Greige goods (Gray goods, Grey goods, Corah or ) are loom state woven fabrics, or unprocessed knitted fabrics. Greige goods undergo many subsequent processes, for instance,

dyeing Dyeing is the application of dyes or pigments on textile materials such as fibers, yarns, and fabrics with the goal of achieving color with desired color fastness. Dyeing is normally done in a special solution containing dyes and particular ...

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

bleaching Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color from (i.e. to whiten) fabric or fiber (in a process called bleaching) or to disinfect after cleaning. It often refers specifically t ...

, and finishing, prior to further converting to finished goods such as clothing, or other textile products. "Grey fabrics" is another term to refer to unfinished woven or knitted fabrics. "Corah silk" was a type of light silk from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in the 19th century. It was a pale straw-colored material made from unbleached (raw) silk.

Characteristics

Greige goods do not mean their color but their unprocessed form; they are sometimes called grey. Greige goods are unfinished fabrics that come out directly from a

loom A loom is a device used to weaving, weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the Warp (weaving), warp threads under tension (mechanics), tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of ...

or a

knitting machine A knitting machine is a device used to create knitting, knitted fabrics in a semi or fully automated fashion. There are numerous types of knitting machines, ranging from simple spool or board templates with no moving parts to highly complex mec ...

. Woven materials are also called ''loom state fabrics''. Greige materials are scoured (to clean) and sometimes

bleached Bleached is an American pop band consisting of sisters Jennifer and Jessica Clavin, formerly of Mika Miko. The band plays a style of rock, pop, rock and roll, and indie rock. Bleached was established in Los Angeles in 2011. The group has relea ...

(to remove natural color) before dyeing and printing. Greige goods contain many types of impurities.

Impurities

Foreign matter in addition to the actual

fiber Fiber (spelled fibre in British English; from ) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often inco ...

is known as impurities. Textile fibers contain the following types of impurities. * Natural impurities: Impurities gathered from the natural environment by the fibres. Natural impurities also include non-fibrous parts that are incorporated into the fiber during its growth. Notably, these are not present in synthetic fibres, which are manufactured artificially. * Added: Oils and waxes during spinning or knitting or weaving. * Accidental: dirt or mishandling, foreign contaminants. Other impurities in cotton may include proteins, mineral compounds and ash, amongst others.

Impurities in silk

Silk is an

animal fiber Animal fibers or animal fibres (see spelling differences) are natural fibers that consist largely of certain proteins. Examples include silk, hair/ fur (including wool) and feathers. The animal fibers used most commonly both in the manufacturin ...

. It consists of 70–80%

fibroin Fibroin is an insoluble protein present in silk produced by numerous insects, such as the larvae of ''Bombyx mori'', and other moth genera such as ''Antheraea'', ''Cricula trifenestrata, Cricula'', ''Samia (moth), Samia'' and ''Gonometa''. Sil ...

and 20–30%

sericin Sericin is a protein created by ''Bombyx mori'' (silkworms) in the production of silk. Silk is a fibre produced by the silkworm in production of its cocoon. It consists mainly of two proteins, fibroin and sericin. Silk consists of 70–80% fi ...

(the gum coating the fibres). It carries impurities like dirt, oils, fats and

Natural color

Most natural fibers have natural color, the natural color of the cotton cloth is off-white or

beige Beige ( ) is variously described as a pale sandy fawn color, a grayish tan, a light-grayish yellowish brown, or a pale to grayish yellow. It takes its name from French, where the word originally meant natural wool that has been neither ble ...

when it is undyed or not processed. Because of the presence of natural pigment, wool has a slight yellow tint, though the color is undesirable and is removed during the pre-treatment processes of scouring and bleaching.

Fugitive tint

The tint is an application of very light dyes, or colorants, the fugitive (temporary) tint is used to identify and distinguish different batches. The fugitive tint is readily removable during subsequent wet processing treatments. The practice is common with synthetic textile materials.

Parameters

Textile manufacturing is a complicated and lengthy procedure. The material passes through various stages. It is necessary to decide the yarn count, stitch length, thread count, and g.s.m. at the beginning, i.e., the greige stage, to achieve a desired finished product. Since the

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. Industry process Cotton manufacturing Cotton is the world's most important natural fibre. In the year 2007, th ...

still works in a fragmented way, the greige goods are also sold for further processing at different units. They are then stitched together for subsequent operations.

RFD fabrics

The semifinished state of fabrics that have been scoured or bleached in preparation for subsequent processes such as dyeing and printing is referred to as RFD (ready for dyeing). PFD stands for "prepared for dyeing," while PFP stands for "prepared for printing.". RFD multifiber that is composed of various fibers is used in testing of washing fastness for cross staining. It's known as "adjacent fabric."

References

{{Wiktionary, greige goods, greige Knitted fabrics Quality control Textile industry Textiles Woven fabrics