Uniform fabric terms: R

R

Rapier loom

A shuttleless loom that carries the weft across the shed on a rigid or flexible arm. It handles a wide range of yarns and colour changes well, which makes it the common choice for suiting and for yarn-dyed checks and stripes.

Rate contract

An agreement fixing price and specification for a defined period, against which orders are placed later as they are needed. Common in institutional and government buying, where the tender awards the rate and the quantity follows as call-offs. Read the guide on Rate contract

Rayon yarn

Yarn spun from viscose staple fiber, the stage between the fiber and the woven cloth. Watching it matters because it is where an accumulated feedstock cost either moves downstream toward a fabric quote or stalls upstream.

REACH

Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals, the EU's chemical regulation. Unlike a voluntary certification such as OEKO-TEX, a REACH restriction is statutory law with a hard compliance date, and it can apply to a finish on an imported garment regardless of where the garment was made. Read the guide on REACH

Reactive dye

The dye class used for cellulosic fibers such as cotton and viscose, which forms a chemical bond with the fiber and so holds up well to washing. On a poly-viscose blend it dyes the viscose portion while the polyester is dyed with disperse dyes. Read the guide on Reactive dye

Ready stock

Fabric already woven, dyed and finished, held in running shades and available to despatch without a new dye lot or loom setup. It carries lower minimums and much shorter lead times than cloth woven to order, at the cost of taking the shade as it is rather than matching one. Read the guide on Ready stock

Recycled content

The share of recycled input claimed in a fabric. No laboratory can read it off the cloth, so it is a chain-of-custody claim evidenced by transaction documents through every stage, which is a different kind of proof from a test report. Read the guide on Recycled content

Recycled polyester

Polyester fiber made from reclaimed material, most often post-consumer PET bottles, rather than from virgin feedstock. It generally costs more than virgin polyester rather than less, because collection, sorting and cleaning sit ahead of the fiber stage.

Reed

The comb-like part of the loom that spaces the warp ends and beats each weft pick into the fabric. Its spacing sets the ends per inch, and a damaged or wrongly set reed shows in the cloth as a lengthwise streak. Read the guide on Reed

Reed mark

A fine line running along the fabric length, caused by a damaged or wrongly set reed on the loom. It shows as a streak rather than a spot. Read the guide on Reed mark

Refined cotton

Cotton linter processed into a high-cellulose pulp ready for fiber making, sold as an alternative to wood dissolving pulp. Where the two routes diverge in price, viscose producers can favour one, which is why a quote can firm on one feedstock while the other is flat.

Regenerated cellulose

A man-made fiber made by dissolving natural cellulose, usually wood pulp, and forming it back into fiber. Viscose, modal and lyocell belong to this group. Read the guide on Regenerated cellulose

Repeat order

A later order for the same fabric specification and shade as an earlier one, typically the next season or year of a uniform programme. Its risk is shade drift between dye lots, which is why a repeat is matched against the original approved reference swatch and locked recipe rather than against the previous delivery. Read the guide on Repeat order

Repeat size

The distance over which a check or stripe pattern completes before starting again, measured along the warp and the weft. It sets how much extra cloth a cutting room needs, because every panel has to be positioned to the pattern rather than to the roll. Read the guide on Repeat size

Repo rate

The rate at which the Reserve Bank of India lends overnight to banks against government securities, and the main lever of Indian monetary policy. It feeds through to what banks charge a mill on working capital loans, so a rise makes it dearer to carry yarn and finished stock, but it does not by itself reprice cloth already quoted.

Residual shrinkage

The shrinkage still left in a fabric after pre-shrinking at the mill, stated as a percentage. It is the figure worth asking about, rather than accepting the word sanforized alone. Read the guide on Residual shrinkage

Resin finish

A chemical crosslinking treatment applied at finishing to hold the fabric's flat state, which is what makes an easy-care or wrinkle-resistant cloth behave that way. It is applied at the processing house and cannot be added later to fabric that has already been finished. Read the guide on Resin finish

Reverse auction

A procurement mode in which technically qualified bidders compete downward on price in a live window. It rewards knowing your floor before the window opens, because the cloth still has to be woven, dyed and finished at whatever price is left. Read the guide on Reverse auction

Ring frame

The spinning machine that drafts roving to the final count and twists it into yarn, using a traveller running round a ring on each spindle. Read the guide on Ring frame

Ring spinning

The most widely used way of spinning short-staple yarn: drafted roving is twisted by a spindle and a small traveller running round a ring. Slowest of the main systems, but gives the strongest yarn and the widest count range. Read the guide on Ring spinning

Ripstop

A plain weave with thicker reinforcing yarns at regular intervals forming a small grid. A tear that starts runs only to the next reinforcing yarn, but ripstop does not raise abrasion life. Read the guide on Ripstop

Risk purchase

A tender clause allowing the buyer to procure the undelivered balance elsewhere and recover the extra cost from the defaulting supplier, over and above any liquidated damages already deducted. Read the guide on Risk purchase

RKM

Breaking length in kilometres: the length of yarn that would break under its own weight. Numerically equal to tenacity in cN/tex. Read the guide on RKM

RoDTEP

Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products, an Indian scheme refunding embedded duties and taxes that are not otherwise credited, at notified rates with value caps. It runs on notified periods rather than indefinitely, so an export quote that spans an expiry carries an open question.

RoSCTL

Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies, an Indian export remission scheme covering apparel, garments and made-ups. It is the sibling of RoDTEP and it is not the one that applies to woven fabric by the metre: RoDTEP covers textile products outside Chapters 61, 62 and 63, where suiting and shirting sit. Both schemes were due to lapse on 30 September 2026 and were extended together that day to 31 December 2026, so they share a sunset date while covering different goods, which is why an apparel exporter and a fabric mill can give different answers to the same question in the same week.

Roving

A thin strand of fiber made from sliver on the simplex (speed) frame, given a light protective twist so it can be wound and fed to the ring frame. Read the guide on Roving

Rules of origin

The conditions in a trade agreement that decide whether goods count as originating in a country and so qualify for a preferential duty. For woven fabric they usually turn on where the yarn was spun and where the fabric was woven, which is why the headline tariff cut matters less than the annex.

Running metre

A metre of length taken along the roll at whatever the fabric's actual width happens to be, which is how woven cloth is sold and invoiced. Two orders of the same running metreage in different widths are not the same amount of cloth, which is why a quantity is meaningless without the width beside it. Read the guide on Running metre

Running quality

A construction a mill already weaves in its standing range, as against one woven to order. It repeats more reliably, reaches you faster and carries no custom minimum. The trap is at bid stage: a sample pulled from the nearest running quality rather than woven to the specified construction can pass a visual check and then fail laboratory testing, which disqualifies the bid. Read the guide on Running quality

Running shade

A colour a mill is currently weaving and holds in stock, as opposed to one woven to order. Ordering a running shade is the fastest and lowest-minimum route into a programme, with the trade-off that it can be discontinued or drift slightly between lots, so it suits work where an exact match across years is not the binding requirement. Read the guide on Running shade

Looking for something that isn't here? The full guide library goes deeper on every term, and you can always ask us directly.