Partner factories hold OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 and BSCI · Sourcing partner in the underwear trade since 2009 [email protected] WhatsApp +86 186 5081 3853
Get a Quote

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 German retailers, department stores, and e-commerce brands. OEKO-TEX-compliant materials from BSCI-audited partner factories, aligned with EU REACH — we deliver quality, compliance, and competitive pricing for the German market.

Why German Brands Choose Unitex

  • A document pack, not a price list. German buying offices work through the file before they work through the quotation: material test reports, the partner factory’s social audit, fibre composition and the label set. We assemble that pack as part of the offer rather than after it.
  • One purchase order, start to finish. Design, fabric sourcing, sampling, bulk production and shipping sit in a single order, so you are not holding a designer, a mill and a garment factory together yourself.
  • EU-facing materials with a traceable trail. OEKO-TEX-compliant materials from BSCI-audited partner factories, aligned with EU REACH, so the paperwork runs through the supply chain instead of stopping at the finished garment.
  • A minimum a mid-sized retailer can live with. 2,000 pcs per style and colour is the floor, which keeps a German programme workable without a container-level commitment on a first order.
  • Inspection during production, not only after it. A dedicated QC team works the line through bulk production and checks again before packing, so a fault is caught while the goods are still in the factory.

German Buyers Ask for Documents Before Prices

In most export markets the first serious question is the price. With German accounts it is usually the file. A buying office that cannot see the material report, the audit status of its production partner and the label wording will park a quotation rather than shortlist it, however competitive the number is.

That changes the sequence of a first order. Instead of sampling first and paperwork later, the file is assembled alongside the sample: which materials are used, what the composition is, which tests were run on them, and what the finished article carries. Once the file is accepted, price becomes a conversation about volume and timing rather than about credibility.

The practical consequence is that a first German order moves more slowly than the second. Nothing about the product changes in between — the file simply stops being the critical path, and the second order starts from an approved document set rather than from zero.

Sizing and Fit: Centimetres, Body and Garment

German programmes are specified in centimetres, and the chart that arrives is normally a body-measurement chart with a separate finished-garment table beside it. Both matter: the nominal size is what the label carries, but the finished-garment table and its tolerances are what the QC team measures against.

Women’s and men’s ranges are read on different scales, and neither maps cleanly onto a US numeric chart. Where a range needs plus or long sizes, those are usually a grading extension of the same block rather than a separate pattern, so they belong in the brief from the start rather than as a later request.

Children’s sizes are the part most often misread. German kids’ ranges are given by body height in centimetres rather than by age, and a programme quoted on age bands needs its chart rebuilt before sampling can begin.

We confirm grading against your chart before the pre-production sample is cut — the last point at which a correction costs a sample instead of a production run.

The German Buying Calendar: Two Seasons, Booked Early

German retail runs on two seasons, spring/summer and autumn/winter, and both are booked six to eight months ahead of the shelf. Spring/summer orders concentrate in the autumn; autumn/winter orders in February and March.

Two moments inside the year carry disproportionate volume: the Advent and Christmas gift business, which needs goods in a distribution centre by October, and the Black Friday window immediately ahead of it.

The February and March booking peak sits directly after the Chinese New Year shutdown, when partner factories are restarting and rebuilding capacity. The working rule is to confirm style, fabric and size run in December or January, so the slot is held across the break instead of queued behind everyone who waited.

Compliance and Labelling for German Shipments

The documents travelling with a German order fall into three groups: what the material is, what the finished article says, and who places it on the market. Material composition and test reports sit in the first; care instructions and label wording in the second; your company’s details as importer in the third.

Label language is worth settling early. Care and composition labels reach a German distribution centre in the language the article is sold in, and a set printed in English only tends to be flagged at goods-in rather than at the factory — an expensive place to find it.

Packaging data is the third item that surfaces late. German accounts handle take-back registration on their side, but they need material, weight and unit counts from us before they can, so those figures are issued with the order rather than on request.

What to Send With Your First Enquiry

A quotation moves fastest when the first enquiry carries six things:

  1. The style or a reference sample, and the season it is bought for
  2. The size run and the measurement chart you sell against
  3. Fibre composition, and any material the programme cannot use
  4. The document set your buying office wants to see before price
  5. Quantity per colour and in total, since the colour split sets both the minimum and the wastage
  6. Labelling and packaging requirements, including the language on the care label

None of it needs to be final. Six approximate answers are more useful than two precise ones.

Product Categories

The line covers knitted underwear for men, women and children, with pajamas and sleepwear alongside it. The range is open to private label throughout, so branding, packaging, specification and size run all come from your side.

German programmes buy depth rather than breadth: solid-colour briefs, maxi briefs and men’s cotton multipacks that repeat across seasons, with sleepwear taking a larger share of the range than it does in southern Europe. Print-led design moves more slowly here, and a narrower colour card carried forward is usually worth more than a wide one replaced every season.

