Uniform fabric terms: C

C

Calendering

A finishing process where fabric is passed between heated rollers under pressure, flattening the surface and closing it up. It makes a cloth smoother and more opaque than its construction alone would be, and some of that effect relaxes over the first few washes. Read the guide on Calendering

Call-off

A drawdown against a larger agreed quantity, where the buyer books the total meters up front and takes delivery in parts through the year. It holds one shade and one specification across a program without taking all the fabric at once. Read the guide on Call-off

Carded yarn

Yarn spun after carding only, so it still contains the short fibers. It is cheaper than combed yarn, slightly hairier in handle, and more prone to pilling. Read the guide on Carded yarn

CBM

Cubic metre, the volume measure freight is quoted and containers are planned in. Fabric rolls are bulky rather than heavy, so a shipment usually reaches a container's volume limit long before its weight limit. Read the guide on CBM

CBP

US Customs and Border Protection, the agency that clears imports into the United States and enforces the duties a Section 301 action sets. It is the US counterpart to the Indian customs authority a shipping bill is filed with, and it is the body that decides, at the border, whether the origin and composition documents travelling with a consignment are sufficient.

Cellulosic

A fibre made of cellulose, either natural, such as cotton and linen, or regenerated, such as viscose and lyocell. Cellulosics absorb moisture, which is the comfort half of a poly-viscose blend, and they are the part dissolved away when a blend ratio is tested. Read the guide on Cellulosic

CEPA

Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, a bilateral trade agreement covering goods, services and investment. India has one with the UAE; it applies to that country alone and does not extend to the other Gulf Cooperation Council states.

Certificate of conformity

A document issued under a destination country's own standards regime confirming that a product has been assessed against the applicable technical regulation before import. It is separate from a certificate of origin, which is about country of manufacture and duty, and separate from a buyer's own pre-dispatch inspection, which exists because the contract asked for it. Read the guide on Certificate of conformity

Certificate of origin

A document certifying the country where goods were produced, issued by an authorised chamber or agency and presented at import. It is what a preferential duty claim under a trade agreement is built on, alongside the product specific rule that decides whether the goods qualify. Read the guide on Certificate of origin

CETA

Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the name used for the India-UK trade agreement. Do not confuse it with CEPA, the India-UAE agreement: the two acronyms differ by one letter and carry different origin rules, so a buyer quoting the wrong one is asking for a certificate the mill cannot issue.

CFR

Cost and Freight, also written informally as CNF or C&F. The mill pays sea freight to the destination port but not insurance, so the buyer arranges cover for the voyage separately. Only CFR is the official Incoterms spelling. Read the guide on CFR

Chain of custody

The documented trail showing that certified material stayed certified at every step from fibre to finished cloth. A content claim such as recycled polyester is only verifiable where the chain of custody is documented, which is why the certificate is held per supply chain rather than per fabric. Read the guide on Chain of custody

Chambray

A plain-weave fabric woven with a coloured warp and a white weft, which gives it a soft mottled surface. Common in shirting, and often mistaken for denim, which is a twill. Read the guide on Chambray

Chlorine bleach

Sodium hypochlorite bleach, used in institutional laundries to whiten and disinfect. On polyester and poly-viscose it does not whiten and can leave yellowing over repeated cycles, and it attacks elastane and many dyes. Oxygen bleach is the safer choice for coloured or blended uniforms. Read the guide on Chlorine bleach

CIE whiteness

A single number describing how white a cloth measures under a stated illuminant, normally D65. Specify a tint tolerance with it, because two cloths can measure at the same whiteness and still lean visibly pink or green. Read the guide on CIE whiteness

CIF

Cost, Insurance and Freight. The mill pays both sea freight and insurance to the destination port. Import duty and inland transport at the destination remain with the buyer. Read the guide on CIF

Class-I local supplier

Under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, a supplier whose goods have at least 50 percent local content. Class-I suppliers get purchase preference in government tenders. Read the guide on Class-I local supplier

Collar band

The narrow strip of cloth that joins a shirt collar to the neckline and carries the top button. It is usually fused and takes more strain than the collar leaf, so it is a common place for a shirting to fail before the body does. Read the guide on Collar band

Colour change

The grey-scale grade, from 1 to 5, for how far a test specimen's own shade shifts after a wash, light, rubbing or perspiration test. It is reported separately from staining, which grades colour transferred onto an adjacent fabric. Read the guide on Colour change

Colour fastness

How well a fabric holds its colour against washing, light, rubbing and perspiration. Reported as a grade on a numbered scale rather than as a pass or fail. Read the guide on Colour fastness

Colour fastness to perspiration

How well a dyed fabric resists colour change and staining from sweat, tested to ISO 105-E04 in both acid and alkaline solutions because sweat varies. It matters most on shirting and on any uniform worn in heat, and is graded on the same 1 to 5 grey scale as wash fastness. Read the guide on Colour fastness to perspiration

Colourway

One specific colour combination of a design, for example a single check or stripe offered in several colour sets. Each colourway is approved and reordered as its own shade. Read the guide on Colourway

Combed yarn

Yarn spun after an extra combing step that removes the shortest fibers. Smoother, stronger for the same count and less prone to pilling than carded yarn, and more expensive. Read the guide on Combed yarn

