Most shipment problems are not weaving problems.
Handling a textile shipment from the weaving village to your door abroad: grading, protective packing, commercial documentation and freight booking. The failures we see are packing failures, paperwork mismatches and unrealistic schedules — so this page sets out how each is prevented.
- Documents in the set
- 5
- Freight routes
- 4
- Steps we are responsible for
- 5
What does our export handling actually cover?
Our responsibility begins when a piece is graded for your order and ends when the shipment is handed to the carrier under the agreed terms, with documentation prepared to match exactly what is inside the carton. Anyone who has had a shipment held at customs knows the mismatch between packing list and physical goods is what causes most delays.
- Grading and final inspection of every piece against the agreed standard.
- Measurement and piece-by-piece listing, so the packing list matches reality.
- Protective packing designed for humidity and long transit.
- Preparation of commercial documents for the shipment.
- Freight booking and handover, with tracking details sent to you.
Which documents travel with the shipment?
Five documents
Standard international trade paperwork. The exact combination depends on your country’s import rules rather than ours, so confirm requirements with your customs broker before we ship.
Commercial invoice
Declares value and terms of sale
Us, from the agreed quotation
Packing list
Itemises pieces, cartons, weights, dimensions
Us, matched to physical packing
Transport document
Bill of lading or air waybill for the consignment
Carrier or freight forwarder
Certificate of origin
Evidences country of manufacture where required
Arranged on buyer request
Import declaration
Clears goods in the destination country
Your broker or importer of record
Tariff classification, import duties and local textile labelling rules are determined by the destination country, and they change. Treat this as general orientation and verify current requirements with your broker or the official customs authority before committing to a delivery date.
How Sumba textiles are packed for international transit
Handwoven cotton has two enemies in transit: trapped moisture and hard folding. Cloth folded under compression for weeks develops permanent creases along the fold lines, and cloth sealed in plastic in a tropical climate can arrive with mould marks no cleaning removes.
-
01
Rolled, not folded
Panels and yardage go around a core, so no crease line is ever pressed in.
-
02
Breathable wrap
Not sealed plastic, which traps the humidity that causes mould marks.
-
03
Rigid outer
A carton or tube, so nothing is crushed in stacking.
-
04
Moisture absorbent
Inside the carton on larger consignments, with an outer barrier against rain handling.
-
05
Numbered cartons
Cross-referenced to the packing list, so a partial delivery can still be reconciled.
Shipping, buying and paying
Export handling is one part of getting a piece from Sumba to you. These three cover the rest.
Air freight, sea freight, or courier?
Textiles are light for their volume, so freight cost is usually driven by the space a consignment occupies rather than its weight. That single fact should shape your choice of route more than any other. Courier suits samples and single pieces where speed matters more than unit cost; air freight suits mid-size orders and firm launch dates; consolidated sea freight is economical for larger wholesale orders where the timeline allows; a full container is relevant only for very large project volumes.
We recommend a route based on your volume and deadline rather than defaulting to the cheapest, because a late delivery into a retail season costs more than the freight saving.
Frequently asked questions
Four questions
Next step
Send the order size, the destination and the date it has to arrive.
We propose a packing and freight plan with a written quotation. Responsibility transfers at the point defined by the agreed shipping terms, and we confirm that point in writing with every quotation so there is no ambiguity later.