How long does sampling take?

Approximately 15 days from an approved CAD to a physical strike-off in your hands. Lab dips (colour matching) run in parallel at around 10 days each. The pacing is set by the dye house and the loom — not by the courier.

Can I change the design after strike-off?

Yes — changes at strike-off are exactly what strike-offs are for. Whether the change resets sampling depends on scope: colour or scale tweaks often ride the same production; a fundamental design change means a new knot map and usually a fresh lab dip. We tell you which one you're facing before you commit.

What documents come with an export shipment?

Packing list per rug and per pallet, commercial invoice, certificate of origin, and any programme-specific transaction certificates (RWS, GRS, Oeko-Tex). Where the destination or Incoterm requires it, we handle bill of lading and freight forwarding coordination. If your customs broker or retailer needs a specific document format, tell us at the quotation stage.

From Enquiry Slip to Shipment

Every rug we ship carries a slip number that started as an enquiry — a name, a design brief, sometimes just a photograph. Here is what happens between that first slip and the day the container leaves Nhava Sheva. If you are weighing whether to work with a factory, this is the shape of the relationship you are taking on.

Day 1 · Quotation
~10 days · Lab dip
~15 days · Strike-off
Per quote · Production
Per piece · QC

Day 1 — enquiry slip and same-working-day quotation

An enquiry lands through our slip on pihuerugs.com, or by WhatsApp, or by email — we do not care which. We assign a slip number, capture the design intent, sizes, quantities, and any material or certification preferences. A same-working-day quotation follows, usually within a few hours: line-item pricing by construction, with alternatives where a different material or GSM makes better sense for the intended use.

Days 2–5 — CAD and knot map

If you sent a CAD, our studio adapts it to a knot map — graph paper where every square is one knot and every colour is a numbered yarn. If you sent a sketch or a reference photo, we develop the CAD first, then the knot map, and return both for your sign-off. Nothing is dyed or woven from a design that has not been approved on paper. This is where design fidelity — the fidelity of the finished rug to your intended pattern — gets locked in.

Days 5–15 — lab dips

Colours are matched against your Pantone TPX/TCX reference, or an ARS 1400 shade card, or a physical swatch you post to us. Our dye master weighs a recipe and dyes a small hank in the dye house. The lab dip is couriered to you for approval, then held under standard light in our light box against the approved reference before any bulk yarn is committed. Every colour in the design gets its own approved lab dip. This is the least glamorous ten days in the process, and the ten days that decide whether the colour on the label matches the colour in the room. You can see the fuller detail on how we dye.

Days 15–30 — strike-off in your hands

The approved knot map and approved lab dips come together into a physical strike-off — a small woven or knotted sample of the actual design in the actual colours in the actual construction. We produce a single piece and ship it to you. You handle it, walk on it, put it in daylight. Only when you approve the strike-off does the loom get told to build the full run. A full breakdown of this stage sits on custom rug development.

Production — the lead time you were quoted

Production lead time is confirmed with your quotation because it depends on construction, artwork and volume — hand-knotted at 200 KPSI runs at a different pace than a flatweave dhurrie. On the loom, our supervisor checks the piece against the knot map at agreed intervals. On the finishing floor, washing opens the pile, shearing levels it, stretching trues the shape, binding seals the edges.

Quality control — measured, weighed, compared

Every rug is measured and weighed on the receiving floor. Size against ±3% tolerance. GSM against specification. Finish against your approved strike-off. Rugs that miss a gate go back — to finishing for rectification, or to the loom if the problem is structural. A piece we cannot rectify is remade. We wrote about the GSM check specifically in the scale never flatters; the same discipline runs across every quality dimension.

Packing — barcodes, LDPE, palletised where needed

Rugs are rolled individually, wrapped in moisture-resistant LDPE, and labelled with your barcodes and specifications. Where the routing calls for it, we palletise. Each shipment carries a packing list per rug and per pallet — a spec-tracked audit trail from strike-off to container.

Shipment — air or sea, worldwide

Air out of IGI Delhi, sea out of Nhava Sheva (Mumbai). All Incoterms accepted — EXW, FOB, CIF, DAP, DDP — and we advise on the right term for your route and volume. Export paperwork, certificate of origin, transaction certificates for RWS/GRS/Oeko-Tex programmes: all included with the shipment. More detail on the commercial mechanics sits on MOQ, lead times and shipping.

Who this arc is built for

Designers. Specifying for a project? We work from your palette and pile spec.
Personal. Furnishing your own home? Custom starts at one sample.
Brands. Building a range? MOQ is 10 sqm per design per colour.

From enquiry slip to shipment: how an order moves through our factory