Every sample we send carries a fee, and the fee is credited back in full once you place a production order above our 100 kg minimum.
We publish the figures because withholding them wastes everyone's time. Below is what each sample format costs, how long it takes, and which format actually answers the question you are asking.
The six formats
| Format | Fee | Lead time |
|---|---|---|
| Garment sample | from $80 / piece | instant from stock · 3–4 weeks custom |
| Yarn swatch (100 g) | $50 / 100 g | instant from stock · custom colours shown as swatches |
| Fabric swatch (10 × 10 cm) | $20 / swatch | instant from stock · +10 days custom colour |
| Colour card — single chip | $5 | digital instant |
| Colour card — full 81-shade fan | $125 / fan | about 2 weeks |
| Lab dip | $75 / shade · included with orders | about 10 days per round |
| Fibre sample | $25 / sample | instant from stock · 2–3 weeks to source |
Samples ship paid.
Why there is a fee at all
A sample is a short production run. A custom garment prototype occupies a knitting machine, a grader and a finisher for a piece that will never be sold. A lab dip occupies a dye vessel to produce a swatch. The fee covers that displaced capacity — it is not a margin exercise, which is why it comes back to you in full at production.
It also does something useful for both sides: it filters. A mill that samples free receives a great many requests that were never going to become orders, and the cost of servicing those requests ends up inside everyone else's unit price.
Choosing the right format
The formats answer genuinely different questions, and ordering the wrong one is the most common way to lose a fortnight.
Fibre sample ($25) — answers "what is the raw material?" Buy this if you are assessing Mongolian cashmere against another origin, or evaluating camel or yak. It tells you nothing about how a finished garment will feel.
Yarn swatch ($50 / 100 g) — answers "how does this knit?" This is the format for brands running their own knitting, or anyone wanting to trial a construction in-house before committing. Custom colours are shown as swatches, and larger cone quantities are quoted on request.
Fabric swatch ($20) — answers "what does this cloth do?" Ten by ten centimetres across gauges and structures. The right call when you are choosing between constructions rather than colours.
Colour card ($5 a chip, $125 for the full fan) — answers "what colours can I have?" The full fan carries all 81 standard shades on real cashmere. If colour is central to your range, buy the fan rather than chips; individually chipping your way through a palette costs more and takes longer than the fan.
Lab dip ($75 a shade standalone · included with orders) — answers "can you match this exact colour?" Send a Pantone TCX or TPX reference and we produce a dip for approval before bulk dyeing. On a production order, lab dips are included — we iterate until the colour is approved. A standalone lab dip without an order is priced per shade.
Garment sample (from $80) — answers "is this the product?" Either a finished piece from our existing range, or a custom prototype built to your tech pack. The only format that tells you about fit, drape, hand and construction together.
The credit, precisely
Sample fees are credited back in full against a production order above our 100 kg minimum. Not as a discount, and not pro-rated.
In practice this means a thorough sampling programme is free to a brand that proceeds to production, and carries a real cost only to one that does not. A brand ordering a full colour fan, three standalone lab dips and two custom garment samples is looking at $125 + $225 + $160 — around $510 — all of which returns at production.
Budgeting rounds, not samples
The figure that catches people out is not the unit fee but the round count.
A standalone lab dip is $75 per shade. On a production order, lab dips are included — however many rounds the colour takes, it costs you time, about ten days a round, rather than fees. Revisions on custom garment samples work the same way — a three-to-four week prototype, revised once, is closer to six weeks and two fees.
Two things reduce round count more than anything else:
- Send a physical reference. A Pantone code is a good start; a physical swatch or an existing garment is better. Screens misrepresent colour, and a dip matched to a screenshot will disappoint on arrival.
- Send a tech pack. It is the fastest route to an accurate first sample. If you do not have one, our design team can build it with you from a sketch, a reference photo, or a written description — but a prototype built from an accurate pack is far more likely to be approved on the first attempt.
Matching an existing garment
If you have a piece whose hand and silhouette you want reproduced, send it to us — or photograph it with measurements. We will propose a construction plan, yarn composition and gauge to achieve the same result, and sample against that. This is often faster than specifying from scratch, because the reference resolves a dozen small questions a tech pack would otherwise have to answer in writing.
A sensible sequence
- Start with the full colour card ($125) if colour matters, or a fibre sample ($25) if you are still choosing a material.
- Pick from the 81 standard shades where you can. A standard shade needs no lab dip and may already be in stock, which cuts both your sampling time and your production minimum.
- Order lab dips only for colours you genuinely cannot find on the card.
- Commission a garment sample once construction and colour are settled — it is the most expensive format and the one most worth getting right the first time.
Tell us what you are trying to establish and we will tell you which format answers it, rather than selling you the full set. Send an enquiry through the quote request and we will respond within two working days.
Related guides
See also the full FAQ, our sampling service, and OEM and private label production.