This might sound crazy, but the reality is that it takes the same amount of time and effort to develop a style for an order of just 10 garments as it does for an order of 10,000.
Also, factories don’t make money on the development process – they barely break even. Where they make their profits is production.
And this is the reason factory MOQs tend to be high.
1. Know your budget – if you can’t afford to make 10 styles at an MOQ of 100 pieces, don’t bother a factory asking for it.
2. Have your designs ready – to be clear, the factory will not help you design, their job is to make the designs.
3. Make in the right place – for example, India is awful for swim products, so don’t reach out to factories there to make bikinis – a place like Bali is much better for that niche.
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1. In-person meetings – as great as Zoom is, nothing can replace working with a supplier in real life – things get done quicker and easier.
2. Save money on shipping and logistics – shipping samples is super expensive, sometimes ends up being cheaper to work domestically
3. No cultural learning curves – learning all about the fashion world is hard enough, why add language barriers on top of that?
Try to hire a home sewer.
New brands think that working with a “real factory” will make them professional.
It won’t.
Home sewers are just as good, and will do the work for a fraction of the price because they don’t have the overhead a traditional factory does.
1. Talk to references – to make sure they had a good experience.
2. Look at samples – to make sure that the factories quality is up to your standards.
3. Get pricing – before any work gets done a factory should let you know the approximate range of how much it will cost.
If you want my recommendations for the best places to find low MOQ suppliers online, you'll have to read the full article!
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