Own-brand apparel: you are not buying garments, you are buying a size curve

The order is a matrix and you have to nominate its shape

A factory quotes a minimum per style, usually repeated per colourway, and you then allocate that quantity across a size range. The ratio you choose is a forecast of your customers' bodies made before you have any customers, and demand is rarely symmetrical: it concentrates in the middle and tails away unevenly at both ends, differently by garment type and by market. What remains after the middle sells is a set of extreme sizes that discount poorly because the people who wanted them have already been disappointed. Adding a second colourway doubles the whole exercise rather than merely adding options.

Fabric commitments sit above garment commitments

Mills have their own minimums, generally per colour and per dye lot, and cloth must be bought before anything is cut. A garment order too small to consume a viable fabric quantity leaves you paying for cloth you do not use, accepting a mill's stock fabric that competitors also use, or paying a premium for someone else's surplus. Dye lots also vary, so a repeat order in the same colour may not match the first, which matters when two production runs meet on a rail or in a customer's wardrobe. Confirm the fabric position before treating a garment quotation as real.

Fit is the craft, and the specification has to carry it

A technical package with measurement points, tolerances, grade rules between sizes and construction detail is what makes a garment reproducible; without one you are approving a sample and hoping bulk resembles it. Fit sessions on real bodies catch what a flat measurement will not, and drift between sample and production is normal enough that it should be checked rather than assumed. This matters commercially because fit drives returns, and returns in fitted garments consume the margin and often the unit as well. The pattern and grading you develop are assets worth owning outright rather than leaving with a factory.

What must appear on a garment, and who is asking about the site

Fibre composition, care guidance, size marking, origin and the languages in which these appear are governed differently across markets, and getting them wrong can stop a shipment or a listing rather than merely embarrassing you. Separately, buyers of any scale will ask about conditions at the site that made the goods, and expect documentation rather than reassurance. Both areas change and both depend on your specific markets and customers, so this is orientation for planning rather than legal guidance — confirm the detail before artwork and labels are committed to print.

A season closes, and online returns finish the job

Apparel demand is bounded by weather and by a retail calendar, so stock that misses its window cannot simply wait: it carries storage cost, occupies cash, and re-emerges next year alongside a newer range that makes it look old. Meanwhile the return rate in online clothing is high by the standards of almost any other category, and returned garments are not always in a condition to resell. A gross margin that looked generous at the point of ordering can be entirely consumed by end-of-season markdown and by units that travelled to a customer and back without ever being sold.

Frequently asked questions

How do I choose a size ratio for a style I have never sold?

Borrow evidence rather than guessing from instinct. Comparable products in your market, the returns data of any similar item you already sell, and the factory's experience of what other customers order in that garment type all give a better starting point than intuition. Then skew conservative at the extremes on the first run and correct on the second, since being short of a popular size costs you a sale while being long of an unpopular one costs you the whole unit.

Should I own the patterns and graded specifications?

Yes, and agree it in writing before development starts. Patterns and grade rules are the part of the work that makes your fit reproducible somewhere else, and a factory that holds them holds your ability to move. Ask for the graded files, the technical package and a sealed reference sample as deliverables. Whether you paid separately for development or had it absorbed into unit pricing changes the negotiation, so settle ownership while you still have something to trade.

Is it worth adding a second colourway to a first production run?

Usually not. A second colour typically means a second minimum, a second fabric commitment, a second set of size decisions and twice the stock spread across the same uncertain demand. It also splits the sales history that would otherwise tell you clearly whether the style works. Prove the style in one colour, then use real sell-through to choose the next, which is a far better guide than a mood board or a supplier's suggestion.