Apparel contract manufacturing: a tech pack, a fit and a booked place in the season

Cut-make-trim or full package: who buys the fabric

Under cut-make-trim the buyer sources fabric and trims and pays the factory for labour. That gives control over materials, visibility of cost and the option to consolidate cloth across styles, at the price of running a materials operation with its own lead times, minimums and shipping. Full package hands sourcing to the factory, which quotes a finished garment price and absorbs the coordination. The second is simpler and buries material cost inside a figure that resists challenge. Growing brands typically start with full package and drift toward nominated mills as volume makes the control worth its overhead.

The tech pack is the contract in practice

Whatever the commercial agreement says, production follows the pack. It needs measurements at every point with tolerances, construction details, stitch and seam types, thread and trim specifications, labelling and care instructions, packing method, and a graded size set rather than one sample size. Ambiguity gets resolved by the factory in whichever direction is quicker or cheaper, producing something technically compliant and wrong. The most valuable addition to a weak pack is a statement of which measurements are critical, since no factory can hold every dimension equally tightly and will otherwise make that choice for you.

Fit is settled in samples, and every round costs part of a season

Sample rounds run in sequence: a first prototype, fit corrections, a pre-production sample in bulk fabric, then approval to cut. Each involves shipping, review, comment and re-making, consuming calendar nobody allowed for. Brands that fit on a live model in the actual cloth, comment on measurements rather than impressions, and hold reviews on a fixed cadence get through in fewer rounds than those sending scattered feedback. Fabric matters here too, because a prototype made in a substitute cloth hangs differently and generates corrections that turn out to be wrong once bulk material arrives.

Fabric is the long pole in every schedule

Mills work to their own minimums, dye in lots and quote lead times that dwarf the sewing operation. Colour is the hidden multiplier: each shade is a separate order with its own minimum, so a style offered in several colours commits far more yardage than the sales plan implies. Shade variation between lots is normal and gets managed by cutting a garment from a single lot where possible and by agreeing acceptable shade bands beforehand. Late cloth does not delay production by the length of the delay, because the slot has gone and the next opening may be a long way out.

Working conditions are the buyer's exposure as well

Where a garment is sewn, by whom and on what terms is something customers, retailers and increasingly regulators will ask about, and the answer cannot be delegated to the supplier who benefits from a favourable one. The work is unglamorous: knowing which sites actually make your goods including subcontracted units, understanding hours and wage arrangements, and treating undeclared subcontracting as a serious breach rather than a paperwork lapse. Pricing belongs in this discussion too. Orders placed below a rate permitting lawful wages and hours get met somehow, and the method is usually one nobody wanted described.

Frequently asked questions

What has to be in a tech pack before a factory will quote?

Enough for them to cost fabric, trims and labour without guessing. A specification sheet with measurements and tolerances, construction and seam details, a trim list, labelling and packing requirements, target quantities by colour and size, plus a reference garment or clear sketches from several angles. Quotes produced from a photograph and a paragraph of description are estimates, and they get revised upward once the factory sees what the garment actually takes to make.

Why do factories quote per colour rather than per style?

Because cloth is dyed in lots and every colour is effectively a separate material order carrying its own minimum. A style split across several shades multiplies the fabric commitment even when the total garment count is unchanged, and it adds cutting and handling complexity. That is why range plans looking modest in units turn out expensive in yardage, and why editing colourways is usually the quickest way to bring a season's material commitment down.

How much responsibility do we carry for conditions in a factory we do not own?

More than the ownership structure suggests. Buyers are expected to know their production sites, to verify conditions rather than accept declarations, and to act when something is wrong instead of quietly relocating the order. Purchasing behaviour forms part of it: compressed lead times, late changes and prices ignoring lawful labour costs push suppliers toward unauthorised subcontracting and excessive hours. Sourcing responsibly is as much about how orders are placed as about what gets audited.