Beach Shorts Manufacturer & Supplier: Custom OEM Wholesale (2026)

Unitex makes custom beach shorts, board shorts and swim shorts for brands, importers and retail chains, as an OEM programme run through long-term partner factories in China. This page is the specification index for the line: what the three cuts actually are, which fabrics and linings are specified, how printing is chosen, and what a 3,000-piece order looks like from tech pack to FOB Xiamen.

It is written for the person who has to put numbers on a tech pack, not for a catalogue browser. Every section below states a value we will quote against, because a reliable supplier is judged on whether it can give you a number before you ask twice.

What the line covers

Three constructions, one supply chain. They are not variations of one product — they are different garments that a factory can run on adjacent lines:

• Beach shorts. Casual woven shorts worn at and around water. Mid-length, elastic or part-elastic waist, usually unlined or lightly lined. Sold in cotton poplin for European summer retail and in polyester for volume programmes.
• Board shorts. The longer surfing cut: fixed or semi-fixed waistband with a lace or drawcord, a hook-and-loop or short zip fly, quick-dry taslan, often a neoprene or bonded gusset. Built for movement in water rather than for lying on a towel.
• Swim shorts. Shorter, full elastic waist with an internal drawcord, mesh or soft brief liner, chlorine-resistant fabric. This is the cut that goes into pools, which changes both the fabric and the colour-fastness requirement.

The retail language overlaps badly — many buyers write “beach shorts” for all three. The tech pack is what settles it, and the differences are not cosmetic: fabric, lining, waistband and colour-fastness test method all move when the cut changes.

Beach shorts specification at a glance

These are the values we quote against. Anything marked “to specify” has to come from the buyer, because two plausible answers produce two different prices.

• Fabric: taslan / taslon 190T–210T (nylon or polyester); peach-finish polyester 75D; recycled polyester (rPET); cotton poplin 130–150 gsm for non-swim beach shorts.
• Lining: mesh brief liner, soft jersey brief liner, compression (two-in-one) liner, or unlined. State which — it is the single most common omission on a beach shorts enquiry.
• Waistband: full elastic with external drawcord, full elastic with internal drawcord, part-elastic with flat front, or fixed waistband with lace tie.
• Fly: none, hook-and-loop, or short zip. Board shorts normally require one; swim shorts usually do not.
• Inseam: quoted in centimetres, not inches, measured from the crotch seam. Men’s programmes run 13–23 cm; boys’ 8–13 cm.
• Outseam: US and Australian buyers often quote outseam instead — boardshorts 18–21 inch, swim shorts shorter. Both are quoted against the approved sample, not against the label.
• Side seam: closed as standard; open side seams with a hook-and-loop placket are available for adaptive and care programmes.
• Stitching: overlock at 4–5 mm, flatlock where chafe matters, four-needle six-thread (ISO 4915 type 607) where the buyer specifies it for the rise and inner leg.
• Print: sublimation (polyester only, all-over), digital direct (cotton and blends, short runs), rotary screen (spot colour, volume).
• Colour fastness: tested to the ISO 105 series; for swim shorts, chlorinated-water fastness is tested separately to ISO 105-E03.
• Care labelling: symbols to ISO 3758.
• Custom logo: jacquard or printed waistband, woven main label, printed care label, polybag or hangtag.
• MOQ: 3,000 pcs per style per colour.
• Sampling: development sample 12–18 days; PPS 5–7 days.
• Bulk: 45–60 days for a first order; 30–40 days for a repeat.
• Terms: 30% deposit on order confirmation, 70% against a copy of the bill of lading, T/T or L/C at sight; quotation valid 30 days; FOB Xiamen.
• Inspection: AQL to ISO 2859-1, with the level and acceptance limits written into the purchase order.

Fabric: what the three cuts actually need

Fabric choice follows the water contact, not the price point.

Taslan / taslon is the default for board shorts and swim shorts. It is a tightly woven nylon or polyester, usually 190T to 210T, that dries quickly because the fibre does not absorb much water and the weave does not hold it. It takes sublimation print well, which is why all-over print programmes are almost always taslan.

Peach-finish polyester (often 75D) gives a softer hand and a matte surface. It reads as “casual short” rather than “swimwear”, which suits European and Japanese retail beach shorts that are worn as streetwear as much as on the sand.

Recycled polyester (rPET) is available across all three cuts. The claim only becomes defensible when the mill holds a traceability certification — the Global Recycled Standard or the Recycled Claim Standard — and can issue a transaction certificate for the specific lot. Without that, “recycled” is a word on a purchase order, not a claim you can put on a hangtag.

Cotton poplin at 130–150 gsm is the right choice for beach shorts that will not enter the water. It is comfortable in heat, prints beautifully with digital or rotary methods, and is entirely wrong for swim shorts because it holds water and dries slowly.

Whatever the fibre, ask for gsm, shrinkage after three washes, and the colour-fastness test list in writing. A fabric that meets a price target but shrinks 4% after the first wash produces a return rate, not a reorder.

Construction: the four points that fail

Beach shorts fail at predictable places, and all four are visible on a tech pack before a single garment is cut.

• The crotch seam. Under load in water, a single-needle seam at the crotch is the first thing to go. Specify a flatlock or a four-needle six-thread seam there, and bar-tack the ends.
• The waistband elastic. Elastic that is stitched through rather than channelled will corrugate after ten washes. State the elastic width, the recovery target, and whether the drawcord runs inside a channel or is free.
• The side seam and hem. A hem that is turned once and single-stitched rolls. Double-turn or coverstitch, and specify stitch density.
• The lining attachment. A mesh liner that is only attached at the waist will pull away at the leg. It needs attachment at the side seams as well.