Commercial invoice

The seller's definitive invoice for the goods shipped, stating the parties, the goods, the quantity, the value, the currency and the Incoterm. Customs uses it to assess duty, so its description and value must agree with the packing list, the bill of lading and the shipping bill, and a mismatch between them is a common cause of clearance delay. Read the guide on Commercial invoice

Commercial laundry

A laundry run at volume for an institution or a contractor, using higher heat, stronger detergent and far more cycles than a household machine. A care label written for home washing is only a starting point there, so the dependable check is a trial batch through the actual laundry before the full order is confirmed. Read the guide on Commercial laundry

Composition

What a fabric is made of, by fiber and percentage. It is the first field on any spec sheet, because almost every other property follows from it. Read the guide on Composition

Conditioning

Holding fabric at a standard temperature and humidity before it is weighed or tested, so moisture in the air does not distort the result. It is why a GSM figure from a conditioned sample is not the same as one taken off a damp godown floor. Read the guide on Conditioning

Consent to operate

The permission a state pollution control board grants a unit to run, stating the process and capacity it covers and the conditions attached, including how effluent is handled. On fabric it is held by whoever does the wet processing rather than by the weaving mill, so the name and address on it matter as much as its existence. Read the guide on Consent to operate

Consignment

One shipment of goods moving under a single set of documents, from one seller to one buyer. Fabric is inspected, invoiced and cleared consignment by consignment, so one order split across two dispatches is two consignments. Read the guide on Consignment

Construction

How a fabric is built on the loom: the weave, the yarn counts and the number of yarns per unit width and length. Two fabrics of identical composition and weight can behave differently because of it. Read the guide on Construction

Container freight station

A yard outside the port where containers are stuffed, destuffed and held, used for less-than-container-load cargo and for boxes waiting on customs clearance. Its published tariff, not the shipping line's, is what charges the free-time clock against on the Indian side. Read the guide on Container freight station

Cotton Corporation of India (CCI)

The government agency that buys seed cotton from farmers at the minimum support price when market prices fall below it, and sells its stock through auctions. Its selling prices are one of the signals the domestic cotton and cotton yarn market reads.

Cotton linter

The short fibres left on the cottonseed after ginning, and one of the two feedstock routes into viscose, the other being wood dissolving pulp. Its price is an upstream cost on the viscose leg of a poly-viscose quote, and it can move independently of the pulp route.

Cotton-rich

A blend in which cotton is the larger share of the fibre. Cotton-rich cloth shrinks more than poly-viscose and softens with washing rather than holding its finish, and its price follows the cotton market rather than the polyester chain. Read the guide on Cotton-rich

Counter sample

The mill's retained half of an approved reference, filed against the buyer's programme rather than against a single order. It is the copy that answers a dispute or a reorder placed years later by someone who was not part of the original approval. Read the guide on Counter sample

Cover factor

How much of a fabric's surface area the yarns actually occupy, driven by yarn thickness and by the ends and picks per inch. It, not GSM, is what decides whether a white or pale shirting shows through. Read the guide on Cover factor

Coverall

A one-piece work garment covering the torso, arms and legs. It uses more fabric per piece than any other common uniform garment, so it dominates the fabric estimate on any programme that includes one. Read the guide on Coverall

Crease mark

A line of permanently set distortion where cloth was folded or rope-creased under heat and tension during wet processing, so the fold does not come out on relaxing. It reads as a streak of different shade or lustre running with the length, and it is a processing fault rather than a weaving one. Read the guide on Crease mark

Crease recovery

How well a fabric springs back after being folded or crushed, which is why a poly-viscose blend comes out of a shift looking flatter than a cotton-rich one. Resin finishes raise it, and usually cost some tensile strength and softness in exchange. Read the guide on Crease recovery

Crimp

The waviness a yarn takes as it interlaces over and under the opposing yarns in a woven fabric. It is why a fabric always consumes more yarn than its flat dimensions suggest, and why a fabric relaxes and shortens slightly when tension comes off. Read the guide on Crimp

Crocking

Colour transferring off a fabric when it is rubbed, either dry or wet. It usually points to unfixed surface dye rather than to the dye itself being weak. Read the guide on Crocking

Cumulation

A rule-of-origin provision that lets inputs from a partner country count as originating when they are processed further in the exporting country. Bilateral cumulation covers the two parties to an agreement; whether it applies decides if an imported yarn breaks or keeps a preferential claim.

Customs broker

The licensed agent who files the import entry in the destination country on the buyer's behalf. The broker, not the mill, decides which origin form and which supporting documents a given entry needs, so a question about clearance paperwork is answered faster by asking them first and telling the mill the answer before the order runs. Read the guide on Customs broker

Customs notification

The instrument by which the Indian government sets or changes a duty rate, an exemption or a condition. A trade-press report of a duty change is not operative until the matching customs notification is issued.

Cuttable width

The usable fabric width once the selvedges are excluded. It is the figure that decides how many garment panels you get per metre, and it is always less than edge-to-edge width. Read the guide on Cuttable width

Cutting for approval

A cutting taken from the actual bulk lot and sent to the buyer to approve shade, handle and weight before despatch, checked against the approved swatch or lab dip. Read the guide on Cutting for approval

Cutting room

The stage of garment making where fabric is spread in lays, marked and cut into panels. It is where width, shade and defect problems first cost money, because a fault found there wastes the lay as well as the metre. Read the guide on Cutting room

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