Fabrics and wallcovering
Poly9 for textile houses: COM, grades, repeat, NFPA and price on request.
OpenPoly9 AI · Guide · Textile quoting
Swatch before price
The textile quoting rule that builds trust. Show the fabric. Name the grade. Quote from your matrix, or say price on request when the rule does not exist yet.
Published 18 September 2026 · Product facts from the fabrics industry page
Poly9 AI for textile houses, fabric mills and wallcovering showrooms answers buyer questions in plain language ("do you have this in a linen blend?"), shows the swatch, identifies the COM category and grade, and prices from your approved matrix. When a grade or repeat calculation is not loaded yet, it returns price on request. Never a guess. This guide walks mills, houses and multi-brand showrooms through the discipline: swatch visibility before any number, COM and grade transparency, and price on request as the professional answer when the rules are not ready. For buyers who need yardage, repeat, NFPA ratings and landed cost in one conversation.
Why swatch before price is the trust wedge
Fabric buyers do not start with the price per yard. They start with the hand, the colorway, the pattern scale. A quote that leads with a number, before the buyer has seen the textile, reads as a commodity pitch. The houses and mills that convert do this: show the swatch image, call out the fiber content and finish, confirm the grade, then price from the matrix.
The corollary: if your grade matrix does not have that fabric's category yet, the professional answer is price on request. The number follows once you confirm the supplier grade book. Buyers trust that far more than a guessed number that turns out wrong when the PO arrives.
The three layers: swatch, COM and grade, price
1. Swatch visibility
Every fabric or wallcovering in the conversation needs a visual: an image inline, not a PDF page reference. The buyer confirms the colorway, or says they meant the stripe, before anyone types a number. For custom or private-label lines, upload product shots. For supplier fabrics, pull from the supplier catalog or reference public swatch libraries.
2. COM category and grade identification
COM (customer's own material) categories are the furniture industry's common language. Grade matrices map those categories to upcharges. A fabric house quoting into the furniture trade must name the COM category and grade out loud: this linen is COM category 3, grade B in most frames. If your matrix uses a different taxonomy (performance tiers, vertical-market gradings), translate it. Or link the grade book, so the buyer knows what they are approving. See COM and grades in the fabrics industry page and the textiles industry page.
3. Price from your matrix, or POR
Once the fabric and grade are named, pricing comes from the pre-loaded matrix: base fabric cost per yard, grade upcharge if applicable, and any quantity breaks. Poly9 applies the matrix and shows the line items. If a grade is missing or a special finish is not in the rules yet, the answer is price on request, and the request goes to your ops queue to fill the gap within your own SLA.
Vertical repeat, NFPA and performance specs
For wallcovering and commercial textile, buyers need vertical repeat (for yardage calculation), NFPA fire ratings and cleanability specs before they commit. These belong in the swatch metadata, not in a PDF appendix. When the buyer asks what the repeat is on a grasscloth, the answer should appear at once alongside the swatch image.
If your catalog does not yet carry repeat or NFPA data for every SKU, load it in phases, best sellers first. Until then, flag those SKUs as specs on request so quotes stay honest. No invented test results, no assumed fire ratings.
How mills, houses and showrooms load this
Fabric mills and converters
Upload your line as a structured catalog: SKU, fiber content, width, weight, colorways and any available COM grades. Map your internal tier system to standard COM categories if you sell into furniture. Load your base price-per-yard matrix with quantity breaks. Poly9 handles swatch lookup and grade-based pricing from there.
Textile houses (multi-supplier)
You are selling fabrics you do not weave. Load supplier catalogs (with permission) or connect to supplier APIs where available. Your grade matrix references those supplier fabrics by their grade codes. The buyer sees the supplier swatch, your house's curated presentation and your price, all in one answer.
Wallcovering showrooms
Same structure as textile houses: a multi-brand catalog with each brand's repeat, width and performance specs loaded per collection. The swatch appears in the conversation; the specs and price follow at once if the matrix has them, or POR if not.
Questions textile sellers ask
What if we do not have COM grades for all our fabrics yet?
Load the fabrics you do have grades for first, usually the ones that move the most volume. For everything else, the answer is price on request until you map them into your matrix. Trade buyers understand that specialty or new fabrics may need a grade confirmation; that is far more professional than guessing a tier and correcting it when the PO arrives.
Can we show swatches from suppliers we represent but do not manufacture?
Yes, if you have a commercial relationship (dealer, rep, licensed distributor) that allows you to quote those goods. Upload supplier catalogs or connect through an API where available. The buyer sees the supplier swatch with your pricing matrix applied. Make sure your terms with the supplier permit digital catalog use; most do for authorized dealers.
How does Poly9 handle vertical repeat for wallcovering yardage?
When repeat data is loaded in the product metadata, Poly9 can calculate the yardage needed from room dimensions or panel counts. If the repeat is not loaded for a SKU yet, the platform flags it and returns yardage estimate on request rather than calculating from a guess. Load repeat progressively as you digitize collections.
Do we need NFPA ratings in the system before we quote hospitality projects?
You need them before the buyer commits, not before the first conversation. If a buyer asks about a fabric for a hotel lobby and you do not have NFPA Class A confirmation loaded yet, the answer is fire rating confirmation to follow; then you pull the test report and update the SKU metadata. Never claim a rating you have not verified.
What is the difference between showing a swatch and sending a PDF line sheet?
A PDF is a long attachment the buyer has to scroll, download and cross-reference against your verbal description. A swatch shown inline in the conversation is the fabric image at the moment the buyer asks whether you have it in navy: visual confirmation, no hunting. The discipline is to make the swatch the first thing shown, before any pricing discussion.
How do textile houses manage pricing when they do not control the mill's cost?
Your matrix maps your own sell price per grade tier. The mill's cost to you is your input, and your sell-price rules live in the platform's price logic. When a supplier raises costs, you update the base cost for that fabric or grade bucket once, and every quote using that tier reflects the change. Poly9 does not guess costs; it applies the matrix you loaded.
Can showrooms quote multiple fabric suppliers in one buyer conversation?
Yes, that is the multi-brand overlay. A buyer asks for performance velvet options under grade C, and Poly9 surfaces swatches from every supplier you represent whose fabrics meet that filter. Each swatch carries its supplier attribution, grade and your quoted price from your matrix. The buyer compares and selects within one session.
Start quoting with swatch-before-price discipline
Load your textile catalog and grade matrix. Price from your rules, or price on request when the rule does not exist yet. Buyers trust the honesty. 250 sales actions free for 30 days, no card, and the account stays yours.