Minimum order quantities for custom apparel from China

Short answer. A Chinese clothing factory normally asks for 500 to 1,000 pieces per style and per colour for fully custom cut-and-sew garments. Decorating stock blanks (print or embroidery) starts at 50 to 200 pieces. Trading companies and sourcing agents reach 100 to 300 pieces on custom work. The minimum is a negotiation about fabric, set-up cost and line time, not a fixed rule.

What a minimum order quantity means

The minimum order quantity is the smallest run a factory will accept at the quoted price. In apparel it is almost always stated per style and per colour, sometimes also per size. "MOQ 300" for a hoodie in three colours usually means 900 pieces, not 300. Ask the factory to write the minimum per style, per colour and per size on the quote so there is no surprise later.

Why factories set minimums

• Fabric minimums. A mill sells dyed or printed fabric by the roll, often 300 to 500 metres per colour. At about one metre per T-shirt that is a floor of several hundred pieces before the factory has cut anything.
• Set-up costs. Screen-print screens, embroidery digitising, pattern grading and sample making are fixed costs. They are spread across the run.
• Line time. A sewing line set up for one style needs a few hundred pieces to justify the change-over.
• Workload. A busy factory quotes a high minimum to filter out small orders. The same factory quotes lower in a quiet month.

Typical figures in 2026

Indicative ranges per style and colour, from published supplier data and our own quotes:

Product	Factory direct	Through an agent	Trading company
Custom cut-and-sew T-shirts and hoodies	500 to 1,000	300 to 500	100 to 300
Technical sportswear	1,000 to 3,000	500 to 1,000	200 to 500
Print or embroidery on stock blanks	200 to 500	100 to 300	50 to 150
Knitwear	500 to 1,500	300 to 800	100 to 300
Caps (custom, per colour)	100 to 300	50 to 100	50

Treat these as a starting point for negotiation, not as a price list.

Six ways to get a smaller first run

1. Decorate stock blanks. Print or embroider on a blank the factory already stocks. Minimums drop to 50 to 100 pieces and lead time halves.
2. Use stock fabric colours. Custom-dyed fabric sets the floor. A stock colour from the mill removes it.
3. One fabric, several styles. If a T-shirt, a shorts and a cap share the same fabric, the mill minimum is met once.
4. Fewer colourways. Two colours instead of four halves the quantity you must commit to.
5. Pay a surcharge. Many factories accept half the minimum at 10 to 30 percent more per piece. Ask.
6. Go through an agent or trading company. They combine small orders across clients. The unit price is higher and the minimum lower.

A real example: for a client's custom cap, two factories quoted 50 and 100 pieces per colour. The second was negotiated to about 60 per colour for a two-colour order. The lever was fewer colours plus a slightly higher unit price.

What to put in your request

Give the factory the design file, the garment type, the fabric weight (for example 220 gsm cotton), the colours with Pantone codes, the size split, the decoration method, the packaging and the delivery country. A factory that has all of this quotes faster and quotes lower, because it does not have to price the unknowns.

Further reading

Read how to read a China quote before you compare offers, and the GPSR responsible person guide if you sell to consumers in the European Union. Custom goods go through Source; prices are on Pricing.