How to Prep a Pattern for a Fabric Mill
A fabric mill is not a print-on-demand vendor — it's a production facility that costs thousands per setup and reorders take weeks. Submitting a half-prepared file forces the mill's pre-press team to make assumptions, and those assumptions cost you money in strike-off iterations. This 8-point checklist is the difference between a one-pass approval and a four-week color-matching nightmare.
Step-by-Step Guide
Verify seamlessness in a 3×3 grid
Tile the pattern in a 3×3 grid at 100% zoom. Check the edges where tiles meet — visible seams, color banding, or 'highway' artifacts mean the file isn't seamless. Use Texloom's Seamless Checker or Photoshop's Offset filter (set to half the tile dimensions). Fix any seams before proceeding; the mill cannot fix this for you.
- 3×3 grid is the standard preview
- Half-offset reveals horizontal/vertical seams
- Mirror or reflection is a visible-from-distance failure
Confirm DPI matches the print method
Digital roll printing wants 150-300 DPI. Rotary engraving wants 300-600 DPI. Screen printing wants 72-150 DPI (limited by mesh count). Check your file's actual pixel density — not just the metadata tag. A '300 DPI' file at 72-DPI native pixel density will print blurry at the requested size. Re-render at the correct native DPI before handoff.
- DPI must match native pixel density
- Tagging without resampling doesn't help
- Confirm with the mill which DPI they expect
Embed the source ICC color profile
Export with the source ICC profile embedded (sRGB, AdobeRGB, or ProPhotoRGB). The mill's RIP reads the profile and converts to the destination fabric profile. Files without embedded profiles get assumed-sRGB by default, which shifts AdobeRGB and ProPhotoRGB designs visibly. Embed always — it's a checkbox in every modern export dialog.
- sRGB is default; explicitly tag AdobeRGB
- ProPhotoRGB needs special handling at the mill
- ICC tagging is a checkbox, not optional
Specify every color in Pantone TCX
Every color in the design should map to a Pantone TCX code. Use a color-matching tool to identify each cluster centroid in CIE-LAB and find the nearest TCX entry with CIEDE2000. Document each match with its Delta-E. The mill needs TCX codes to mix dye recipes; RGB or hex values are not sufficient.
- TCX is the textile color standard
- Document Delta-E for every match
- ΔE under 2.0 = commercial tolerance
Confirm repeat math against fabric width
The rapport (tile size) must divide evenly into the fabric width minus selvage. A 30 cm rapport on 150 cm fabric width fits 5 times exactly — clean. A 28 cm rapport fits 5.36 times — leaves a 10 cm partial tile that the mill has to cut and discard. Pick rapport sizes that divide evenly into your target fabric width, or accept the cut-waste cost.
- Rapport × N = printable width is ideal
- Selvage allowance: 1-2 cm per side
- Discuss with mill before locking the rapport
Export in TIFF or PSD with full bit depth
Hand off in TIFF (or PSD for layered designs). Use 16-bit depth for high-quality designs with smooth gradients; 8-bit is acceptable for limited-palette work but blocks gradients visibly. Do not export to JPEG — lossy compression introduces artifacts that survive into the printed yard. PNG is acceptable for simple designs but TIFF is universally preferred.
- TIFF or PSD for production
- 16-bit for gradient-heavy designs
- Never JPEG for handoff
Separate channels if going to screen print
If the mill is screen-printing, the file must be pre-separated into spot-color channels — one channel per ink. Each channel is a grayscale mask defining where that ink goes. Export as multi-page TIFF (one page per channel) or layered PSD. Specify halftone screen parameters (LPI, angle, dot shape) per channel in the handoff documentation.
- Multi-page TIFF for separations
- One channel per spot-color ink
- Specify halftone parameters per channel
Bundle the handoff documentation
Send a single ZIP containing: the production-ready file, a Pantone TCX spec sheet (color codes + Delta-E), a rapport spec (size in cm, repeat type), an ICC profile reference (source + recommended destination), and a halftone spec (if screen-printing). Mills appreciate a clean handoff; messy handoffs introduce errors.
- One ZIP, all the references
- Pantone + rapport + ICC + halftone in one doc
- Naming convention: project_color_method.tiff
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Verify seamlessness in a 3×3 grid preview before sending to the mill.
Open Seamless Checker and skip the manual workflow.
Open Seamless Checker