Sourcing & import glossary

Plain-English definitions of the trade, shipping, customs, and sourcing terms every handicraft importer runs into — from MOQ and Incoterms to CITES and REACH.

Abrash
Horizontal banding in a handwoven rug where a colour shifts tone across the width, caused by different dye lots of hand-spun yarn. Expected — often prized — in village and naturally dyed work; a defect only against a specification that called for uniformity. Read more →
Baby Alpaca
A fineness grade of alpaca fibre (roughly 20–22.5 microns mean diameter), not a claim about the animal's age — an adult alpaca whose fleece falls in that band yields baby alpaca. Royal is finer; superfine, huarizo, and coarse are progressively heavier. Read more →
Barro Negro
Oaxacan burnished blackware. Grey clay is hand-formed (no wheel), burnished with a quartz stone, then reduction-fired so it turns matte black — polished areas come up glossy. Unglazed, so it is decorative rather than food-safe unless sealed. Read more →
Batik
A wax-resist dyeing technique: molten wax is drawn (canting) or stamped (cap) onto cloth, which is then dyed; waxed areas resist the dye. Hand-drawn batik tulis is slower and dearer than stamped batik cap. Read more →
Beadwork
Glass seed beads stitched or wire-wrapped into jewellery, collars, and panels — the Maasai tradition uses colour codes with social meaning. Priced by bead count and hours, not material cost. Read more →
Bill of Lading · B/L
A document issued by a carrier that serves as a receipt for goods, a contract of carriage, and (for an order B/L) a document of title. Required to release cargo at destination. Read more →
Boucherouite
Moroccan rag rug woven from recycled clothing and textile offcuts rather than wool. Vivid and inexpensive, but the fibre content is mixed and often synthetic — which makes accurate fibre-content labelling the main compliance point, not quality. Read more →
BSCI
Business Social Compliance Initiative — an audit scheme assessing a supplier's labour and social standards. Common in ethical handicraft sourcing.
Calcite Alabaster
The banded, translucent stone carved around Luxor — chemically calcite (an onyx-marble), not the softer gypsum alabaster of the European tradition. Harder than gypsum but still acid-sensitive and porous, and prone to hidden fissures that open when a piece is hollowed thin. Read more →
Celadon
A high-fired ceramic with an iron-bearing glaze that fires jade-green, traditionally with a deliberate crackle (crazing) in the glaze. The crackle is a feature, not a defect. Read more →
Certificate of Origin · CoO
A document certifying the country in which goods were produced, used for customs, duty preferences (e.g. GSP), and marking rules.
CIF
Cost, Insurance and Freight — an Incoterm where the seller pays ocean freight and minimum insurance to the destination port; the buyer covers duties and onward transport. Read more →
CITES
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species — governs trade in items made from protected species (certain woods, shells, corals, ivory). Some materials require permits or are banned. Read more →
Cloisonné
Enamelware where thin metal wires (cloisons) are soldered to a copper body to form cells, which are filled with enamel paste, fired, then ground and polished flush. Read more →
Country of Origin Marking
Customs rules requiring imported goods to be marked with their country of manufacture (e.g. 'Made in India'). Read more →
CPSIA
Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (US) — sets safety limits (lead, phthalates) and testing/certification rules for children's products, including handmade toys. Read more →
Crazing (Crackle Glaze)
A network of fine cracks in a ceramic glaze caused by the glaze and clay body contracting at different rates on cooling. Deliberate and often stained to make it visible in celadon; a hygiene concern on food-contact surfaces, and distinct from a crack through the body itself. Read more →
Customs Broker
A licensed agent who files import declarations and clears goods through customs on the importer's behalf. Read more →
DDP
Delivered Duty Paid — an Incoterm where the seller bears all costs and risks, including import duty, up to the named destination. Read more →
De Minimis
A value threshold below which imports may enter free of duty and formal entry. Thresholds vary by country and change over time.
Dead Wool
Wool recovered from hides at the tannery rather than shorn from a live sheep. Cheaper, coarser, and weaker, and it can keep an odour that survives washing and returns in humidity — a recurring quality problem at the lower end of the Moroccan rug trade. Read more →
Dehairing
Mechanically separating the fine down of a cashmere or pashmina fleece from the coarse guard hair. Most of the raw weight is lost here, and how completely it is done drives both price and whether the finished cloth prickles. Read more →
Demurrage
Charges levied when containers or cargo stay at the port/terminal beyond the allowed free time.
