How Do I Provide Sizing for My Linen Collection?

What a Complete Sizing Handover Contains

Sizing handover fails for one reason: the factory receives a size label and a garment, but not the measurement logic behind them. A complete handover has three parts, and all three should be attached to the tech pack as appendices rather than written into an email thread.

If your tech pack is still being written, the measurement section in our tech pack guide shows where these three appendices sit relative to construction, fabric and labelling.

Attach the following to the tech pack so that nothing depends on an email thread. The list is deliberately short, and every item exists to remove one round of questions before sampling begins.

• Body measurement table in centimetres, one column per size, with the customer-facing chart derived from it.
• Finished garment measurement table with a tolerance band per point, referenced to a stated wash condition.
• Grading rule per measurement point, confirmed as it applies at both ends of the size run.
• Measurement point definitions using flat-and-doubled conventions and named reference seams.
• Label mapping per market against internal size codes, so the correct label is printed the first time.
• Fit feedback from the previous round with marked photographs and numeric adjustments rather than adjectives.

Step by Step: Handing Sizing to a Linen Factory

The order of these steps matters more than their content. Each one produces a document the next step depends on, so skipping ahead usually means re-issuing the spec later at higher cost.

Measurement Points and How to Define Them

Every measurement point in your table needs a name, a definition and a direction. Ambiguity here produces samples that measure correctly on the factory's table and wrongly on yours. The definitions below are the ones we use when reviewing a spec, and they are worth copying into your own document.

Two conventions prevent most disputes. First, always state flat-and-doubled for any point that wraps around the body, and state it in the table header. Second, name the reference seam for every length measurement; "sleeve length" without a start point has produced more sample revisions than any other line in a spec sheet.

Mapping One Sizing Spec to Several Markets

If the same linen collection sells in more than one market, you do not need a separate pattern for each. You need one body table as the source of truth, plus a label mapping that each storefront prints from. The table below shows how a single graded run is labelled for four markets, using the internal size code as the anchor so that factory paperwork never changes when a storefront label does.

Three rules keep the mapping honest across a collection. First, the internal code is permanent and the label is variable; every factory document, polybag and inspection sheet uses the internal code. Second, body measurements are identical across markets wherever the fit block is shared, and any market that needs a different body gets its own code range rather than a relabelled variant of the same pattern. Third, where a market needs a different length only, such as a longer centre back for US wholesale, record it as a variant code instead of silently changing the base pattern, so a reorder three seasons later reproduces the same garment.

• One body table, many label columns. Never publish a storefront chart that is not derived from the master body table.
• Variant codes for length or fit changes. Nothing market-specific should live only in a comment field.
• Conversion confirmed at the body level. A UK 12 and a US 8 describe a similar body, but not necessarily identical garment measurements once ease differs.

Tolerances, Shrinkage and the Washing Reference

Linen shrinks 3-7% on the first wash depending on weave, finish and wash temperature. That range is wider than most tolerances, which is why the spec must name the washing reference the measurements are taken against. If your factory measures a freshly pressed sample and your warehouse measures it after a customer wash, both teams are correct and the garment is still wrong.

Where a measurement legitimately varies, say so in the spec rather than widening every tolerance to cover it:

• Weave and finish. A soft-washed 140 GSM linen needs a wider band than a dense 200 GSM plain weave in the same style.
• Cut direction. Bias-cut panels move on the cross-grain; give them their own tolerance line instead of loosening the straight-grain points.
• Panel size. Larger panels shrink slightly more in absolute terms, so the largest size of a run often needs the wider end of the band.
• Garment washes. If the style is garment-washed or enzyme-washed, the finished measurement reference must be the post-wash state of that process, not a standard home wash.

Quality inspection then becomes a measurement exercise against a documented standard rather than a judgement call. We inspect at AQL 2.5 against the agreed spec, which only works when the spec is unambiguous. Our note on customising sizing for different markets covers the label side of the same problem.

What to Send With Your Fit Feedback

Fit feedback is most useful when it is specific, visual and measured. Vague comments such as "runs small" cost a full sample round to interpret; a marked-up photo with three measurements costs nothing to act on. Send all four of the following with every round.

A practical check before releasing: read your own spec as if you were a factory pattern maker who has never seen the garment. If any line could be interpreted two ways, rewrite it. That habit alone removes most of the sample revisions we see on first-order linen programmes, and it is the same discipline that keeps a first order inside the normal 35-60 day window from confirmation. Wider sequencing is covered in our overview of linen clothing lead times.

Figures in this answer are Linenwind's published manufacturing parameters for custom linen apparel: MOQ 60 pieces per style per colour, sampling 7-12 days within a 7-14 day window, bulk production 25-35 days, first order 35-60 days, first-wash shrinkage 3-7 percent, fabric weights from about 100 to 260 GSM, more than 50 fabric specifications held in stock, AQL 2.5 inspection, sample charges of roughly 40-150 US dollars refundable against bulk, and certification coverage including ISO 9001, OEKO-TEX Standard 100 and SEDEX membership. Measurement conventions and label requirements should be confirmed with your testing laboratory for each destination market.