How to start a clothing brand: from idea to your first production run

Turning “I want to start a clothing brand” into cartons of your own product follows a predictable path. Most guides cover the branding and skip the manufacturing. This one covers the manufacturing: the decisions that decide whether your first run arrives on time, fits, and leaves you a margin.

When is a brand ready to move from blanks to cut-and-sew?

When you can sell about 1,000 pieces in total within a season, and you want your own fit, fabric and labels. Below that, print-on-demand or decorated blanks keep your cash free while you learn what sells. Cut-and-sew lowers the unit cost, but ties up money in stock before you sell it.

Many brands start with print-on-demand or decorated blanks, and that is sensible. You hold little or no stock, and you learn what sells. The trade-offs are a higher unit cost, stock fits and fabrics your competitors can buy too, and limited control over labels.

Cut-and-sew means a factory makes the garment to your pattern, in the fabric you choose, with your labels. It lowers the unit cost and makes the product yours, but you pay for stock before you sell it, and you commit to minimums. Ours is 200 pieces per style and colour, with 1,000 pieces in total per order, split across your sizes. A trial order is welcome, and you can scale from there.

So the honest test is: can you sell about 1,000 pieces in total within a season? If not yet, keep using blanks, relabel them, or grow your audience first. What low MOQ really means and relabelling blanks cover the middle ground.

How many styles should a first collection have?

One or two hero styles, in one or two colours. The most common first-run mistake is a full collection: three tees, two hoodies, joggers and a jacket. Every style needs its own pattern, sample rounds, fabric and trims, and every colour needs its own fabric lot, so a focused capsule keeps minimums manageable.

A signature tee and a matching hoodie is a typical hero pair. Two styles in one colour is 2,000 pieces; the same two styles in three colours is 6,000. Colour count is where first budgets quietly multiply.

Choose fabric deliberately. GSM, yarn and composition decide how the garment feels, how it prints and what it costs. How to choose GSM.

What is a tech pack, and do you need one?

Yes. A factory cannot sew from a mood board. It needs a tech pack: flat sketches, a measurement table with tolerances, fabric and trims, colours with Pantone references, artwork with placements, labels and packing. You don’t have to write it yourself: a garment that fits the way you want works too. What goes in a tech pack.

You don’t need to be a technical designer. If you have a garment that fits the way you want, send it: we measure it, make the pattern and grading in Optitex CAD, and you approve the measurement chart before sampling.

How should you split sizes on a first order?

Use your own data first: sales from blank runs, pre-orders, or your audience’s demographics. Without data, a common starting point for a unisex S–XL run is roughly 15–20% S, 30–35% M, 30–35% L and 15–20% XL, adjusted for your customers and fit. Treat it as a first guess to correct with real sales.

How many of each size you order matters as much as how many in total. Too many XS and XXL, too few M and L, and your best sizes sell out while the rest sits in stock. On 1,000 pieces, that starting point looks like this:

This is general guidance, not a rule. Your fit, audience and market all move it: some audiences skew larger, and women’s and children’s ranges grade differently. Add XS or XXL only if you know who buys them. Size charts and grading.

How does sampling work before bulk production?

Never approve bulk from photos. Hold the garment, wash it, measure it and try it on real people. Sampling runs in three stages: a fit sample, revision rounds, and a pre-production sample that you approve in writing and that becomes the standard for bulk and inspection. At our factory a fit sample takes 7–14 days after tech-pack review.

1. Fit sample. The first build from your tech pack. At our factory it takes 7–14 days after tech-pack review, and express courier to you usually takes 3–7 days.
2. Revisions. Comments go back as a revised spec. Each round repeats most of the sample and courier time.
3. Pre-production sample. The garment as it will be made in bulk, with approved fabric, colour, trims and labels. Approve it in writing; it becomes the standard for bulk and inspection.

Every stage from sample to bulk and what to check before approving.

If you want to feel fabric and finish before developing anything, our sample kit costs US$79 including express courier and is credited in full against your first bulk order.

What does a first run cost beyond the unit price?

Your unit price is only part of the cash you need. A first run also needs development samples and courier, labels and packing, any print or embroidery, freight, insurance, import duty and customs clearance, and inspection if you appoint your own inspector. Exact prices depend on your spec. Budget for:

• Development samples and courier.
• Bulk production, including labels and packing.
• Print or embroidery, priced per placement. We arrange it through trusted partner decorators near Gaindakot.
• Freight, insurance, import duty and customs clearance.
• Inspection, if you appoint your own inspector.

How a unit price is built, and how to check it, is in what a t-shirt costs to make and the costing sheet explained. Exact prices depend on your spec, so we send them to you personally.

What payment terms should you agree on a first order?

Staged payment is normal: a deposit, commonly 30%, starts production and buys your fabric, and the balance is paid against inspection and shipping documents. On larger orders a letter of credit takes trust out of the equation. Avoid any supplier who wants 100% upfront.

Our terms work this way: staged, with balances against inspection and shipping documents, and L/C for larger orders. 30/70 terms explained.

Verify bank details by phone or video before your first transfer, and again if they ever “change”.

How long do production, inspection and shipping take?

Bulk takes 25–30 days after sample approval, and finished goods then get a final AQL 2.5 inspection. Sea freight to Europe takes roughly 6–8 weeks. With sampling and revision rounds, a first order by sea typically takes three to four months from first contact to delivery.

During production we run in-line checks, track every bundle by QR code, and send photo and status updates on WhatsApp or email. Your own third-party inspector is welcome at the final inspection. How AQL inspection works.

We ship EXW Gaindakot, FOB Kolkata by sea or FCA Kathmandu by air. Sea freight to Europe takes roughly 6–8 weeks; air is faster and costs more, so it suits urgent launches. Add it all up and a first order by sea typically takes three to four months from first contact. Count back from your launch date.

Why does landed cost matter more than unit price?

Where your garments are made changes what they cost you to land. Cotton knit t-shirts from a third-country origin pay 12% duty into the EU and UK and 18% into Canada. Nepal-made t-shirts enter all three at 0% under their schemes for least-developed countries, when the origin rules are met.

For a young brand, that difference stays in your margin. Compare duty by origin.

What should a first-run checklist include?

A focused range, a clear spec, a size split, an approved pre-production sample, staged payment, an inspection before the balance is paid, and a landed-cost budget. Each item matches a step in this guide, and together they decide whether your first run arrives on time, fits, and leaves you a margin.

• One or two hero styles, in as few colours as you can.
• A tech pack, or a reference garment and a clear brief.
• A size split based on your data, or a sensible first guess.
• An approved pre-production sample, in writing.
• Staged payment, never 100% upfront.
• An inspection before the balance is paid.
• A landed-cost budget, including freight and duty.

We are a cut-and-sew knitwear factory in Gaindakot, Nepal, and first runs from growing brands are work we take seriously. Tell us what you’re launching, with a sketch, a reference garment or a tech pack, and we’ll tell you honestly what it takes.