confirms a dedicated technical parameter:
- What a lab dip approves: Spectral color formulation, chromatic depth, and dye stability under specified illuminants.
- What a strike-off approves: Graphic resolution, repeat measurement, screen registration, ink laydown, and strike penetration on the face cloth.
- What neither artifact covers: Neither a lab dip swatch nor a strike-off sample approves the finished fabric's hand feel, mechanical drape, wash shrinkage, tear strength, or usable selvage-to-selvage width.
If your program demands specific tactile qualities—such as mechanical sanding for soft peachskin, chemical softener baths, or calendered finishes—you must evaluate those properties through a separate finishing trial or production roll head, not a color swatch.
Waterjet weaving mill parameters and stacking rules
Every lab dip and strike-off for our programs is developed on greige fabric woven on 650+ high-speed waterjet looms at our China weaving mill in Zhejiang (Changxing). Aligning your sampling request with our manufacturing capabilities prevents specification mismatches:
- Loom-state greige width: 160 cm to 330 cm on our waterjet looms.
- Finished usable width: 150 cm to 315 cm after thermal relaxation, scour, and finishing shrinkage.
- Greige weight: 55–120 g/m² for standard home-textile constructions.
- Finished weight: 60–140 g/m² depending on dyeing uptake and finishing chemistry.
- Weave capabilities: Plain weave, twill weave, and dobby shedding attachments for small geometric figures and satin stripes (5,000 m floor). Jacquard is not woven at this mill.
- Order floor stacking: When programs combine finishes, orders stack to the higher relevant floor. For instance, while solid dyeing carries a 3,000-meter floor, specifying brushed peachskin on dyed cloth elevates the program floor to 5,000 meters to satisfy the mechanical sanding line.
- Scoped digital exception: Digital printing maintains no printing minimum even on specialty bases like peachskin for sampling and short runs, independent of custom bulk weaving runs.
What to specify on your RFQ or purchase order
To prevent sampling bottlenecks and ensure precise lab-dip and strike-off submissions, include these parameters on your inquiry:
- Base cloth specification: 100% polyester (virgin filament or GRS-certified recycled), specifying plain, twill, or dobby weave, target width, and finished GSM.
- Approval type requested: Explicitly state whether the submission requires a lab dip (solid dye) or a strike-off (print).
- Color and artwork references: Provide Pantone TCX color codes or physical cutting standards for lab dips; supply scaled vector/raster digital artwork (300 DPI minimum) with exact repeat dimensions for strike-offs.
- Illuminant and tolerance targets: For lab dips, specify primary (e.g. D65) and secondary (e.g. TL84, CWF) illuminants and required Delta E thresholds (e.g. Delta E ≤ 1.0).
- Print process and fastness standard: For strike-offs, define digital printing (Grade 4–5 fastness), rotary disperse printing (Grade 3–4 fastness), or pigment printing (Grade 2+ fastness).
- Program production volume: Total order meters planned per colorway or print design against applicable mill floors (2,000 m bleached white, 3,000 m solid dye, 5,000 m rotary/peachskin, or minimum-free digital).
For lab-dip submissions, digital strike-offs, or current greige roll availability, contact our sales engineering desk at sales@weaverine.com or consult our technical team directly via /chat.