What to Measure on an Approval Sample
Sample approval is where a quotation becomes a commitment, and it is usually conducted by feel. That is a problem, because a sample carries six things that can be measured with equipment every buyer already owns.
One: GSM, by weight per unit area
Cut a known area — 10 × 10 cm is convenient — and weigh it on a scale that resolves tenths of a gram. A 100 cm² piece at 80 GSM should weigh 0.8 g, because 0.01 m² × 80 g/m² is 0.8 g. Do it three times from three different positions in the sample and compare. This is the only field where a disagreement between quotation and sample is arithmetic rather than opinion.
Two: dimensions, both of them
Measure length and width separately and to the millimetre. A formatted towel is not square, and a 2 cm shortfall in length is invisible on a photo and obvious in use. Recorded dimensions on our range are exact option sets — for example 25 × 30 cm, 30 × 40 cm, 40 × 80 cm — so a sample that measures outside its stated option is a different product, not a tolerance issue.
Three: surface, against a named pattern
Plain, pearl and F are distinct surfaces. Put the sample next to the approved pattern under the same light and confirm which one it is. Where the product record states no pattern at all — as with our black salon towel — the sample is the only place the pattern gets fixed, so photograph it and attach the photo to the approval.
Four: unit count and fold
Count the pieces in the unit pack and confirm the fold. The box height follows from both, and the box height is what sets cartons per container. A sample supplied at 50 pieces when 60 were quoted changes the freight calculation without changing the towel.
Five: the wrapper, if there is one
On individually packed towels the wrapper is a separate specification decision: structure, print, artwork, label, barcode and inner pack. Approve the wrapper as its own item. A towel approval that does not cover the wrapper leaves the largest variable in the order unapproved.
Six: the carton
Measure the master carton and compare it against the quoted figure. This is the last chance to catch a carton that has grown because the fold changed upstream, before it becomes a loading shortfall at the port.
What the sample cannot settle
Loading quantity, which is confirmed after the box, the carton, the packing tolerance and the order specification are approved. And any performance claim — absorbency, heat, chemical resistance — that is not recorded in the product data. Those need a test, not a look.
The recorded fields this protocol refers to are published per category on disposable face towels and disposable towels, and the inspection sequence is described under quality control.