What to send every supplier: the RFQ spec sheet for decorative and privacy film — and how to read the answer that comes back

An RFQ for decorative or privacy film needs eight lines: the film line and how it mounts, thickness and which layer it measures, roll width, roll length, whose pattern it is, quantity, pack build, and documents. This article gives the wording for each line and what a complete answer looks like coming back, so a quote that has been planned can be told apart from one that has not.

Which page answers which part of this

Reading the reply is the one layer answered below. The figures themselves live on the pages that own them, and each is linked where it comes up — retail roll or project roll for widths, lengths, cores and pack builds, window film thickness for which layer a thickness figure measures, the minimum order quantity for quantity by printing route, and private label compliance documents for how a document set is built. Verifying the factory behind the quote is a separate job, set out in how to verify a window film factory.

The eight lines, and what each one changes in the quote

Each line below changes a number in the quote, which is why a missing line comes back as a price that cannot be compared. State all eight in the first email; a supplier who has to ask for three of them after quoting has already priced a guess.

Line on the spec sheet	What to state	A planned answer comes back with	A thin answer tells you
1. Film line and how it mounts	The line you want quoted, and whether it clings or sticks	The face film and the liner named for that line	"All types available" — the line has not been picked, so nothing else in the quote is fixed either
2. Thickness	Your figure, and which layer it is measured over	Thickness with the liner, without it, and the liner on its own	One number with no reference layer — it can be read against any of the three
3. Roll width	The finished width per SKU, plus the question "what is the widest roll on this line?"	A width answered per line, not per catalogue	One catalogue-wide width — a slitting charge or a substitution appears later
4. Roll length	The length per SKU	The stock lengths for that line, and whether yours is one of them	"Any length" with no stock lengths named
5. Whose pattern	Catalogue design, your own file on an existing texture, or a new texture drawn for you	The three cases priced separately, and whether a plate has to be cut	"Custom is fine" — the exclusivity and the tooling question are both still open
6. Quantity	Quantity per pattern and per SKU, and the printing route you expect	A figure tied to a route, per line	A single minimum for everything the factory makes
7. Pack build and labelling	Retail pack or project pack, core, labels, barcode, carton, pallet limits	The pack listed component by component	"Standard export packing" — the pack gets decided after the price is agreed
8. Documents	The destination market, the channel, and whose entity the reports must be issued in	A set built for that market and channel, quoted with the film	General factory paperwork, with nothing said about which document covers the material in your order

Thickness: say which layer you are measuring

A thickness figure means nothing until the layer is named, because a decorative film is measured three different ways. FancyFix frosted window film runs 0.23–0.28 mm with the release liner on, 0.20–0.24 mm with the liner off, and the PET liner alone is 0.04–0.045 mm. Those are three true figures for one product, so a buyer and a supplier can both be quoting honestly and still be talking about different figures. Writing "0.20 mm, liner off" on the spec sheet removes the argument before the sample is cut.

Width and length: ask against the film line, not the catalogue

Width is set by the film line, so the useful question is what the widest roll on that line is. On the FancyFix decorative static cling lines the widest roll is 120 cm, and stock widths are 45, 60, 90 and 120 cm — except the embossed line, which ships 45, 60 and 90 cm. Length has no set maximum on any of these lines, but the stock lengths differ: 150, 200 and 300 cm on the frosted, embossed, 3D refraction and printed lines, and 90, 180 and 200 cm on stained glass. A width or a length outside those is a cutting decision, not a catalogue decision, and it belongs in the quote rather than in a later email.

Whose pattern, and whether a plate has to be cut

Three requests that all get called "custom" are priced differently, so the spec sheet has to say which one it is. A catalogue design, your own artwork printed on an existing texture, and a new texture developed for you are three separate jobs. On the FancyFix embossed, 3D refraction and printed static cling lines, an existing texture needs no plate and a new texture does. The stained glass line needs no plate at all: one roll can be printed, and once a design has sold, the same design can move to the print process built for volume, which brings the unit cost down. A reply that prices "custom" as one thing has not separated the three.

Pattern ownership is a separate line from pattern development, and it is worth stating in the same email. A design a buyer has paid development for is never used by FancyFix for itself and never resold to another customer, and a buyer's own exclusive design is not sold by FancyFix at all. Where that sits in writing is set out on the channel policy page, and which commercial route the programme runs under — private label, OEM, ODM or distribution — is compared in private label vs OEM vs distribution.

Pack build: name it in the RFQ, not after the price

The pack is a cost line, so leaving it as "standard export packing" moves money to a conversation after the quote. FancyFix builds the decorative static cling lines two ways: a small roll for online and offline home retail, made up of an inner core, shrink film, a label, an inner box, a carton and a pallet; and a large roll for fit-out projects, made up of a 3-inch core, optional end plugs, shrink film, a label, a kraft carton and a pallet. Which of the two you need follows the shelf or the site, not the film, so it is a line you can fill in before any sample arrives. The component list and what each part protects are in wallpaper packaging for wholesale and retail roll or project roll.

Documents: name the market, the channel, and whose name they carry

A document set is built per market and per channel, which is why it is quoted against your destination and not published as a fixed list. FancyFix prepares compliance documentation and test reports for the buyer's market and product line, and if a programme requires the reports issued in FancyFix's own entity, FancyFix does that. Markets where that has already been done include the United States, Europe, Australia and Japan. Documents go to a named buyer one to one rather than sitting on the website as a download, so the RFQ line that matters is the destination market, the channel, and the entity the reports must name. How a set gets assembled per order is set out in private label compliance documents.

Two sample dates, asked for separately

Ask for two sample dates, because a stock swatch and a sample built to your own size and pack are two different jobs. At FancyFix a stock sample is quoted in 3 to 5 days, and a sample cut to a custom size with custom packaging is quoted in 7 to 15 days. One combined "sample lead time" in a reply usually means the second case has not been planned, and the second case is the one that decides whether your first production order arrives as expected.

How FancyFix answers an RFQ built this way

An RFQ with the eight lines filled in comes back as a quote per line rather than a single number, with the film line, the measured layer, the width, the length, the pattern route, the quantity, the pack and the document set each answered on its own. Most FancyFix stock sits within the figures quoted above, and where a programme needs a parameter outside them, it can be produced to that requirement instead. Anything FancyFix cannot evidence is said plainly rather than filled in — a figure with no measurement behind it is worth less to a buyer than a blank.

FAQ

What should an RFQ for decorative film include?

An RFQ for decorative or privacy film should state eight things: the film line and how it mounts, the thickness and which layer it is measured over, the roll width, the roll length, whose pattern it is, the quantity per pattern, the pack build and labelling, and the destination market with the entity any reports must name. Each of the eight changes a figure in the quote, so a missing line comes back as a price that cannot be compared with anyone else's.

How can I tell whether a supplier actually read my spec sheet?

Read the reply line by line against what you sent: a supplier who worked through the sheet answers width against that film line rather than the catalogue, names which layer a thickness figure covers, and prices an existing texture separately from a new one. A reply that returns one price, one lead time and one minimum for everything has answered the enquiry without using the sheet.

Should a sample be requested before or after the quote?

Request both at once, and ask for the two sample dates separately. A stock sample confirms the material and the finish, while a sample cut to your size with your pack confirms the thing that actually ships; at FancyFix those are quoted in 3 to 5 days and 7 to 15 days. Asking for both alongside the quote keeps the comparison on one timeline instead of adding a round trip after the price is agreed.