Greige (pronounced "gray") is raw, unfinished fabric that has not been bleached, dyed, printed, or treated in any way. It comes straight off the loom or knitting machine. Every finished garment you own started as greige fabric at some point in the supply chain.
The word comes from the French "grege," meaning raw or unprocessed. In the textile industry, you will also hear it called grey goods, gray goods, or loom-state fabric.
What greige fabric actually looks like
Greige fabric has a natural off-white or yellowish tint. It feels stiffer and rougher than finished fabric because it still contains natural impurities like wax, pectin, and sizing agents that the mill applied during weaving to prevent yarn breakage.
It is not ready to wear. Before it reaches your garment, a converter or dye house will process it through several finishing stages.
From greige to finished fabric
The journey from raw loom output to the fabric in your tech pack:
- Desizing removes the starch or sizing agents the mill applied to keep the warp yarns strong during weaving.
- Scouring washes out natural oils, wax, and dirt from the cotton or fibre.
- Bleaching strips the natural colour to create a uniform white base.
- Dyeing or printing adds the colour or pattern you specified.
- Finishing applies treatments like softening, anti-shrink, or wrinkle resistance depending on the end use.
Each of these steps adds cost. A fabric mill quotes greige at one price. A dye house or converter quotes the finished fabric at a higher price that includes the processing. When your factory quotes you Full Package, the finished fabric cost is already baked into the unit price.
Why greige matters if you are sourcing garments
If you are working with a factory on a Full Package basis, you will never touch greige fabric directly. The factory handles everything. But understanding greige helps you in three ways:
Cost visibility. Greige fabric is the baseline. When a factory quotes you $3.80/meter for finished cotton poplin, part of that is the greige cost (maybe $1.50 to $2.00) and the rest is processing. If you know the greige price, you can spot when a factory is padding the fabric cost.
Lead time. If your factory needs to source greige and then send it for dyeing, that adds 2 to 4 weeks to your timeline compared to buying pre-dyed fabric from stock. This is why factories sometimes push brands toward their existing fabric library. The greige is already processed and sitting in the warehouse.
Quality. The quality of the greige determines the quality of the finished fabric. High twist count yarns, tight weave construction, and consistent fibre quality at the greige stage mean fewer defects after finishing. A factory that sources cheap greige and processes it will not match a factory that starts with premium greige from a reputable mill.
Greige pricing in India (2026)
For reference, these are approximate greige prices from Indian mills. Final pricing depends on fibre quality, yarn count, weave construction, and order volume.
| Fabric type | Greige price (USD/meter) | Finished price after processing |
|---|---|---|
| Cotton poplin (40s count) | $1.20 to $1.80 | $3.00 to $4.50 |
| Cotton twill (2/1, 20s count) | $1.50 to $2.20 | $3.50 to $5.00 |
| Viscose crepe | $1.00 to $1.60 | $2.80 to $4.00 |
| Linen (pure, 40 lea) | $3.50 to $5.00 | $7.00 to $10.00 |
| Poly-cotton blend (65/35) | $0.80 to $1.20 | $2.00 to $3.00 |
The difference between greige and finished price reflects the processing cost. For cotton, that processing roughly doubles the price.
Common questions
Is greige fabric the same as muslin? No. Muslin is a specific type of lightweight cotton fabric. Greige describes any fabric in its raw state, regardless of fibre or weave. A muslin can be greige (unfinished) or finished.
Can I buy greige fabric and have it processed myself? Yes. Some brands buy greige directly from mills and then send it to a separate dye house for finishing. This gives you more control over the process and sometimes a lower total cost, but it adds complexity and requires you to manage two separate suppliers.
Why do some factories only work with greige they source themselves? Because they know the quality. A factory that uses the same mill and the same dye house consistently can guarantee the finished result. When a brand ships in unknown greige, the factory cannot guarantee how it will behave during cutting and sewing. Shrinkage, colour bleed, and fabric skew become unpredictable.
The connection to your landed cost
Here is where greige fits into a real cost breakdown for a woven shirt at 300 units:
Greige fabric (cotton poplin) $1.50/m
Dyeing and finishing $1.80/m
Fabric usage per unit 1.6 meters
= Finished fabric cost $5.28/unit
CMT (cut, make, trim) $2.20/unit
Trims (buttons, labels, thread) $0.65/unit
QC inspection $0.15/unit
Freight (sea, per unit) $0.55/unit
Duties $0.59/unit
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Landed cost $9.42/unit
The greige fabric represents about 25% of your total landed cost. Processing (dyeing and finishing) adds another 30%. Together, the fabric supply chain accounts for more than half of what you pay per unit.
What this means for your brand
You do not need to become a textile engineer. But knowing what greige is and where it sits in the cost chain makes you a better buyer. When a factory tells you lead time is 8 weeks, you can ask whether that includes fabric processing time. When a quote seems high on fabric cost, you can ask what the greige base price is.
At Greige, we named the company after this raw material for a reason. Every garment starts with greige fabric, and every brand's production journey starts with us. We handle the full supply chain from raw material to your door, with every cost visible.
If you are sourcing womenswear and want to see how this works in practice, book a free production call.