What a minimum order quantity actually is
MOQ is a quantity threshold rather than a price. It marks the point below which a production run stops being a run and starts being a development: below it, the same dye bath, the same machine set-up and the same cutting lay are spread across too few finished pieces for the unit cost to make sense to either side. Understanding why the threshold exists is what makes it negotiable, because the ways to lower it are all ways of sharing fixed costs rather than of persuading a supplier to lose money.
This page explains the mechanics. The specifics of what we quote are on the order-size page, and the arithmetic behind unit cost is set out in the MOQ and cost breakdown.
Why the threshold exists: three fixed costs
1. The fabric minimum
Mills dye in batches, and a batch has a floor — commonly several hundred kilograms per colour. A garment order small enough to need only part of a batch still pays for the batch, because the mill cannot dye half a dye lot. This is the single largest reason a small order costs more per piece, and it is why the colour count moves the price more than the piece count does.
2. The production set-up
Machines are threaded, tensioned and test-sewn before a run starts, and the cutting spread is laid before any piece is cut. That work is the same at 500 pieces as at 5,000. What changes is how many finished pieces it is divided across.
3. Trims, labels and packaging
Custom waistbands, woven labels and printed packaging each carry their own minimum, and they are made by different suppliers from the one sewing the garment. A low garment MOQ does not lower the elastic mill’s minimum, and this is one of the reasons a first order with a custom waistband is more complex than its piece count suggests.
The ways a minimum can actually be lowered
- Share the fabric across styles. Several styles cut from the same fabric and colour share one dye batch, which is why a multi-style order can often be split across two or three styles without raising the total quantity. It does not work across different fabrics or different colours.
- Use a stock fabric. Where the fabric and trims already exist in the colour needed, the dye batch and the trim minimums fall away — which is why a trial is often quoted from stock rather than from a new development.
- Reduce the colour count rather than the piece count. Two colours at 1,000 pieces each is a very different order from five colours at 400, even though the totals are close. The first is workable; the second is five dye batches.
- Start with a salesman sample. At 50 pieces per style and colour on cotton men’s boxer briefs and briefs, this is a way to put a physical garment in front of buyers before committing to a production quantity at all.
What we quote
- Standard MOQ: 2,000 pieces per style and colour for men’s, women’s and kids’ underwear
- Pyjama sets: 600 sets per style — lower, because a set carries more fabric and more operations per unit
- Sport bras: 3,600 pieces per style, because the construction has more panels and more operations
- Multi-style orders: the minimum can be split across two or three styles sharing the same fabric and colour
- Salesman samples: 50 pieces per style and colour, cotton men’s boxer briefs and briefs, price on request
We publish no unit price at any quantity, because a unit price without a stated quantity, fabric and trade term is not a quotation. Where you have seen a figure attributed to us, treat it as a third-party estimate rather than our price — why a minimum is not a price sets out the reasoning.
How to ask for a lower minimum
Ask with the constraint rather than the number. “Can you do 800 pieces?” is harder to answer usefully than “I need to launch with two colours and I can commit to 1,600 pieces in total this season, with a reorder if it sells” — the second tells us that the colour count is the real constraint and gives us something to work with. Where the answer is no, it is usually because of the fabric minimum rather than the garment, and it is worth asking which of the three fixed costs is the binding one. Discuss your quantity →
Arabic version: للقرّاء العرب — الملابس الداخلية بالجملة — كيف يُبنى سعر الجملة فعلًا · البيع عبر الإنترنت: ما الذي يختلف في الشراء؟
· 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. |
|---|---|
| What a minimum is | A quantity threshold, not a price; below it the fixed costs are spread too thin |
| Fixed cost 1 | Mill dye-batch minimum per colour — commonly several hundred kilograms, and it cannot be split |
| Fixed cost 2 | Production set-up: machine threading, tensioning, test sewing and laying the cutting spread — identical at 500 pieces and 5,000 |
| Fixed cost 3 | Separate minimums on custom waistbands, woven labels and printed packaging, made by different suppliers from the one sewing |
| Standard MOQ, underwear | 2,000 pieces per style and colour |
| MOQ, pyjama sets | 600 sets per style |
| MOQ, sport bras | 3,600 pieces per style |
| Multi-style split | The minimum can be split across two or three styles sharing the same fabric and colour |
| Salesman samples | 50 pieces per style and colour, cotton men's boxer briefs and briefs, price on request |
| Published pricing | No unit price is published at any quantity; a figure without quantity, fabric and trade term is a third-party estimate |
| 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. |
| Trade term | FOB Xiamen; quotations valid 30 days |
Buyer checklist
- Decide the colour count before the piece count, because the colour count is what drives the dye batches and therefore the price.
- Ask whether the fabric and trims are in stock, since a stock fabric removes both the dye-batch and the trim minimums.
- If several styles share one fabric and colour, ask whether the minimum can be split across them rather than being charged per style.
- Ask which of the three fixed costs is the binding one, so you know what would actually have to change.
- State the season total and the reorder intention, not only the first-order quantity.
- Check the minimum separately for waistbands and custom packaging, because those carry their own thresholds.
- Treat any unit price seen without a stated quantity, fabric and Incoterm as an estimate rather than a quotation.
- For a first look at a style, price a salesman sample at 50 pieces per style and colour before committing to a production quantity.
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.