Scrunchies are bought on colour and price and judged on a wrist. These four decide the wrist.

Ask about the elastic

It is the component that fails, essentially always. The fabric will outlast it by years.

Ask for the elastic width and whether the ends are joined with an overlapped stitched splice or simply butted together. A cheap braided cord goes slack after a few dozen stretches, and by then the scrunchie still looks perfect and no longer works.

Get the gather ratio as a number

A scrunchie is gathered fabric. The ratio of tube length to finished elastic length is what makes one look full and expensive and another look flat.

It is pure fabric cost, which is why it is the first thing reduced to hit a price, and it never appears on a specification. Ask both suppliers for the number and you will very often find the whole difference between two quotes.

Say the fibre properly

Satin is a weave and silk is a fibre. You can weave satin from polyester, viscose or silk, and almost everything sold as a “silk scrunchie” is polyester satin.

Polyester satin is a genuinely good product — smooth, durable, cheap, washes well. Just do not print silk on the card. The customers who wanted silk and think they got it are exactly the ones who come back unhappy.

Match the fabric to the wearer

Satin for daily tying and fine hair, because low friction is kinder to the cuticle. Cotton or jersey for sport and work, because grip is the requirement and print sits far better. Velvet for thick or freshly washed hair that nothing else stays in.

And remember velvet is a nap fabric — if the pile is not laid consistently across the run, the range looks like two different colours.

Design the branding for a gather

Most of a printed surface ends up inside a fold. A single placed logo largely disappears.

Use an all-over repeat at a smaller scale, or a small woven label sewn into the seam. The label is neater, survives washing, and reads as a fashion product rather than as a giveaway.