Why Two Batches of the Same Towel Can Weigh Differently

A buyer who weighs ten pieces from a carton and finds a spread usually assumes the worst. In a spunlace operation there are two ordinary reasons for it, and both sit in the process rather than in the intent.

Web forming is not perfectly uniform in both directions

Fibre is laid into a web before it is bonded by water jets. The way the web is formed leaves a difference between the cross direction and the machine direction: weight can drift across the width of the line and along its length. That variation exists before anyone cuts anything.

Slitting and winding move the weight around

Once the roll is slit, the piece taken from the core of the roll and the piece taken from the outside are not identical in handling and can differ in measured weight. Where a carton is packed from different positions on the roll, the pieces inside it can differ slightly.

What this means for a specification

Two conclusions follow. First, a GSM figure is a target for the material, not a promise that every piece weighs the same. Second, the tolerance belongs in the specification: agree what spread is acceptable and how it is measured, rather than discovering it at the receiving dock.

How to check it without a lab

Weigh ten pieces from different positions in the carton and record them. A tight cluster and a wide spread are both information, and both are more useful than a single sample handed over by a supplier.

Recorded GSM ranges for each category are on the disposable towels and face towels pages.