Most problems with a first roll order come from a specification that left something out, not from the factory. This checklist is what we ask every new customer, in the order that avoids back-and-forth.
1. Say what the material has to do
Before any numbers, one sentence on the job: reflect light in a grow room, hold heat in an enclosure, line a cooler bag, wrap a duct. That sentence decides the family of construction faster than a page of parameters.
2. Name the construction
Reflective face (metallised film or foil), its finish or emboss, the carrier (scrim, foam, bubble, kraft, PE), and the second face. If you have a competitor’s material, send a swatch; matching a sample is faster and safer than describing it.
3. Give the dimensions
Roll width in millimetres, roll length in metres, core inner diameter, and the maximum roll diameter or weight your line can handle. Say whether you need the material slit to several widths.
4. State the performance you will hold us to
Only what matters for the job: gsm, film thickness, tear strength, reflectivity or emissivity, temperature range, fire class. For each, name the test standard. A figure without a standard cannot be checked.
5. Tell us the destination market
Certification needs differ: REACH and RoHS screening for Europe, CPAI-84 for tent fabrics in North America, EN 13501-1 for building products in the EU. Knowing the market lets us quote the right grade and the right paperwork the first time.
6. Packaging and marking
How rolls should be wrapped, whether you need pallets or loose rolls in a container, and what the roll label must show: your part number, batch, width, length, production date.
7. Ask for these back
A written quotation naming the construction, a technical data sheet for that construction, the test reports behind any claimed figure, and a swatch or a short roll before the full order. Approve the swatch in writing and refer to it on the purchase order.
Do this once and repeat orders become a one-line email. Start with your first spec and we will fill in anything missing.