The pattern repeats: a founder saves for months, places a 300-piece order, and the shipment arrives with tees that run two sizes small, or a print that lifts after the second wash. The money is gone, the drop is dead, and the brand quietly stops posting. Every mistake below happens before the goods ship, which means every one is still fixable. Here is what goes wrong and what to do instead.
The quote tempts you. At 100 pieces a hoodie costs $18; at 500 it drops to $16.60. Saving $1.40 a unit looks like free money, so you order 500. Now run the real math. At 100 pieces you risk $1,800. At 500 you risk $8,300 to save $700, and you only collect that saving if all 500 sell. Sell 120 and your effective cost per sold piece jumps to $69. Treat run one as a paid experiment. Order the smallest quantity that still buys you real quality, sell it out, then reorder knowing that mediums moved first and black outsold cream three to one. Many factories now open at 20 to 50 pieces per design, which is enough to test a drop without betting your savings on a guess.
The cheapest useful test costs nothing: send a specific question and time the response. A factory that takes six days to answer a simple fabric question will not suddenly move faster once your money is in.
This one has the highest price tag on the list.
A pre-production sample costs you around $30 to $60 and about a week. Skipping it to hit a launch date is how founders discover, 300 units in, that the neck ribbing stretched out or the sleeve sits two centimetres short. When your sample lands, put it through real use. Wear it a full day so you feel where it pulls. Wash it three times at the temperature your customers will actually use, then check whether the print cracked and how much the body shrank. Measure it flat against your spec instead of judging it on a hanger, because a hanger flatters everything. Two sample rounds is normal, not a failure. Fixing a fit problem on one garment costs $40. Fixing it on 300 costs your whole run.
“Boxy.” “Relaxed.” “Slightly oversized.” Send those words to five factories and you get five different shirts back.
Fit is the hardest thing to correct after cutting starts, so hand over numbers instead. For every size you plan to sell, specify body length from the high point of the shoulder, chest width measured flat one inch below the armhole, shoulder-to-shoulder, sleeve length, and hem opening. If you already own a garment that fits the way you want, lay it flat, measure those same five points, and send the photos alongside.
Two tees can carry identical artwork and sell at completely different prices. Weight is most of that gap. Cotton around 180gsm drapes softly and keeps costs down, but it shows through under studio lighting and feels thin next to a $45 price tag. Move to 240gsm and the shirt holds its shape and reads premium. Push to 280gsm and you get the dense, structured hand that heavyweight streetwear buyers pay for, though it costs more per piece and sits warm in hot markets.
There is no correct answer, only a decision you should make yourself. Order swatches, hold them, and wash one before you choose. Your customer forms an opinion in the three seconds it takes to lift the garment out of the mailer, and weight decides most of it.
Each decoration method has a job. Costs spike when you use one for work it was not built for.
Screen printing gives you dense, saturated color and gets cheaper as volume climbs, because the setup spreads across the run. The trap is color count: each color needs its own screen, so a five-color design on 50 pieces can cost more in setup than the garments themselves. Embroidery reads premium on a small chest logo and cannot crack or peel, but thread cannot hold fine detail, thin type, or photographic shading. Digital printing handles full-color and photo art comfortably and suits shorter runs, though large solid areas rarely punch as hard as screen ink.
Send your artwork file and your quantity together, then ask which method they would use and why. A factory that talks you into a cheaper method for your specific design is one worth keeping.
Your sample was perfect. That tells you nothing about pieces 47 through 300.
Before you release final payment, check five things across the batch, not on the single garment sitting on top. Pull pieces from every size and measure them against your spec, allowing about a one-centimetre tolerance. Compare fabric color between cartons, since dye lots shift. Check stitching, seam finish, and neck tape on several units. Look at print placement on at least ten pieces, because registration drifts as screens wear. Confirm your labels, hang tags, and packaging match what you approved.
Do all of it while the goods still sit on the factory floor and your balance is unpaid. That is the only window where a problem is still theirs to fix. Once the money clears and the container lands in your country, every correction becomes your cost.
Every mistake here comes from rushing the part that deserves patience. Nobody loses money slowly checking a sample. They lose it approving a 300-piece order they never measured. Order small, vet properly, sample twice, send numbers, pick your fabric, match your print method, and inspect before you pay. Do that on your first run and the second one gets easier, cheaper, and far less frightening.
Start with the smallest run that still buys real quality, often 20 to 50 pieces per design. Sell it out, note which sizes and colors moved, then reorder against those numbers rather than a forecast.
Roughly five to ten days for a sample and three to five weeks for bulk once you approve it, plus shipping. Add two weeks of buffer for a first order with a new factory, because a second sample round is normal.
No. Heavier cotton feels premium and holds structure, but it costs more per piece and gets uncomfortable in hot markets. Pick the weight your product and your customers need, then keep it identical across reorders so your repeat buyers get the same shirt.
Measurements across every size, fabric color between cartons, stitching and neck tape, print placement on at least ten pieces, and your labels and packaging.
Not without paying for it. A fit change means new patterns and usually another sample round, which is exactly why measurements get settled before cutting begins.
