Custom clothing manufacturing company that supports brands with a small order is rare. Especially if they are not familiar with brands out of New York, LA, or Chicago. This is because reputed brands are stationed mostly in the reason of New York, LA, or Chicago. Thanks to the internet culture, we see successful streetwear brands outside of New York, LA, and Chicago. You must be wondering why I am writing this. I got a question from one of my clients from a mid-sized city Phoenix in The USA. He wanted to know if it’s possible for a streetwear brand to rise to prominence coming from a mid-size city? and if a custom clothing manufacturing company gives the same importance to him as a client. LA or NY grants you easier access to connections in the industry. But you can still create your brand and reach out to customers locally.
Accessing Budget & Before Approaching a Custom Clothing Manufacturing Company
Most startup brand owners are in a dilemma about how much inventory is OK to drop. Considering you have limited funds, how small is okay to start with? And the next question is How do you know your product will sell? Is there any work beforehand, or it is all luck or guesswork? Well, business is not done with luck and guesswork nor with questions in mind if you succeed or fail. A brand needs careful and scientific calculations to get successful. I agree there may be some luck and intuition that works sometimes but it’s not every time. You need to plan very carefully and do your predictions based on concrete data. There is a number of platforms that can help you understand whether you are on the right track or not. For example, you can post your previews on Reddit or book pre-sale events.
Prepare Your Collection Line Sheet and Prepare Tech Packs
For generic clothing with print or logo placement uses blanks or tech pack templates. But, if you are going for your own custom design, then you need a professional tech pack designer to support you. Technical designers are expensive and they charge per hour. So, if you are not sure about your ideas and you want to rework then complete them. So, be ready and sure about your collection ideas and sketches before you hire a tech pack designer. This saves billable time and thereby saves a lot of money. You need the tech pack for sure if you are going for costume apparel. Without this, if you are jumping to clothing manufacturing there is a risk. There is every chance that you may not get the right fit or right look as you thought. And there will be several corrections in sampling which will cost you almost double.
Custom clothing manufacturing companies will talk only if you have a proper tech pack. And those who produce your garments without tech packs have no guarantee. Tech pack gives a formal assurance that the final products will match your expectation. And if you are spending a little money on planning your collection there is no harm to it. Rather it will give you some confidence to proceed further and execute production.
Sourcing ideal Custom Clothing Manufacturing Company
Choosing Ideal Factory for Custom Apparel Production is not easy. Because not all factories produce all kinds of garments. Usually, Clothing manufacturers specialize in one or two types of garments. For example, some factories do only Outer Wear. Some factories specialize in knitted jersey T-Shirts or Hoodies, and some are Woven, and some in Denim Jeans. So, you need to source factories that are equipped to produce your garment. In this case, you need to make a deeper search on factories and source the right factory for your collection. So if you are having a different variety of apparel to produce, source more than one factory. It also gives an advantage to you as you are not putting all your eggs in one basket.
Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ)
Another issue with custom clothing manufacturers is the MOQ constraint. If your styles have specialized fabrics composition, you have to produce fabric. In this case, the fabric MOQ is high. You may not need that much fabric as per your ordered quantity. This is not practical for a start-up apparel brand. Start-up apparel brands have smaller order quantities. And If they have any specialized fabric, sourcing is very difficult. Sometimes it’s not possible to get the fabric that the brand wants for the style collection. This becomes an awkward situation for the clothing manufacturer. This can be avoided in many ways. Consult with a technical designer with has industry contact and knowledge of fabric. This way you can have your collection planned before going for sample development.
Export License:
When a clothing manufacturer is dealing with cross-country brands needs an export license. Not all factories have their own export license and they depend on a third party. And the third party charges a commission which adds to the cost of the product. You can avoid this by getting a confirmation of whether the vendor has an export license.
We focus on giving a suitable environment for start-up brands to lunch their first drop. Urban Purple has all the skills, manpower, and equipment that a startup needs. We consult and offer our technical design and apparel production service to upcoming clients. Our technical designer help buyers organize their creative ideas and make them practical. We also offer generic tech pack templates through an online tech pack template store. So, if you are looking for tech packs that are commonly used by every brand visit our online store. For custom apparel, our technical designers offer the best service that a brand needs. You can reach us through our website contact form and we make sure you get a response within 24 hours. So, if you are planning to start your clothing brand wait no more and get in touch with our technical design team.