Knowledge centre
Fashion sourcing knowledge centre
Practical guides for B2B fashion buyers: how MOQs are calculated, writing a tech pack, choosing fabric, sampling, inspection, cost structure, grading and export packing.
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Written for buyers, not for search engines
Eight in-depth guides. Each one is written to help you make a purchasing or manufacturing decision — how minimums are calculated, how to brief a factory, where the money actually goes in a garment.
How to write a tech pack, step by step
A working method for producing a tech pack: what to measure first, what can wait, and how to keep one version of the truth as the garment changes.
Choosing fabric for occasionwear
How to choose cloth by what the garment has to do on the body, rather than by name — and why the same fabric can be right for one style and wrong for the next.
Sample rounds explained: how many, and what each one is for
The four kinds of sample round, what each one is actually testing, and the habits that cut a three-round development down to one.
Inline versus final inspection in clothing manufacturing
The two inspection points catch different faults at different costs. What each one is for, and why relying on only the last one is the expensive choice.
Where the money goes in a dress
The cost lines that make up a manufactured dress, where each one sits, and the stage at which each is decided — a structural breakdown rather than a price list.
Grading and fit consistency in womenswear manufacturing
Grading decides whether a size range fits. Consistency decides whether a size stays the same size — and that is the one that shows up in returns.
Export packing for dresses
Cartons, volumetric weight and destination requirements: where packing decisions turn into freight cost, and why they belong before the order rather than after it.
How to Choose a Womenswear Manufacturer for Your Fashion Brand
A practical guide to choosing a womenswear manufacturer: the eleven checks that matter, in order — capability, sampling, MOQ, pricing, quality and lead time.
What does a womenswear manufacturer actually do?
The scope of work between your design and a packed carton, which parts you still own, and what a manufacturer is genuinely not responsible for.
How clothing manufacturing works, from design to finished garment
Every stage between your design and a packed carton, what each one actually decides, and where the calendar and the money are usually lost.
What is the difference between a garment factory and a clothing manufacturer?
The two terms describe different levels of responsibility. What each supplies, what you must supply instead, and how to tell which one you are talking to.
How Much Does Womenswear Manufacturing Cost?
How a womenswear manufacturing price is actually built: the twelve inputs that set it, why a sample costs more per piece than bulk, why MOQ moves unit cost, and how to read a quote so you know what you are comparing.
What Affects Clothing Manufacturing Costs?
Every specification decision that moves a clothing manufacturing quote, ranked by impact: fabric basis, construction, pattern complexity, trims, colourways, size range, quantity and packing — and what each change costs you in the garment.
How long does it take to manufacture womenswear?
The stages behind a delivery date, where schedules actually slip, and how to build a production calendar backwards with room for the delays that always happen.
What is MOQ in clothing manufacturing?
MOQ explained as an economic result rather than a policy: what the number represents, the four axes it is quoted on, and how to read a minimum you have been given.
How do clothing manufacturers calculate MOQ?
The arithmetic behind a minimum order quantity, worked from both directions: fixed cost per style, contribution per piece, and the per-colour multiplier that catches most small orders.
China womenswear manufacturing: what international buyers should know
How manufacturing in China actually works from the outside: who you are dealing with, what to verify, and how to run a relationship across time zones.
OEM vs ODM Clothing Manufacturing: What Is the Difference?
OEM and ODM explained properly: what you provide, what the factory provides, who owns the pattern, how each route affects cost, MOQ and lead time, and how to choose between them.
What is OEM clothing manufacturing?
OEM clothing manufacturing explained: what the factory is responsible for, what you must supply, where the model fails, and how to tell whether you are ready to work this way.
What is ODM clothing manufacturing?
ODM clothing manufacturing explained: how it shortens development, how much customisation a base design really takes, how exclusivity works, and when the model is the right call.
OEM clothing manufacturing for fashion brands: a practical guide
Running OEM production as an operating discipline rather than a one-off purchase: building the calendar backwards, the four standards to retain, and how to survive season three without drift.
How private label clothing manufacturing works
Private label manufacturing explained: how a proven construction becomes your own product through fabric, finish and branding, and when to develop instead.
Private label vs OEM clothing: which is right for your brand?
A decision framework for choosing between private label and OEM, based on differentiation needs, development capability, speed and technical risk.
How to start a private label womenswear brand
A practical sequence for launching a private label womenswear brand: choosing a lane, specifying the product, finding a manufacturer and planning the reorder.
Can a clothing manufacturer work from a reference photo?
What a manufacturer can and cannot read from a reference image, how much of a garment is genuinely visible in a photograph, and what to send alongside it.
Can you manufacture clothing without a tech pack?
You can start without a finished tech pack, and many brands do. What has to be settled first, and which parts of a pack can be built during development.
What information should you send to an OEM clothing manufacturer?
The information a manufacturer needs to quote and develop your style properly, in the order it is needed, plus what to do when you do not have all of it yet.
How to source a clothing manufacturer for a new fashion brand
The sequence a first-time brand should follow, the three mistakes that cost the most, and how to filter a long list before contacting anyone.
How to find a reliable womenswear factory in China
Where factories are actually found, how to cut a long list down to three, and the checks that separate a production floor from a trading office.
What questions should you ask a clothing manufacturer?
The questions that reveal how a manufacturer actually works: capability, responsibility when something goes wrong, quality standards and communication.
How to compare clothing manufacturers before placing an order
Why manufacturer quotes are rarely comparable, how to make them comparable, and the eight criteria worth weighing before you commit to a supplier.
How to request a clothing manufacturing quote
How to write a request that gets a usable price, what a complete quote should contain, and how to read one without being misled by the total.
What is a clothing tech pack and why does it matter?
What a tech pack is for, who reads which part of it, and why the document is a costing instrument as much as a technical one.
What should a fashion tech pack include?
The sections a working tech pack needs, in the order a factory reads them, and which fields are genuinely optional on a first style.
How to create a tech pack for a dress
Building a dress tech pack step by step: the measurements that matter most, how to describe structure and drape, and what decides whether fit repeats.
Tech pack vs reference sample: what does a factory need?
What a reference sample tells a manufacturer that a tech pack cannot, what the pack carries that a garment cannot, and why the best brief uses both.
How pattern making works in womenswear manufacturing
How a garment pattern is drafted from a block, why grading is not scaling, and why an approved pattern is a manufacturing asset rather than a drawing.
Topics
Browse the knowledge centre
Every topic we publish under. Some have full guides already; the rest are areas we cover in client conversations and will publish as they are written.
Fashion Manufacturing
How garments are actually made, and where the risk sits in a production run.
OEM & ODM
The two engagement models, what each one shifts onto whom, and how to choose.
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