How to start a clothing brand: planning your first production run

Start with the product and the customer

Most advice on starting a clothing brand begins with the name and the logo. From the factory side, the brands that get through their first production run cleanly start somewhere else: a clear picture of who buys the garment, what they use it for, and what it has to do better than what they already own. That answer drives every manufacturing decision that follows — fabric weight, fit, decoration method and the price you need to sell at.

Write it down in two or three sentences before you contact a factory. 'A heavyweight boxy hoodie for skaters who wear it every day and wash it often' tells a technical reviewer more than a mood board, because it already implies fabric weight, fit and durability requirements.

Pick one to three hero styles

A first collection does not need twelve pieces. Every additional style brings its own pattern, sample rounds, grading and setups, and every one splits a limited budget into smaller runs. One to three hero styles — for example a T-shirt, a hoodie and a tracksuit in the same colour story — let you put the money into getting fit and fabric right.

Where you can, choose styles that share fabric or decoration. A tee and a hoodie carrying the same screen-printed artwork, or a hoodie and joggers cut from the same fleece, keep the number of setups and supplier minimums down.

Turn the idea into a tech pack or a reference garment

A factory quotes and builds from information, not intent. The standard document is a tech pack: flat sketches front and back, a measurement chart with tolerances, a bill of materials covering fabric, trims and labels, artwork with placement and size, and construction notes. Our guide How to prepare a tech pack walks through each page.

If you do not have one yet, a reference garment whose fit you like, plus written notes on what to change, is a workable starting point. A careful manufacturer will tell you which details are missing before quoting rather than guessing them.

Budget for samples and a first run

Custom clothing has no fixed price, so budget by understanding what moves the cost. The main drivers are fabric type and weight; construction time per piece; decoration, meaning the number of methods, colours and placements; trims, labels and packaging; quantity, because patterns, sampling and setups are spread across the run; and freight and duty. Our guide What clothing manufacturing costs explains each input and how they interact.

Plan three separate amounts rather than one: sample development, which may take more than one round; the bulk order itself; and landed costs such as freight, duty and customs clearance. Keep room for a second sample round — first samples rarely come back with nothing to change.

Ready to apply this to a real order?Start an RFQ

Choose a manufacturer and understand the MOQ

Look for a manufacturer whose minimum fits a validation run and whose process you can see: how samples are approved, how quality is checked, and how questions are handled before a quote. Ask what the minimum order applies to — per order, per style, per colour or per size — because a low headline number can hide much larger commitments.

At LOMERAQ the minimum is 25 units per order, split across sizes as you need. Custom-dyed fabric, custom-knit trims, woven labels and printed packaging can carry their own supplier minimums; those are stated in the quote rather than discovered later. Our guide Clothing MOQ explained covers how to plan a 25-unit first order.

Sampling, approval and branding

The sample is where the garment in your head meets the one a sewing line can make. Try it on a real person, wash it, compare the measurements against the tech pack and look at the decoration in daylight. Write down changes with measurements, not adjectives. At LOMERAQ sample development takes a minimum of one to two weeks; that is a planning minimum, not a promise, and further rounds depend on the changes.

Decide the branding alongside the sample, not after it: woven or printed neck labels, care and composition labels, hangtags, polybags or retail packaging. Labelling requirements depend on the market you sell in, so confirm them for your country. Once approved, the sample becomes the reference the bulk run is checked against.

Bulk production, quality control and shipping

Bulk production starts from the approved sample and the confirmed specification. Timing depends on quantity and complexity and is quoted per project, so plan your launch date backwards from the quoted date, not the other way round. At LOMERAQ cutting, sewing and finishing run in-house; embroidery and printing run at vetted partner units, with proofing and sample approval managed in-house.

Quality control runs at three gates: inbound materials, inline during sewing, and a final check against the approved sample. Before the goods ship, agree the Incoterms, the freight mode and who handles customs clearance; shipping terms are agreed per order. Duty depends on the product, its classification and the origin and destination countries — our guide to import duties on clothing explains how to estimate it.

Plan the reorder, then work through the checklist

A first run is a test. Track which sizes and colours sell, collect fit feedback and note any quality comments before you reorder. Keep the approved sample and the final tech pack together: a reorder built on the same approved specification is simpler than the first run, and surplus labels or packaging left over from trim minimums can be used again.

The order of work for a first production run:

1. Define the customer and what the garment has to do.
2. Choose one to three hero styles that share fabric or decoration where possible.
3. Prepare a tech pack, or a reference garment with written changes.
4. Budget separately for samples, the bulk order and landed costs.
5. Ask manufacturers what their minimum applies to and which supplier minimums apply.
6. Send the RFQ with quantity, sizes, colours, decoration, labels and packaging.
7. Check the sample on a real person, after washing, against the measurement chart.
8. Approve the sample and the branding in writing.
9. Confirm bulk timing, Incoterms and your duty estimate before production starts.
10. Check the delivery against the approved sample, then plan the reorder from sales data.