MOQ and dye-lot planner

The factory does not set your MOQ. The dye machine does

When a brand asks "what is your minimum order quantity?", the honest answer is that it depends — and not because the factory is being evasive. A dye machine holds a certain weight of fabric. Loading it with a fraction of that weight wastes the same water, the same steam and the same machine hours as a full load, so the cost per kilogram rises sharply.

Which means your minimum is really a question about kilograms of one colour, not pieces. Nine hundred pieces in one colour is a comfortable lot. The same nine hundred pieces split across six colours is six small, expensive lots.

Four ways to make a small order workable

1. Cut the colour count. The single most effective change. Three strong colours will nearly always outperform six hesitant ones commercially, and they cost far less to make.
2. Share fabric across styles. A hoodie and a jogger in the same terry and the same colour are one dye lot, not two. Design the range around a fabric rather than around individual garments.
3. Use a stock or repeat shade. Black, navy, ecru and grey melange are run constantly. Joining an existing lot removes the minimum almost entirely.
4. Garment-dye instead. For some constructions, sewing in greige and dyeing the finished garment lets you commit to colour much later and in much smaller quantities.

What we actually do about it

We do not publish a single MOQ number, because it would be misleading in both directions. Instead, tell us the programme — styles, colours, quantities, market — and we will tell you what is workable, including when the honest answer is that a different factory suits you better.

Flexible production models are one of the reasons brands come to us: a first capsule and a repeat core line get the same floor, the same fabric and the same checks. More on how private label works here.