Based in Xiamen, Fujian Province and working with partner factories in the Xiamen–Quanzhou–Jinjiang knitwear cluster of south-east China, Unitex Underwear is a China-based OEM & ODM underwear supplier serving US retailers, department stores, and e-commerce brands. CPSIA-aligned testing, OEKO-TEX-compliant materials, and BSCI-audited partner factories — we deliver quality, compliance, and competitive pricing for the US market.
Why US Brands Choose Unitex
- Two approval tracks, not one. Adult and children’s programmes are sampled, tested and documented separately from the first round, so a kids’ line never inherits a file assembled for adults.
- The whole route inside a single order. Design, fabric sourcing, sampling, bulk production and shipping sit in one purchase order, so you are not stitching a designer, a mill and a garment factory together.
- Retail-ready packing settled before the goods are made. Hang tags, barcodes, polybag wording and carton markings are agreed on the tech pack rather than after production, and export documentation for US customs entry is prepared on our side.
- A minimum sized for a mid-market retailer. 2,000 pcs per style and colour is the floor, which lets you build a colour range and a full size run without container-scale volume on a first order.
- Inspection runs inside production, not only at the end. A dedicated QC team is on the line during bulk production and again at final packing, and every batch is checked before it ships rather than in a US warehouse.
Children’s and Adult Programmes Clear Different Gates
A US assortment carrying both kids and adults is not one compliance exercise with a wider size range. It is two tracks that separate at sampling and stay apart through testing, labelling and packing.
The children’s track has its own testing and documentation, aligned to CPSIA, and it needs to be settled before sampling rather than after. An adult brief and a girl’s brief can use the same fabric and construction and still not share an approval file: the testing attaches to the article as sold, at the size it is sold in.
The adult track is lighter on testing and heavier on retail presentation. Hang tags, barcodes, size stickers and carton markings come from the account rather than a rulebook, and they are the part most often discovered late. A ticketed, barcode-ready pack belongs on the tech pack before production, not in a message three weeks before shipping.
The working rule for a mixed programme: place the children’s styles first and let the adults follow. Sampling and testing on the kids’ side take longer, and starting both together usually means the adult order waits for the children’s file instead of shipping on schedule.
Sizing: Inches, Numeric Runs and Misses
US sizing is numeric and inch-based, and that is the first thing to change on a tech pack. Waist, hip, rise and inseam are read in inches, and a chart carried over from a European programme causes misreads in the pattern room.
The second is the size range. A programme that stops at XL leaves the misses and plus business on the table, and extending it is not a matter of adding rows to a chart: grading above the standard run is not linear.
The third is the teen and junior market, sized on its own scale rather than by shrinking adult measurements. Where kids’ and teen programmes share an order, send both charts separately.
For a first order we work from the chart you sell with the measurements behind it, and confirm grading before the pre-production sample is cut — the last point at which a correction costs a sample rather than a run.
The US Buying Calendar and the March Crunch
US demand runs on three peaks rather than one season: the spring reset in February and March, back-to-school from July into September, and the holiday multipack and gift-set business from late October through December.
Line those peaks up against production and the pressure lands in one window. Holiday goods must be on a US shelf by October: production in August and September, the order in June or July. Back-to-school goods must land in June: production in April and May, the order in February or March.
That February–March window sits right after the Chinese New Year shutdown, when partner factories restart and rebuild capacity — our busiest booking period. The working rule: place back-to-school programmes before the break rather than after it. Confirm the style, the fabric and the size run in December or January, and the slot is held through the shutdown instead of queued behind everyone who waited until March.
Compliance and Labelling for US Shipments
Compliance splits into the part travelling with the fabric and the part belonging to the destination. On the material side, our partner factories work to OEKO-TEX-compliant materials and hold BSCI social audits, and the material documentation can be issued with the shipment so your importer has it on file before the goods arrive.
On the destination side the variables are fibre composition, care instructions, country of origin and importer identification. For children’s styles the testing file sits on top of those, which is why a mixed order is planned as two lines.
Tell us the destination, the category and the age group, and we will say which documents we can issue and which your importer arranges.
