In knitwear, yarn loses weight at every stage: knitting, dyeing or processing, compacting and finishing, cutting, and stitching. To find out where material is really going, record the input and output weight at each stage (in-house or job work), compare actual loss with the standard for that fabric and process, and reconcile the expected garment count against what was actually packed.
10,000 kilos in, how many T-shirts out?
This is a composite scenario drawn from situations we see often in Indian factories.
Senthil runs a knitwear export unit in Tirupur. Like most of his neighbours, he owns cutting and stitching but sends yarn out for knitting, and fabric out for dyeing and compacting, to job workers around Tirupur and Perundurai.
For one spring order, he issued 10,000 kg of combed cotton yarn. Based on the garment weight, his team expected roughly 38,500 T-shirts. They packed 36,900.
Where did the remaining 1,600-odd pieces go? The knitter said his loss was normal. The dyer said cotton always loses weight. The cutting master said wastage was within limits. Everyone was probably partly right. But nobody could show a number for their own stage, and Senthil had no way to check.
This is the most common profit leak in knitwear, and it hides in the gaps between job workers.
The knitwear process chain
- Yarn procurement (by count, lot and supplier)
- Knitting (single jersey, rib, interlock, fleece and so on), often at job work units
- Dyeing or processing (scouring, bleaching, dyeing, sometimes printing)
- Compacting, raising or finishing
- Fabric inspection
- Cutting
- Stitching
- Checking, ironing and packing
Each stage changes the weight, and often the width and GSM, of the material.
Where weight is lost, and why
| Stage | Main reasons for loss |
|---|---|
| Knitting | Yarn breakage, cone ends, fly, setting and trial pieces |
| Dyeing / processing | Removal of natural waxes and impurities in cotton, fibre loss, moisture difference, fabric cut for lab tests |
| Compacting / finishing | Edge trimming, minor fibre loss |
| Cutting | Marker waste, end loss, short end bits, defects cut out |
| Stitching and finishing | Rejections, damages, missing pieces |
Loss percentages vary with fibre, count, fabric structure, shade depth, process and machine condition. Use the following figures only as an illustration and build your own standards from your history.
A worked yarn-to-garment reconciliation
| Stage | Assumed loss | Output (kg) |
|---|---|---|
| Yarn issued | — | 10,000 |
| After knitting | 1.5% | 9,850 |
| After dyeing | 8.0% | 9,062 |
| After compacting | 1.0% | 8,971 |
| Cut panels (after cutting waste) | 14.0% | 7,715 |
If the average garment weighs 0.20 kg, 7,715 kg of cut panels should yield about 38,577 garments. Senthil packed 36,900, a gap of about 1,670 pieces (about 4%).
That gap isn’t automatically theft or negligence. It could be stitching rejections, panels lost in transit, a dyer who returned less fabric than recorded, or a standard that’s simply unrealistic. But until each stage reports its own input and output, the gap has no owner.
Five rules for stage-wise loss control
- Weigh in, weigh out, at every stage. Every delivery challan (DC) to a job worker and every return should carry weight, roll count and lot number. Record what comes back against what went out.
- Set standards by fabric and process, not one number for everything. Dark shades, mercerised fabrics, fleece and lycra blends all behave differently.
- Track moisture consistently. Weighing cotton fabric wet or right after processing gives misleading numbers. Agree on conditions with job workers.
- Reconcile per lot, not per month. Monthly totals hide which order or job worker is leaking.
- Close the loop with GST records. Goods sent to job workers are reported under GST (for example, through Form ITC-04), so your physical tracking and tax records should agree. Discrepancies are both a cost problem and a compliance problem.
Job work: where knitwear loses control
In Tirupur, much of the process chain sits outside the factory gate. Common problems:
- Fabric returned in a different roll count from what was sent
- No GSM or width check on returned fabric
- Lot mixing at the processing unit
- Delays with no visibility on where material sits
- Disputes over loss with no agreed standard
A simple shared rule helps: every job worker gets the loss standard in writing for each process, and every return is checked for weight, GSM, width and roll count before it’s accepted.
Where TPCS fits
TPCS was built for exactly this multi-stage, multi-vendor flow:
- Fabric planning and process estimation calculates yarn requirement backwards from garment quantity, using stage-wise loss standards.
- Production (own unit or job work) tracks issues and receipts to each job worker with lot, weight and roll details.
- Process tracking with QR or mobile updates status at each external stage.
- Roll-wise fabric QC checks GSM, width and defects on return.
- GST-ready documentation for job work movements.
- Order closing (P&L) shows planned vs actual loss for each stage and each job worker.
How Senthil’s story ended
Senthil started asking each job worker for stage-wise weights against every DC, and his team set separate loss standards for light and dark shades. Within one season, he found that one processing unit consistently returned 3–4% more loss than others for the same shade range. Moving that work to another unit recovered more than enough to pay for the extra effort.
Frequently asked questions
What is process loss in the garment industry?
Process loss is the reduction in material weight or quantity at each production stage, such as knitting, dyeing, compacting, cutting and stitching.
How is yarn requirement calculated for knit garments?
Start from garment weight × quantity, then work backwards through each stage, dividing by (1 − loss %) at cutting, compacting, dyeing and knitting to get the yarn needed.
Why does cotton lose weight during dyeing?
Scouring and bleaching remove natural waxes, pectins and impurities from cotton. Loss also depends on the process, shade depth and how moisture is accounted for when weighing.
How do I track material sent to job workers?
Use delivery challans with weight, roll count and lot number for every issue and receipt, check returned fabric for GSM and width, and reconcile per lot. ERP software with job work modules automates this.
Which ERP is good for knitwear manufacturers in Tirupur?
Look for an apparel ERP that handles yarn-to-garment planning, multi-stage job work, roll-wise QC and GST job work documentation. TPCS is built for these knitwear workflows.
Find out where your yarn really goes
Book a TPCS demo and we’ll walk you through stage-wise loss tracking and job work control using one of your recent orders.