What are common greige fabric defects and how do buyers check them?

Greige defects are weaving and handling faults visible—or hiding—on loom-state cloth: broken picks (a weft that snapped mid-insertion), missing ends (warp gaps), stop marks (density bands where the loom stopped and restarted), sett variation, oil or rust stains, and width drift. Dyeing and finishing expose every one of them; none reliably disappear in color.

Check the base lot before color: run full-width inspection under good light, compare density across the piece and roll to roll, water-drop absorbency where dye uniformity matters, and width/GSM against the quote. Approve or reject the greige here—a later lab dip on a different construction will not tell you whether this lot is sound.

On the PO, name the inspection standard, acceptable defect points per roll, and whether mending, cutting out, or overage replaces rejected meters. For mill-stock polyester programs, Weaverine produces greige polyester fabric in 160–330 cm widths and 55–120 GSM; stock specs have no minimum, custom constructions start at 5,000 meters. Share the finisher's defect criteria before quotation so base approval and responsibilities are clear.

The 4-point system buyers actually write

Most greige defect limits use the 4-point system: 1 point for defects up to 3 inches, 2 points for 3–6 inches, 3 points for 6–9 inches, 4 points beyond 9 inches (per 100 square yards). Broken picks, broken ends, slubs, nepps, color fly, coarse yarn, cracks, and oil stains each score by length—dropped stitches and holes score 4 points outright. Name the points-per-100-yards cap on the PO; without a number, "acceptable quality" means nothing at claim time.

Nep, slub, and color fly (spinning defects that survive weaving)

Not every greige fault starts on the loom. Nepps (entangled fiber knots from dead cotton), slubs (thick tapered places from uneven roving), and color fly (stray fibers of another color wound into the yarn) all ride through weaving into the finished face. They read as texture on greige and as shade faults after dye—catch them at base inspection with good light, not after color.