For new and growing brands
Clothing manufacturer for startups and small brands
Every brand we work with was small once. Here is an honest account of what it takes to get a first production run made properly.
Most factories are polite to small brands and quietly deprioritise them. That is not snobbery; it is arithmetic. A small order takes almost as much development time as a large one, and development time is the scarcest thing on a factory floor.
We take small programmes on anyway, for a straightforward commercial reason: the brands that grow tend to stay with whoever helped them at the start, and we would rather be that supplier than fight for a tender against fourteen other units. What we ask in exchange is that you come prepared, because preparation is what makes a small order economic for both of us.
The rest of this page is what we would tell you over a call: what to have ready, what things actually cost, and where new brands most often lose money.
- We work with
- First capsules, repeat core lines and everything between
- Categories
- Knitted tops, bottoms, outerwear, kids, baby
- Sampling
- Proto in 1–2 weeks on an existing fabric quality
- Minimums
- Set by dye lots rather than a fixed number — tell us the programme
- Free tools
- Costing, consumption, MOQ and tech pack checklist
- Reply time
- One working day, by email or WhatsApp
01
What to have ready before you approach any factory
- A clear picture of the garment — a tech pack if you have one, or a reference sample and flat sketches if you do not. Our free tech pack checklist walks through everything a factory needs.
- A realistic quantity. Not what you hope to sell; what you can pay for and store. Under-ordering is recoverable, over-ordering has killed more young brands than bad design.
- Your colour count. This is the number that decides whether a small order is workable at all — see the MOQ and dye-lot planner.
- A target retail price, worked backwards. If you need a 2.5x markup and want to retail at 60, your landed cost has to be under 24 — and landed is not the same as FOB.
- The market you are selling into, because labelling and safety requirements differ and are cheaper to build in than to retrofit.
02
What it realistically costs to start
- Sampling: expect to pay for protos and fit samples. A factory that samples free for a stranger is recovering it somewhere in your unit price.
- Development time: two to four weeks per sampling round is normal. Budget two rounds; hope for one.
- Fabric minimums: this is usually the real constraint, not the sewing. A dye lot is a fixed cost regardless of how much you take from it.
- Trims: labels, hangtags and custom zips carry their own minimums, often in the thousands. Plain trims for a first run save real money.
- Freight and duty: on a small shipment, freight per piece can be significant. Get a quote before you commit to a retail price.
03
Where new brands most often lose money
- Too many colours. Six colourways in a first drop is the single most common and most expensive mistake. Three is usually braver commercially and far cheaper to produce.
- Chasing the lowest quote. The cheapest number usually comes from whoever understood the specification least, and the gap appears later as a quality claim.
- Skipping the pre-production sample. It is the last point at which a mistake costs one garment rather than the whole order.
- No size ratio. Ordering equal quantities across sizes leaves you with unsold ends. Use your own sales data, or ask us what ratios typically move in your market.
- Designing before knowing the fabric. Pick the cloth first — it decides drape, cost and what is even possible.
Questions
What buyers ask us first.
I only need a few hundred pieces. Is that worth your time?
It can be, and it depends far more on your colour count than on the piece count. A few hundred pieces in one or two colours using an existing fabric quality is workable. The same quantity in six colours is not. Tell us the programme and we will give you a straight answer.
I do not have a tech pack. Can you still help?
Yes. Send a reference garment in the post with notes on what you want changed, plus your size chart if you have one. Our free tech pack checklist will show you what is still missing.
Do you charge for samples?
Yes, samples are charged. It is the honest way to do it — free sampling is recovered somewhere in your unit price, usually without being explained.
How much should I budget for my first order?
Work it out rather than guessing. Use the garment costing calculator for the FOB figure, then add freight, duty and your own overheads. If the number does not support your retail price, change the garment before you change factories.
Read next
- Free tools for brands
Costing, consumption, MOQ and tech pack checklist.
- Low MOQ manufacturing
Why minimums exist, and how to work around them.
- Season 2026 range
Forty-nine developed styles to start from.
Start a conversation
Tell us what you want made.
Send a tech pack, a reference sample, or just a sketch and a target price. We will come back with fabric options, a costing and a realistic delivery date.