Glossary
The terms, from the factory floor rather than the dictionary
Each term with a definition that stands on its own, then how we do it at Tamm, or that we do not. If you read a word in the guide and did not know it, it is here.
36 terms
- Print on demandA selling model where an item carrying a design is listed in a store and is not printed or shipped until a customer orders and pays.
- Direct-to-garment printingPrinting that drives water-based ink into the fibres of a finished garment, so one piece prints with its own design, no setup, no minimum.
- Direct-to-film printingPrinting the design onto a film and heat-pressing it onto the fabric with an adhesive layer, so polyester, blends and dark garments take it.
- SublimationTransferring dye by heat into a white polyester-coated surface until it becomes part of it; the method for mugs, mouse pads and metal prints.
- Screen printingPrinting that pushes ink through a separate screen per colour, so it costs a lot to set up and little per piece once the run is in the hundreds.
- EmbroideryDecorating a piece by stitching the design in thread from a digitised file; the stitch count sets the cost and gives a logo a raised finish.
- BlankThe product before printing: a plain tee, a white mug or poster stock, whose material, weight, cut and sizes decide what can be printed on it.
- Print placementWhere the design sits on the piece, with its bounds in centimetres: full front, back or chest pocket, and one print file per placement.
- MockupAn image of the product with the design on it before printing, used in the store and for approval; it proves nothing about the real print.
- SampleOne piece made or printed before the run, to be handled, washed and measured; the one test no image can replace.
- Fabric weightThe fabric's weight in grams per square metre, the number closest to how a piece feels: about 150 is light and summery, 280 heavy and structured.
- Tech packThe file a factory reads before it quotes: the drawing, measurements per size, fabric, thread, labels and packaging, with no question left.
- Size chartA table tying each size to real measurements in centimetres, chest, length and shoulder, because a size letter differs between brands.
- GradingDeriving the other sizes from one base size with fixed increments per measurement, so the piece keeps its cut from S to XXL.
- Woven labelA woven cloth strip carrying the brand name, sewn into the neck or the side, and what tells a branded piece from a printed blank.
- Cut and sewMaking the piece from raw fabric: cutting it to the pattern and sewing it, so the cut and the fabric are yours rather than a blank supplier's.
- Minimum order quantityThe smallest quantity a factory will run a line for, because the setup cost is paid in full before the first piece and spread across the run.
- White labelA ready-made product one factory makes and several brands sell under their own names; the piece is shared and only the name is yours.
- Private labelA product made to one brand's specification and sold to no one else; the cut, fabric and label are its own, for a minimum, a sample and time.
- FulfilmentEverything that happens to an order after payment: picking, checking, packing, handing it to the carrier, and taking it back if it returns.
- Third-party logisticsA company that stores, packs and ships on a seller's behalf, so the selling stays with the seller and the parcel leaves the company's warehouse.
- Stock keeping unitA unique code for each variant of a product, colour and size together, used to count stock and pick an order without confusing two similar pieces.
- ReturnA delivered order the buyer sends back, unlike a parcel refused at the door and returned unopened.
- Cash on deliveryThe buyer pays the courier at the door rather than in the store, so the delivery becomes what decides whether the money is collected at all.
- National AddressSaudi Arabia's official address format (building number, postal code, additional number); since January 2026 carriers must reject parcels without it.
- Return policyWhat a store states before payment about what can be returned, when and at whose cost; required by the E-Commerce Law, and no bar to a defect claim.
- Commercial registrationA business's entry with the Ministry of Commerce, one for the Kingdom since April 2025, with no expiry and a paid annual confirmation.
- Freelance documentProof that an individual works freelance in their own name, accepted in place of a commercial registration to document an online store.
- Store documentationA free certificate from the Saudi Center for Competitiveness and Business establishing a store owner's identity, issued within days.
- Value added taxA 15% consumption tax the seller collects and remits to the authority; registration is mandatory once taxable supplies pass SAR 375,000 in a year.
- E-invoicingThe obligation on VAT registrants to issue invoices electronically since December 2021 and connect to the Fatoora platform by an announced date.
- SABERThe standards authority's platform issuing conformity certificates before customs clearance; imported goods it covers do not enter without one.
- DropshippingSelling a product you do not own: the customer orders from your store, the supplier ships it under your name, and you pay only after it sells.
- Conversion rateOrders divided by visitors over the same period, times a hundred; thirty orders from 1,500 visitors is 2%.
- Tracking pixelCode in a store's pages that reports what a visitor did to an advertising platform, so it knows which advert sold; its data falls under the PDPL.
- Abandoned cartA cart a visitor added a product to and then left before paying; its commonest cause is friction at the last step rather than a change of mind.
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