What to Send With Your First Enquiry
A first enquiry reaches a quotation fastest when it carries six things:
- The style or a reference sample, and whether the programme is adults only or mixed
- Which US port you ship into, which shapes the freight plan rather than the price
- The size run you sell, with measurements in inches
- A target FOB band, so fabric and trims can be proposed inside it rather than around it
- Quantity per colour and in total, because the split drives both the minimum and the wastage
- Packaging and ticketing requirements, including whether the pack has to arrive retail-ready
None of it has to be final. Six rough answers beat two exact ones.
Product Categories
The line runs across knitted underwear for men, women and children, with pajamas and sleepwear alongside it. Everything is open to private label: your branding, packaging, specification and size run.
For US accounts the steady sellers split by channel. Multipacks of cotton and cotton-blend men’s basics carry the grocery and mass channel; women’s briefs and bikinis in solid colours do the same in mid-market retail. Kids’ and teen programmes work on print-led design and colour, where the children’s testing track has to be settled before sampling.
How to Start Your OEM Order
- Send a design brief or a reference sample; the review is back with you within 48 hours
- Fabric swatches and a price follow in 3-5 business days
- Pre-production sample: a 5-7 day approval cycle
- Bulk production: 45-60 days, with inspection running on the line and again at final packing
- Shipping quoted FOB Xiamen, or CIF to the US port you nominate
Almost every US programme starts with the same two questions: adults only or children’s as well, and does the pack have to be retail-ready. Answering both at the enquiry saves a round later, because the first changes the sampling plan and the second the packing.
Contact us for a free quotation →
· Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd. — OEM & ODM underwear sourcing partner
| Supplier | Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.) — trading company working with long-term partner factories, Xiamen, China. |
|---|---|
| Business model | Sourcing and supply-chain management; works with long-term BSCI-audited partner factories; owns no production facilities |
| Trade since | 2009; incorporated as Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd. in 2013 |
| Location | Xiamen, Fujian Province, China — Jimei District, Xinglinwan Business Operation Center |
| Production base | Partner factories across the Xiamen–Quanzhou–Jinjiang knitwear corridor; liaison office inside the Jinjiang factory district since 2013 |
| Categories | Men's, women's and kids' knitted underwear; plus size to 5XL; thermal and baselayers; pajamas and sleepwear; sport bras |
| MOQ | men's and women's 2,000 pcs per style and colour; kids' 3,600 pcs per style and colour; sleepwear 600 sets; sport bras 3,600 pcs |
| Salesman sample | 50 pcs per style and colour, cotton men's adult boxer briefs and briefs, price on request |
| Sampling lead time | 7–10 days counter samples (stock fabric); 12–18 days fully custom development |
| Bulk lead time | 45–60 days after pre-production sample approval |
| Inspection | AQL 2.5 inline and final inspection; SGS, Intertek and TÜV third-party inspection welcome |
| Certifications evidenced at partner sites | amfori BSCI; OEKO-TEX Standard 100 |
| Trade terms | FOB Xiamen standard; CIF Long Beach or New York, DDP on request |
| Payment | 30% T/T deposit, 70% against copy of B/L; L/C at sight for larger programmes. On some programmes the balance — or the full value — is collected before shipment, where the payment route, the trade term (for example EXW) or an order value too small to carry a post-shipment balance puts the risk on the supplier rather than on the buyer's market; the sequence that applies is stated on the quotation. |
| Contact | [email protected] · WhatsApp +86 186 5081 3853 |
Buyer checklist
- Decide at the enquiry whether the programme is adults only or mixed, because the children's testing file is built before sampling rather than after it.
- Ask what testing applies to each article at the size it will be sold in, rather than assuming one file covers a kids' and adult range.
- Send the size run with measurements in inches, and say whether the range extends into misses and plus sizes.
- Put the ticketing, barcode and carton marking requirements on the tech pack before production starts.
- Place children's styles ahead of adult styles where both sit in the same programme, so the adult order is not held back by the kids' file.
- Confirm the US destination port at the enquiry stage; it shapes the freight plan even though it does not move the unit price.
Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.)
Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.) — OEM/ODM underwear sourcing and supply-chain partner in Xiamen, China; in the trade since 2009, incorporated in 2013. Based in the Xiamen–Quanzhou–Jinjiang knitwear cluster, Fujian Province, south-east China.