Dye Lot
One batch of yarn, fibre, or beads dyed together. Colour can shift measurably between lots of the same nominal shade, so repeat orders should either be produced from held stock of a single lot or approved against a range rather than one target. Read more →
EXW
Ex Works — an Incoterm where the buyer collects goods at the seller's premises and bears all transport, export, and import responsibility. Read more →
FCL / LCL
Full Container Load / Less than Container Load — whether your cargo fills a container or is consolidated with other shippers' goods. Read more →
FOB
Free On Board — an Incoterm where the seller delivers goods onto the vessel at the origin port; the buyer pays freight, insurance, and duties from there. Read more →
Freight Forwarder
A company that arranges the movement of cargo — booking carriers, consolidation, and documentation — on behalf of shippers. Read more →
GI Tag
Geographical Indication — a mark protecting products with a specific geographic origin and reputation (e.g. Pashmina, Talavera). A signal of authenticity.
GSP
Generalized System of Preferences — programs allowing eligible goods from developing countries to enter duty-free or at reduced rates. Read more →
HS / HTS Code
Harmonized System code — the international product classification that determines duty rates and import requirements. Countries extend it (e.g. US HTS). Read more →
Huacaya / Suri
The two alpaca breed types. Huacaya has a dense crimped fleece and dominates the Peruvian herd; Suri has a longer, straighter, lustrous fleece and is scarcer and dearer. Read more →
Ikat
A resist technique where the yarn is bound and dyed before weaving, so the pattern emerges from the threads themselves. The characteristic feathered edge is inherent to the method — double ikat (both warp and weft) is the most demanding. Read more →
Incoterms
International Commercial Terms published by the ICC (current edition: Incoterms 2020) that define who is responsible for cost, risk, and tasks at each stage of shipment. Read more →
ISPM-15
International standard requiring wood packaging (pallets, crates) to be heat-treated or fumigated and stamped, to prevent pest spread. Read more →
Kente
Ghanaian strip-woven cloth: narrow bands woven on a men's loom and hand-sewn edge to edge. Colour and motif carry meaning; width and strip count drive price. Read more →
Khayamiya
Egyptian tentmaker appliqué: coloured cotton shapes cut, edges turned, and hand-stitched onto a heavy ground cloth, centred on Cairo's Street of the Tentmakers. Judge it from the reverse — stitch lines should follow every motif outline, and no appliqué edge should be raw. Read more →
Kilim
A flat-woven (pileless) rug — the weft is packed to hide the warp, so there is no knotted pile. Lighter and cheaper than a knotted carpet; slit-weave joins between colour blocks are normal. Read more →
Knot Density
Knots per square inch/decimetre in a hand-knotted rug — the main driver of detail, durability, and price. Flat-weaves like kilim have no knot count, so they are priced by weave fineness and wool grade instead. Read more →
Lacey Act
US law prohibiting trade in illegally sourced plants and wildlife; imported wood products may require a plant declaration. Read more →
Landed Cost
The total cost of a product delivered to your door — unit price plus freight, insurance, duties, taxes, and handling.
Lead Time
The time from confirmed order to goods ready to ship (ex-works), separate from transit time.
