A clothing manufacturer that will take your first order.
Most factories start at 500 pieces a style. We start at 50 — with the design team, the tech pack and the sample included, so a brand with no production experience can still get it right.
Most factories will not take a first order.
Not because your idea is bad. Because of how a production line is costed. Setting up a run — cutting the pattern, threading the machines, mixing the dye, screening the plates — takes the same hours whether you order 80 pieces or 8,000.
So most factories set a minimum of 500 to 1,000 pieces per style, per colour and stop replying to anyone below it. For a brand that has not sold anything yet, that is an order worth tens of thousands of dollars in stock, placed before a single customer has said yes.
The usual fallback is print-on-demand: a blank from a catalogue with your logo printed on it. It works, and it is a reasonable way to test a design. But the garment is not yours. You cannot change the fit, the fabric weight, the neck label or the cut, and neither can you stop a competitor ordering the identical blank the same afternoon.
Where we sit. We are the small-batch division of a sportswear factory that runs roughly two million pieces a year. The lines, the pattern room and the quality process are the same ones the bulk orders use — we just open them to runs of 50 to 100 pieces per style.
What a factory needs from you.
You will get a faster, more accurate quote from every factory you approach — us included — if you can answer these seven things. If you cannot answer them all yet, that is normal; send what you have.
- The garment, specifically Not "a hoodie" — a pullover hoodie or a zip hoodie, boxy or fitted, cropped or regular length, pockets or none.
- Fabric and weight A 330 GSM fleece and a 500 GSM French terry are very different garments at very different prices. If you do not know, name a brand whose weight you like and we will match it.
- Colours, as Pantone codes "Sand" means something different to every factory on earth. A TCX code does not.
- Your size run and split How many of each size. A 60-piece order split 10/15/20/10/5 is a different cutting job from 60 larges.
- Quantity per style, per colour This is the number that decides your price per piece, more than anything else on this list.
- Decoration and where it goes Screen print, embroidery, DTG, patches — and the position and width in centimetres. Artwork must be vectorised.
- Your deadline Work backwards: sampling, then production, then freight. If you need stock in hand by a date, say the date.
If writing that down feels like the hard part, it is — that document is called a tech pack. We give ours away free, one per garment, as fillable PDFs. Fill one in and you can send it to any factory, not just us.
Brief to delivered boxes.
Brief
A sketch, a reference photo, a competitor's garment, or a filled-in tech pack. We come back with questions and an indicative price.
Tech pack
Our in-house design team turns it into a production-ready spec — measurements, fabric, dye, decoration positions, labels.
Sample
A physical sample, typically 2–3 weeks. You hold it, wear it, and ask for changes before anything is cut in bulk.
Production
4–6 weeks after you approve the sample, through the same quality check the bulk lines use.
Then freight — air or sea, export documents included — to wherever you are. Nothing goes into production until you have approved a sample you are holding in your hands.
What actually drives your price.
We quote per project, because seven things move the number and they move it by a lot. No factory can give you a real price without them, and any factory that quotes before asking is guessing.
| Factor | Why it moves the price |
|---|---|
| Quantity per style | Setup is a fixed cost spread across the run. 50 pieces carries the same setup as 500. |
| Fabric weight | A 500 GSM French terry uses roughly 50% more yarn than a 330 GSM fleece. |
| Organic vs standard cotton | Certified organic yarn costs more and is bought against certificates. |
| Decoration method | Embroidery is priced by stitch count; screen print by the number of colours and plates; DTG per piece. |
| Number of placements | Each position is a separate pass through a separate machine. |
| Dye | A stock colour is cheaper than a Pantone match; fade-out and pigment dyes add a wash stage. |
| Custom fit | A new cutting pattern is pattern-room time. Adapting our block is cheaper than drafting from scratch. |
Samples are not free. A sample runs about €300 on average, depending on the garment and how much of it is custom. We say so up front because a factory that offers free samples is pricing them into your bulk order somewhere else.
What we are not.
We would rather lose an enquiry than take an order we are wrong for, so:
- We are not print-on-demand There is no catalogue to pick from and no one-off orders. We cut and sew to your spec, from 50 pieces.
- We do not dropship We make your stock and ship it to you or your 3PL. We do not pick and pack to your customers.
- We do not do custom printed packaging yet Pieces go out unpackaged or in an unbranded polybag made from recycled plastic. Your branding goes on the garment, not the bag.
- We are not the cheapest Small batches cost more per piece than bulk. That is arithmetic, not a margin — and it is the trade for not buying 1,000 units up front.
Questions, answered
What is your minimum order?
I have an idea but no designs. Can you still help?
How long from first email to stock in hand?
Do I pay for a sample?
Can I put my own brand label in the neck?
Where are the garments made?
Do you work with brands outside Europe and the US?
Tell us what you're making
Send a sketch, a reference, or a filled-in tech pack. We'll come back with a quote, a lead time and an honest answer on whether we're the right factory for it.