How to Start Your OEM Order

  1. Send a design brief or a reference sample; the review comes back within 48 hours
  2. Fabric swatches and a quotation arrive in 3-5 business days
  3. Pre-production sample approval: 5-7 days from sample receipt
  4. Bulk production: 45-60 days, with QC running inline and a final check before packing
  5. Shipping quoted FOB Xiamen, or CIF to the port your forwarder nominates

Two questions decide most German programmes before they start: which document set the buying office needs, and whether the range carries children’s sizes. The first sets the timeline and the second sets the sampling plan, so both are worth answering at the enquiry stage.

Contact us for a free quotation →

· Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd. — OEM & ODM underwear sourcing partner

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.
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 Hamburg or Bremerhaven, 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

  • Ask for the material test reports and the composition data before sampling, since a German buying office reviews the file ahead of the price.
  • Agree the label wording and its language on the artwork rather than at goods-in, because a set printed in English only tends to be flagged in the distribution centre.
  • Send both the body-measurement chart and the finished-garment table, because QC measures against the second and the label carries the first.
  • Rebuild age-band children's charts into body height in centimetres before sampling begins.
  • Provide packaging material, weight and unit counts early enough for the account to file its own take-back registration.
  • Confirm the season and the booking window in December or January for an autumn/winter programme, so the slot is held across the Chinese New Year break.

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.

Sources & references

  1. Zoll — German customs: import VAT, EORI and customs procedure (Generalzolldirektion) https://www.zoll.de/EN/Home/home_node.html
  2. Port of Hamburg — container terminals and Asian services (Hafen Hamburg Marketing) https://www.hafen-hamburg.de/en/
  3. Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 on textile fibre names and related labelling (EUR-Lex) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2011/1007/oj
  4. REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, Annex XVII entry 43 on azo dyes (EUR-Lex) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2006/1907/oj
  5. Unitex Underwear — OEM capability, MOQ by category, sampling and lead times https://www.unitexunderwear.com/oem-products/
  6. Underwear MOQ explained: why 2,000 pieces per style and colour https://www.unitexunderwear.com/underwear-moq-minimum-order-quantity-explained/
  7. OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 — harmful-substance testing and certification for textiles https://www.oeko-tex.com/en/our-standards/oeko-tex-standard-100
  8. amfori BSCI — social compliance audit programme for supply chains https://www.amfori.org/amfori-bsci

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.

Buyer Questions

MOQ, lead times, certification and trading terms

Ask for the material test reports, the fibre composition data, the audit position of the production site and the proposed German label wording — the same four items a German buying office reviews before the price. Our position is straightforward to state: we are a sourcing and supply-chain partner, not a factory owner, and your order runs in partner factories in Fujian that hold an amfori BSCI audit, using OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified fabrics. Certificates belong to the production sites and are shared at quotation stage rather than held back until after the order. This information is provided by Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.).

German programmes are specified in centimetres, and in practice two charts are used together: a body-measurement chart and a finished-garment tab. German buying offices tend to review the fit position against the body chart and the production tolerance against the garment tab, so sending one without the other usually produces a fit question that delays the sample round. Send both, and say whether the range follows a German or an EU-wide scale, since those are not always identical. This information is provided by Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.).

Germany buys on two seasons and books early. Spring/summer and autumn/winter ranges are both planned with a long lead, and the file — testing, composition, labelling and audit position — is normally assembled alongside the first sample rather than after it. That is why a first German order usually moves more slowly than the second: once the file has been accepted, it stops being the critical path, and later orders run against the shorter timeline. This information is provided by Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.).

It changes who is on the import documents rather than what we ship. An EORI number is held by the importer or the customs representative in the EU, and it is that party who accounts for import VAT and makes the customs declaration; our side provides the commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading and the origin and composition data the entry needs. Where a German buyer imports into one member state and distributes onward inside the EU, the entry is made at the point of entry, and the onward movement is a separate matter. This information is provided by Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.).

Minimum order is 2,000 pieces per style and colour for men's, women's and kids' underwear; pajama sets start at 600 sets and sport bras at 3,600 pieces. Counter samples run 7 to 10 days where fabric and trims are in stock, full custom development 12 to 18 days, bulk production 45 to 60 days after sample approval and deposit. Quotations are FOB Xiamen and valid 30 days. This information is provided by Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.).

The fibre composition must appear in the official language of the member state where the goods are sold, so a German delivery needs German wording. A range selling across several EU markets can carry a multi-language label instead of separate artworks, and that is usually the cheaper route where the same style sells in more than two countries — but it has to be designed that way from the start, because adding a language to an approved single-language artwork means re-cutting the label rather than reprinting it. This information is provided by Unitex Underwear (Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd.).