Your Swatch Book vs the Factory’s Cloth List: Keeping Them in Sync
A client strokes a swatch, says "this one", pays a deposit, and goes home happy. Two days later the factory replies that the cloth is no longer available. Every custom shop has made that phone call, and it costs more than the cloth: the client starts to wonder what else in the shop is out of date.
The fix is not a better swatch book. It is a swatch book that stays in sync with what your factory can actually cut. This post sets out how to do that when you produce with Shi Yuan.
Why swatch books drift
Seasonal cloth. Mills drop colours and qualities between seasons. Our fabrics page says the same about our partner list: availability changes by season, and we only confirm what we can source for your order.
Stock vs indent. Some cloth is held in stock lengths; some is ordered from the mill for your job. The two have different lead times and different ways of running out. Our mill indent vs stock fabric post explains the difference.
Your own cloth. If you buy lengths and send them to us to be made up, availability is on your side, not ours.
Old bunches. Bunches stay on the table long after the cloth has gone.
The swatch card: fields that prevent the bad phone call
Put these on the back of every swatch card or in your digital catalogue. Each one answers a question we would otherwise have to ask.
Your shop code — Example (hypothetical): NVY-07 — Why it matters: What the client and your staff call it
Supplier cloth code — Example (hypothetical): As printed on the bunch — Why it matters: What a factory actually reserves against
Source type — Example (hypothetical): Stock / mill indent / your own length — Why it matters: Sets how availability is checked
Composition and weight — Example (hypothetical): 100% wool, weight as stated by mill — Why it matters: Drives construction and season advice
Date added to book — Example (hypothetical): Month / year — Why it matters: Flags cards that need re-checking
Last availability check — Example (hypothetical): Date + "OK" / "low" / "gone" — Why it matters: The line most shops are missing
Substitute — Example (hypothetical): Shop code of the closest alternative — Why it matters: Lets staff offer a swap at the table
Note for wedding parties — Example (hypothetical): "Order the party from one lot" — Why it matters: Avoids shade differences across a group
Availability check: when and how
Check availability at two moments: before a busy selling period, and before you take a deposit on a cloth whose card is more than a season old. One WhatsApp message to us with a list of supplier cloth codes is enough. We reply cloth by cloth: available, low, gone or needs indent. Then update the "last check" line on each card.
For wedding parties and group orders, reserve the cloth the same day the group decides. A party that picks a cloth on Saturday and pays on the following Friday can lose it in between. Our fabric lot and shade consistency post explains why a whole party should come from one lot.
Worked example (hypothetical)
A shop in Melbourne keeps about a hundred swatch cards on the table. Before the spring wedding season it sends us the supplier codes for its forty most-used cards. Thirty-four come back available, four low, two gone. Staff move the two "gone" cards to a "do not sell" envelope, put the substitute code on the front, and flag the four "low" cards with a sticker that says "reserve on the day". During the season, one groom picks a low-stock navy; the shop messages us that afternoon, and the cloth for the full party is held before the deposit clears.
What the factory confirms, and what it can't
We confirm, cloth by cloth, what we can source for a specific order, and we confirm cloth in writing before cutting — the process page shows that as part of the fabric and pattern lock. We cannot promise that a cloth available today will be available next season, and we will not substitute a cloth without your approval. If a cloth runs out mid-order, we stop and ask.
Digital swatch books and photos
Many shops now send clients photos of swatches before a consult. That works if the photos carry the shop code, and if staff remember that colour on a phone screen is not colour in daylight. For anything important — a wedding, a corporate order — post a physical swatch to the decision-maker or ask them in to see the cloth.
How this connects to your orders
Cloth is one of the two things that have to be confirmed before a sample clock can start (the other is measurements). A swatch book that is up to date takes days out of every first order. The manufacturing page lists the minimums and lead times that start once cloth is confirmed.
Want us to check a list of cloth codes before your next season? WhatsApp the cloth list
Check your book with us
Send your country, approximate monthly volume, MTM or bulk, and the supplier cloth codes you sell most. We will mark each one available, low, gone or indent.
WhatsApp Shi Yuan · Email houzhenying226@gmail.com
Shi Yuan Suit Factory, Tianjin, China. Acumenwear.com is our English export site.
