Guide · For the trade
What is a strike-off? The woven sample that approves a custom rug or carpet
A strike-off is a sample of a custom design made on the actual loom, in the actual yarns and colors, before production starts: for a rug or carpet, usually an 18 by 18 inch square or a corner with the border, woven in 4 to 6 weeks after the rendering is approved. It is the only proof that the colors, scale and texture on the rendering survive the trip to real fiber, and it is what the client signs before 18 to 20 weeks of production begin. Fabric and wallpaper houses use the same word for a printed sample; in British company law it means something else entirely.
This guide is for the designer or junior who has approved a rendering and received a quote with a line that says "strike-off," and wants to know what arrives, what to check and when to send it back. The rendering stage is in the rug renderings guide and the whole program in the custom rugs guide; this page is about the one step in between.
Strike-off explained: rendering, strike-off, production
A rendering is a drawing: the design in the client's colors, usually within two weeks and revised freely. It proves the idea. A strike-off is a piece of the rug: the mill dyes the yarn to the poms, sets up the loom or the tufting frame, and makes enough to show the pattern, the pile and the edge. It proves the execution. Production is the rug itself, made to the approved strike-off, and the mill holds itself to that sample, not to the rendering, which is why the step cannot be skipped on a hand-made piece. A mill's custom color program on an existing design works the same way with a smaller sample, and a custom color on broadloom often comes as a 12 by 12 inch tuft sample in 2 to 3 weeks.
What a rug sample strike-off looks like by construction
| Construction | Typical strike-off | Time | What it proves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand-knotted wool, wool and silk | 18 x 18 in to 24 x 24 in, or a corner with the border | 4 to 6 weeks | Knot count, pile height, color, silk sheen, how a curve draws at that knot density |
| Hand-tufted | 18 x 18 in, carved detail included if specified | 4 to 6 weeks | Carving depth, loop and cut mix, color, backing cloth |
| Hand-loomed, flatweave | 18 x 18 in or a strip across the full repeat | 4 to 6 weeks | Weave texture, stripe or motif scale, selvedge, hand |
| Axminster or Wilton broadloom, custom design | 18 x 18 in or one full repeat, sometimes a 3 ft strip | 4 to 6 weeks | Pitch and rows, color placement, repeat size, pile weight |
| Mill custom color on an existing design | 12 x 12 in tuft or pom | 2 to 3 weeks | Color only; the design is already proven |
The size is chosen to show the detail that carries the design: for a large-scale medallion, a corner that catches the border and a piece of the field; for a logo, the logo at full scale; for an allover texture, a square big enough to read the repeat. When the standard size will not show the thing the client is worried about, ask for a different cut before the strike-off is made.
How to review a strike-off
- Light. Look at it in the client's room, or under the same light temperature, at the time of day the room is used. Wool reads warmer under incandescent and cooler under daylight; silk reads lighter.
- Color. Lay the poms, the fabric and the paint chip on the sample. Dye lot tolerance is normal; a wrong hue is not. Mark each color approved or changed.
- Scale. Measure the motif against the rendering at the finished size. A 24 inch medallion on an 18 inch sample is a guess; ask for the corner.
- Pile and hand. Check pile height against the spec, the carving if any, and how the sample feels underfoot on the floor, not in the hand.
- Edge and back. The finished edge, the fringe or its absence, the backing cloth and the stitch of a hand-tufted back are all on the sample and all hard to change later.
- Sign it. Approval is written, with the date and the sample number. The mill produces to the approved sample.
What happens when the strike-off is wrong
A color off by a shade, a motif too small, a pile too high: the mill re-dyes or resets and weaves again, another 4 to 6 weeks. One revision is common and planned for; two usually mean the rendering was approved too fast. A strike-off fee is normal for full custom work and is credited against the production order; a second strike-off may carry a second fee if the change is the designer's rather than the mill's. A single color swap on a design that is otherwise right can sometimes be approved on a yarn pom without a re-weave. Nothing goes to production until a sample is approved as made.
Where the strike-off sits in the schedule
Count backward from the install date. Production is 18 to 20 weeks for hand-made work and 10 to 16 weeks for custom broadloom. Add 4 to 6 weeks for the strike-off, two weeks to review it, and two weeks for the rendering: about seven months from brief to install for a hand-knotted rug if everything is approved the first time, and the strike-off is the step that moves. A designer who needs the rug in five months chooses a mill custom program or a cut-and-bound rug, which approves on a sample card and ships in 3 to 5 weeks; the custom size rugs guide covers that route.
Strike-offs for carpet, logos and hospitality
Custom Axminster and Wilton broadloom for a hotel corridor or a club is approved on a strike-off the same way, and brand standards usually require the sample on file before the order releases; the Axminster for hospitality guide covers the loom side. A logo rug's strike-off is the logo at full size, because lettering and tight curves are where a construction either draws cleanly or does not; the logo rugs guide shows which do. Repeat size and seams are settled first; see the pattern repeat guide.
Questions designers ask
What is a strike-off in fabric or fashion, and is it the same thing?
Same idea, different material: a printed or woven sample of a textile design run on the production equipment before the full yardage, used to approve color and registration. The rug trade borrowed the word. The British company-law meaning, a company struck off the register, has nothing to do with textiles.
How long does a strike-off take?
4 to 6 weeks from an approved rendering for hand-made rugs and custom woven broadloom, because yarn is dyed to order and a loom is set up. A custom color on an existing mill design is faster, usually 2 to 3 weeks.
Can a strike-off be skipped to save time?
On full custom hand-made work, no; a mill will not produce without one. On a mill's custom color program the sample is a small pom and the time is short. Cut-and-bound rugs have no strike-off; the broadloom sample and the binding sample are the approval.
Will the finished rug match the strike-off exactly?
Within a dye lot, yes, and the mill is bound to it. Hand-made rugs vary slightly in size, by about 2 to 3 percent; the color and the drawing are what the strike-off fixes.
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