Letter of Credit · L/C
A bank guarantee that the seller will be paid once they present compliant shipping documents. Reduces risk for both parties on larger orders. Read more →
Lost-Wax Casting
A wax model is encased in clay, melted out, and replaced by molten metal — so each mould yields exactly one piece. Dhokra and much bronze work use it, which is why every casting varies slightly and MOQ reflects mould-making time. Read more →
Majolica (Talavera)
Earthenware dipped in an opaque white tin glaze, then hand-painted and re-fired so the colours fuse into the glaze. Genuine Puebla Talavera carries a Denominación de Origen. Read more →
Micron (Mean Fibre Diameter)
The average thickness of an animal fibre in micrometres — the primary grading measure for pashmina, cashmere, alpaca, and wool. The mean alone is incomplete: the share of fibres above roughly 30 µm is what determines whether a garment prickles. Read more →
MOQ
Minimum Order Quantity — the smallest quantity (or order value) a supplier will produce in a single run. Reflects production economics, sometimes negotiable. Read more →
Natural Fibre (Jute, Abaca, Hemp)
Plant bast/leaf fibres woven or braided into bags, rugs, and baskets. They are hygroscopic — moisture control, fumigation, and ISPM-15-compliant packing matter on long sea legs. Read more →
OEM / ODM
Original Equipment Manufacturer (made to your design) vs Original Design Manufacturer (adapting the supplier's existing design). Both differ from private label. Read more →
Papyrus
Sheet made from the pith of the Cyperus papyrus sedge — strips laid in two crossed layers and pressed, with no pulping, so it is not technically paper. Backlighting shows the cross-laid lattice; banana-leaf substitutes do not have it. Read more →
Pashmina
Fine undercoat fibre from Changthangi goats, typically 12–16 microns — finer than standard cashmere. Much market 'pashmina' is blended or viscose, so ask for fibre content and provenance; Kashmir Pashmina carries a GI. Read more →
Pietra Dura
Marble inlay: coloured stones are cut to shape and set flush into a marble ground, then polished — the Agra tradition around the Taj Mahal. Priced by inlay density and stone type. Read more →
Powder Glass Bead
Ghanaian Krobo bead made by crushing recycled glass to powder, packing it into a clay mould around a cassava stalk, and firing it — the stalk burns away to leave the hole. Hole placement and size vary because every step is by hand; the recycled feedstock is why lead testing per lot matters. Read more →
Pre-Production Sample · PPS
A sample made under production conditions and approved before the full run begins — your quality reference. Read more →
Proforma Invoice
A preliminary quote-invoice from the seller detailing goods, price, terms, and Incoterms — used to arrange payment or an L/C before shipment.
Prop 65
California law requiring warnings on products that expose consumers to listed chemicals (e.g. lead, cadmium in glazes). Read more →
REACH
EU regulation restricting hazardous substances in products; relevant to textile dyes (azo), leather (chromium VI), and coatings. Read more →
Reduction Firing
Firing a kiln with restricted oxygen so metal oxides in the glaze convert to a different state — the step that turns the iron in a celadon glaze jade-green rather than brown. Hard to hold uniform across a kiln load, which is why celadon colour varies by position and firing. Read more →
SEDEX / SMETA
A supplier ethical data exchange and its audit (SMETA) covering labour, health & safety, environment, and business ethics.
Seed Bead
A small glass bead sized by aught (6/0 is large, 11/0 common, 15/0 very fine — the bigger the aught number, the smaller the bead). Bead size and stitch type, not finished dimensions, drive the labour cost of a beaded piece. Read more →
Shahtoosh
Fibre from the Tibetan antelope (chiru), a CITES Appendix I species killed to obtain it. International commercial trade is prohibited and possession is an offence in many markets. Unrelated to pashmina, which is combed from live domesticated goats. Read more →
Slit-Weave
The classic Anatolian kilim technique: at a vertical colour boundary each weft turns back on its own colour instead of interlocking, leaving a slit. Weavers step designs diagonally to keep slits short — specify a maximum slit length rather than treating all slits as faults. Read more →
Soapstone (Steatite)
A soft talc-rich stone carved by hand and often dyed or polished — the Kisii tradition in Kenya. Soft enough to scratch, so it needs careful interleaved packing. Read more →
Sozni
Fine needle embroidery worked on Kashmir shawls, sometimes covering the whole ground. Judge it from the reverse face — loose carry-threads across the back are the usual sign of rushed work. Heavily sozni pieces are measured in months per piece, not weeks. Read more →
Strip Weaving
Weaving narrow bands (roughly four inches wide in Ghanaian kente) on a horizontal treadle loom and hand-sewing them selvedge to selvedge into a finished cloth. Because area equals loom-hours, strip-woven cloth has almost no economy of scale in the weaving itself. Read more →
Tariff / Duty
A tax levied on imported goods, set by their HS classification and country of origin. Read more →
TT
Telegraphic Transfer — a bank wire, the most common handicraft payment method (often a deposit plus balance against shipping documents). Read more →
Zellige
Hand-cut glazed terracotta tile from Fes: each piece is chiselled from a fired, glazed square. Size variation, edge chipping, and glaze crazing are inherent to the process and expected in a genuine batch. Read more →

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