Every plush and fleece order — coral fleece, polar fleece, lamb wool, a pet blanket or a pet bed cover — starts with a one-page document that most buyers never read line by line: the fabric specification sheet. It is the mill's written promise about what the cloth is: fibre content, weight, width, construction, shrinkage and colour fastness. Read it in order and you can predict most of how a fabric will behave before a single metre ships; skim it and you find out after cutting. Here is how we read a spec sheet at our Changshu mill — and how you should too.
The four fields that set the ceiling
Start with fibre composition, weight, construction and width. These four set the ceiling on what the fabric can do — if any one is wrong for your product, nothing else on the sheet rescues it.
- Fibre composition — for plush fleece this line should read 100% polyester (some pet blanket blends add viscose or spandex). Percentages must total 100, and a credible sheet names the test method — most commonly ISO 1833, the quantitative chemical analysis that dissolves one fibre component at a time and weighs the residue. "100% polyester" with no method is a claim, not a spec.
- Weight (GSM) — grams per square metre is the number that drives cost, warmth and hand feel. Check whether it is finished weight (after brushing, dyeing and heat-setting) rather than greige weight, and whether a tolerance is stated — industry practice is ±5% of the stated value, measured on conditioned fabric per ISO 139. As-produced and conditioned weight can differ by 3–8%.
- Construction — fleece is knitted, not woven. Single jersey, interlock and French terry behave completely differently at the same GSM, so the sheet must name the knit structure.
- Width — always ask whether the number is usable (cuttable) width or edge-to-edge, and open-width or tubular. The common tolerance for open-width knits is ±1 cm; for tubular knits, ±1.5 cm.
The performance lines that decide acceptance
Below the core fields sit the numbers buyers argue about after delivery: shrinkage, colour fastness and pilling.
- Shrinkage — reported as residual dimensional change after a named wash test (AATCC 135 in the US, ISO 6330 internationally), separately for length and width. Polyester fleece is one of the most stable fabrics you can buy: heat-set fleece typically stays under 1% shrinkage, which is why it is the default for washable pet blankets.
- Colour fastness — graded 1 to 5 for separate hazards: washing, rubbing (crocking), light and perspiration. A fabric can be excellent to washing and poor to crocking, so read every sub-rating, not the headline number.
- Pilling — for brushed pile fabrics like fleece, ask for a pilling grade (scored 1–5 under a named method such as ISO 12945-2). A sheet that reports pilling without the test method gives you nothing to hold the mill to.
The tolerances you should insist on
Every number on a spec sheet is a nominal value with a tolerance behind it. Industry benchmarks for knits: GSM ±5%, open-width ±1 cm, tubular ±1.5 cm, and shrinkage around ±3% in both directions after the stated number of washes for most woven and knitted constructions. If the sheet says "GSM: approximate 200", there is no enforceable standard — the roll could be 190 or 210 and you have no case. Write the tolerance band into your purchase order so the inspection report has something to measure against.
Red flags that turn into disputes
- "Approximate" or "nominal" before a number — no tolerance, no standard, no argument you can win.
- No test method named — a shrinkage figure without AATCC 135 or ISO 6330 behind it is not comparable to anything.
- No conditioning standard — fabric weighed straight off the stenter frame reads differently from fabric conditioned at 20°C and 65% relative humidity (ISO 139). The same roll can produce two different GSM numbers depending on when it is weighed.
- Width as a single number — open or tubular? Those are two different products.
- Greige weight quoted as finished weight — brushing, shearing and compacting change weight, so confirm which one you are quoted for.
What this means for fleece and pet blankets
For brushed pile fabrics the spec sheet matters even more, because much of the product is invisible in the numbers. A 280 GSM coral fleece from two mills can feel completely different — the difference lives in yarn fineness (micro-denier polyester), pile density, heat-setting and finishing. That is why the sheet and the physical sample work as a pair: the sheet defines what you can measure, the approved swatch captures the hand feel no number describes. For dyed fleece, also confirm the dye-lot shade tolerance (a ΔE band around 1.0 or below under D65 is common for commercial bulk) and that bulk dyeing starts from the same greige lot as the approved lab dip.
Sending us your spec
If you already have a specification sheet, send it to us as-is for a quote — or send fabric type, GSM, width, colour and end use, and we will confirm the spec in writing before production. Every order ships with its measured GSM, width and shrinkage data, so the goods match the document that was agreed.
Request a Fabric Spec Quote → See Our Fleece Fabrics
References
- FabricConsult — How to Read a Fabric Spec Sheet: B2B Buyer Checklist (core fields, ISO 1833, GSM ±5% and width tolerances, conditioning per ISO 139)
- Dexitex Blog — How to Read a Fabric Spec Sheet: Pre-Purchase Checklist (ten-line checklist: finished vs greige weight, cuttable width, shrinkage and fastness methods)