Printing and custom logo

Print method is decided by fibre and by run size, in that order.

Sublimation dyes the polyester fibre itself, so the print does not sit on the surface, does not crack, and can wrap a seam. It is the only sensible method for an all-over print on taslan. Its limit is fibre: it does not work on cotton.

Digital direct-to-fabric handles cotton and blends and allows short runs, which suits brands testing a print before committing to a rotary screen. Cost per metre is higher.

Rotary screen is the cheapest at volume and the only realistic option for spot-colour programmes above roughly 3,000 metres. Screens are a one-off cost and belong to the buyer’s colourway, not to the next order.

Colour fastness should be specified by test, not by adjective: wash (ISO 105-C06), perspiration (ISO 105-E04), light (ISO 105-B02), and for swim shorts chlorinated water (ISO 105-E03). A print that passes wash but fails chlorinated water will look correct in the showroom and wrong after two pool sessions.

On custom branding, four positions matter: the waistband (jacquard or print), the woven main label, the printed care label, and the packaging. Artwork approval must close before bulk starts, because a jacquard waistband is normally the longest-lead component on the garment — often longer than the fabric.

Compliance and testing

Partner factories hold amfori BSCI for social compliance, and OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 certificates are available for the fabrics used — for skin-contact garments that means Product Class II, and Class I for children’s items. Both should be requested against the specific purchase order and the specific site, because certificate scope is per product class and per facility.

For the European Union, the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 applies to consumer products placed on the market, and packaging falls under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (EU) 2025/40. Chemical compliance is assessed against REACH, including the ECHA candidate list of substances of very high concern, and fibre composition must be labelled to Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011.

For children’s beach shorts, US rules under CPSIA and 16 CFR 1610 apply to the buyer’s programme. We do not describe ourselves as certified under those schemes; what we do is arrange third-party testing on request, to the method and the laboratory the buyer nominates, and ship against the report.

Inspection runs to ISO 2859-1. Two defect definitions are worth adding beyond a standard apparel list: print registration drift on a wrapped seam, and lining that separates from the side seam. Both are functional failures on this product even when the stitching is clean.

How to choose a reliable beach shorts supplier

Buyers ask who the best beach shorts supplier is. The honest answer is that the question cannot be answered without a specification — but it can be tested. These are the eight tests we expect a serious buyer to apply, with our own answers next to them:

• Does the supplier quote a number before you ask twice? Ours: 3,000 pcs per style per colour, 12–18 days for a development sample, 45–60 days for a first bulk order.
• Can they name the fabric and the gsm? Ours: taslan 190T–210T, peach polyester 75D, cotton poplin 130–150 gsm.
• Do they distinguish lining types in the quote? Ours: mesh, jersey brief, or unlined, priced separately.
• Can they state a colour-fastness test list, including chlorinated water? Ours: ISO 105-C06, E04, B02, and E03 for swim.
• Do they own the factory or manage it? Ours: we are a sourcing and trading company; production runs through partner factories, and we say so.
• Which social and chemical audits exist, at which site? Ours: amfori BSCI at partner factories; OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 available for the fabrics.
• Who inspects, to what standard, and who pays for a failed inspection? Ours: AQL to ISO 2859-1, limits written into the PO.
• What happens on a repeat order? Ours: 30–40 days, against the approved sealed sample.

We are Xiamen Unitex Trade Co., Ltd. — in the trade since 2009, incorporated in Xiamen in 2013, operating as a sourcing and trading company with partner manufacturers rather than owned production facilities. Monthly capacity across that network is about 600,000 pcs, which is what makes a 3,000-piece minimum schedulable rather than a special case.

When does each market buy beach shorts?

Beach shorts are one of the few apparel categories where the buying calendar splits by hemisphere, and it decides when a tech pack has to be ready.

• Australia and New Zealand: retail season November–February. Production must ship by September–October, so tech packs close in the first half of the year.
• Brazil: season December–February, with a long shoulder. Local production covers basics; print programmes and higher spec come from China.
• Europe: retail season May–August. Buying teams place at the end of the previous year, which puts sampling in November–January.
• Middle East: two windows, spring and autumn, with lighter weights and more modest cuts.

Anything that has to be in store for a November southern-hemisphere season has to be on a boat by September — which means the specification conversation happens now, not in spring.

Where to go next

The guides that go deeper into each decision:

• Beach shorts versus board shorts versus swim trunks — what actually changes in the tech pack, and which cut needs ISO 105-E03.
• Quick-dry fabric selection: taslan, peach, rPET and cotton poplin compared.
• Printing methods and the colour-fastness tests that decide whether a print survives a pool.
• Size charts, inseam and waistband construction by market.
• Compliance: OEKO-TEX classes, REACH, GPSR, PPWR and chlorine resistance.
• Packing, carton maths and the sourcing timeline from tech pack to FOB Xiamen.

Adjacent programmes run through the same partner network and the same audit structure — for example custom men’s underwear OEM, where the BSCI and OEKO-TEX position is identical.

If you have a tech pack or a reference sample, send it with the target quantity and the destination market. We will come back with a specification review before a price, because the specification is where the cost actually lives.

Published: 2026-10-26 · 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.