Comparison · 4 min · Updated September 2026
Greige, RFD, Dyed or Printed: Which Fabric State Should You Buy?
The short answer
Greige (grey) fabric is loom-state and unprocessed, the cheapest state, bought by processors and printers. RFD (ready for dyeing) has been scoured and bleached. Dyed fabric has been coloured to a shade and is ready to cut. Printed fabric carries a design. Buy greige if you process in-house or need many shades later; buy dyed or printed if you cut and stitch. Always confirm whether width and weight are quoted greige or finished, because processing changes both.
The four states
| State | What has been done | Who buys it |
|---|---|---|
| Greige (grey) | Nothing. Straight off the loom or knitting machine | Processors, printers, rexine coaters |
| RFD | Scoured and bleached, ready for dyeing or printing | Dyers, printers, makers of white goods |
| Dyed | Coloured to a shade and finished | Garment and uniform makers |
| Printed | Design printed and finished | Garment and home textile makers |
Processing changes width and weight
Wet processing shrinks fabric. A greige cloth can lose several inches of width on its way to finished, and its weight per square metre changes too. If you plan a marker or a coating line on the greige width and receive finished cloth, or the reverse, the numbers will not work. State which one your figures refer to.
When greige makes sense
- You dye or print in-house, or through a processor you already use
- You want to hold one base fabric and colour it to many shades later
- The fabric is a rexine base and the coating carries the colour
When to buy dyed
- You cut and stitch, and do not want to manage processing
- Shade must match an approved standard, such as a uniform
- You need consistent shade across repeat orders
Put this into practice
Every fabric in our garment fabrics range is supplied to your GSM, width, thickness and shade, dyed or greige.
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