Glossary
Uniform fabric terms: E
The vocabulary that turns up on spec sheets, quotations and tender documents, defined in a line or two. Where a term deserves more than that, it links to the guide that covers it properly.
E
- E-way bill
- An electronically generated document that accompanies a consignment of goods above a threshold value while it is in transit, linking the shipment to its invoice. Read the guide on E-way bill
- Easy care
- A finish and construction combination intended to reduce ironing: the fabric creases less in wear and drops most of its creases after washing. It is a degree rather than an absolute, and it is usually traded against some tear strength and some handle. Read the guide on Easy care
- Effluent
- The wastewater a wet-processing unit discharges after dyeing and finishing. It is treated either at the unit's own plant or at a shared plant serving a cluster, and it is a question about a facility rather than about the cloth. Read the guide on Effluent
- Elastane
- A highly extensible synthetic fiber added in small proportions to give a woven fabric stretch and recovery. It is sensitive to chlorine bleach, which is why an elastane content needs checking against the laundry a uniform will actually go through.
- EMD
- Earnest money deposit: a refundable amount a tendering body requires with a bid, as a guarantee that the bidder is serious. The amount and terms are set in the tender document. Read the guide on EMD
- EN 1149
- The European standard series for the electrostatic properties of protective clothing. It measures the same property as the American methods and differs only in the document number, which is why a Gulf or European tender asks for it by name. Read the guide on EN 1149
- EN ISO 11612
- The European standard for protective clothing against heat and flame, for industrial wearers rather than firefighters. Compliance is rated by letter and level codes for convective, radiant, molten metal and contact heat, and is normally held at garment level rather than on a length of cloth. Read the guide on EN ISO 11612
- EN ISO 20471
- The European standard for high-visibility clothing. It sets minimum areas of fluorescent background material and retroreflective tape by class, so compliance depends on the garment design and the tape as well as the base cloth. Read the guide on EN ISO 20471
- Ends and picks
- Ends are the warp yarns running along the fabric length; picks are the weft yarns running across it. Counts of both per unit length describe how densely a fabric is woven. Read the guide on Ends and picks
- Ends per inch
- The number of warp yarns packed into an inch of finished fabric, written EPI on a spec sheet. With picks per inch and the yarn count it decides cover factor, which drives opacity far more than weight alone does. Read the guide on Ends per inch
- EPR
- Extended Producer Responsibility: a regulatory scheme that makes the company placing textiles on a market pay for their collection and end-of-life handling, usually through a fee per item. The EU is extending it to textiles. The obligation falls on the importer or brand, but exporters get asked for fibre and weight data to support it. Read the guide on EPR
- Ex-mill
- A price quoted for the cloth at the mill gate, before freight, insurance, local transport or any destination charge is added. It is the basis most Indian mill quotations start from, and it is the reason two quotes can differ by more than the cloth does: comparing an ex-mill figure with a delivered one compares different things. Read the guide on Ex-mill
- Export declaration
- The declaration an exporter files with its own customs authority before goods leave the country, stating value, classification and quantity. In India it is the shipping bill filed with Indian Customs. It normally stays on the exporter's side of a transaction, because it exists to satisfy the exporting country's requirements rather than the buyer's. Read the guide on Export declaration
- Exporter of record
- The party that files the export declaration with the customs authority of the exporting country and is answerable for it. On an Indian fabric shipment that can be the mill, the mill's export arm, a merchant exporter, a trading house or a consolidator, and which one it is decides who actually holds the export paperwork for your consignment. Read the guide on Exporter of record
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