Guide · Private Label
Private label is the point where a fleece jacket stops being a purchase and becomes a product line. Instead of reselling a distributor's blank with your logo added, you manufacture a garment to a defined pattern-level specification: weight, colors, labels and packaging. Keeping that specification gives you a clear basis for a future inquiry; it does not guarantee that a later order will be identical, available or priced the same. This guide walks through how a private label fleece program runs with a manufacturer: the minimums, pattern decisions, branding steps and timeline.
Step 1: The minimum, and what it buys
Minimums are confirmed per style at quotation. The recorded examples are specific: listed Polar Fleece Jacket, Polar Fleece Vest, Three Layer Softshell Jacket and CVC Crewneck Sweatshirt SKUs carry 5,000 pieces, and the listed Multi-pocket Vest With Padding (Micro Fiber) SKU carries 3,000 pieces. Those figures do not create blanket thresholds for every fleece, softshell, padded or quilted style.
Whether a minimum is per style or can be treated differently, and whether colors and sizes can be combined within it, is confirmed by quotation. A first program might start with one jacket style and a limited color set; adding a vest or a second weight step later should be treated as a new specification to quote, not as an assumed extension.
Step 2: The pattern block decision
Every private label program chooses one of three pattern routes:
- House block, your colors and branding. Start from an existing, production-proven block — our basic full-zip jacket is the usual origin — and change colors, labels and logo placement. Fastest to sample, lowest risk, and the right route for most first seasons.
- Adjusted block. Take the house block and move the details: collar height, pocket configuration, panel and patchwork construction, cuff and hem finishes, a women's or extended size grading. This is where a program becomes recognizably yours while staying on proven fit geometry.
- Your tech pack (full OEM). Send your own pattern and specification; we develop it through sampling to bulk. The route for established brands with their own fit standards — allow one extra sampling round in your calendar.
Whichever route you choose, the sample is the contract: sampling takes 7 days in our program, a regular sample is free of charge (courier on your account), and bulk is produced against the approved sample's fabric, weight and construction — not against a description of it.
Step 3: Branding, executed in production
Private label branding on fleece is a set of small, permanent decisions. Chest embroidery is the standard logo execution — on fleece it is worked with a backing that stabilizes the pile so the stitching sits clean — with printed graphics available where a design needs area rather than thread. Woven main labels carry your brand at the neck; size labels, care labels and hangtags follow your market's requirements; retail programs add branded polybags or boxes. Two practical notes: decide logo placement on the physical sample, not on a mock-up (pile depth changes how embroidery reads), and lock your label artwork before the sampling round so the sample you approve is the garment you will ship.
Step 4: Timeline and quality gates
| Stage | Timing |
|---|---|
| Sampling | 7 days |
| Trial order | 14 days |
| Small order | 21 days |
| Bulk production — China base | 35 days |
| Bulk production — Myanmar base | 90–120 days |
Production times exclude freight; quotations are valid for 30 days and payment runs by credit card, wire transfer or PayPal. Every bulk order passes outgoing inspection at AQL 2.5 / 4.0, and third-party inspection (SGS or ITS) is accepted. Certifications held include BSCI, Sedex, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, GRS and OEKO-TEX; that name-level statement does not certify a particular fabric or garment. The manufacturer page sets out the factory behind these numbers.
What private label costs — and what it should not
Buyers new to manufactured programs often brace for development fees that structured factories do not charge. In our program there is no pattern fee for working from or adjusting house blocks, a regular sample is free (courier on your account), and a fully custom sample carries a sampling fee that is normally credited against the bulk order. The real costs of a private label program are the ones already on the quotation: fabric at your specified weight, construction, branding execution and freight. Where money does get spent unnecessarily is late changes — artwork after sampling, color changes after fabric reservation, size-ratio changes after cutting. The discipline that keeps a program cheap is not negotiation; it is freezing decisions at the stage the timeline assigns them to.
Mistakes that mark a first program
- Launching with too many styles. Three styles at threshold volume each is three programs' worth of sampling, fabric and risk. One jacket, executed properly, teaches you your size curve and color performance; the vest and the second weight step join at re-order, when the data exists.
- Speccing fabric by photograph. Fleece weight cannot be judged from a picture, and pile appearance changes with light. Always approve on the physical sample and record the GSM in the order — the GSM ladder is written to be quoted back at any supplier.
- Designing labels last. Label artwork has its own production lead time and its own errors. Woven labels should be in development the week sampling starts, not the week bulk sewing ends.
- Skipping the wash-and-wear trial. Put the approved sample on a real wearer for a real week, wash it on the real cycle, and only then release bulk. Every experienced private label buyer has a story about the program that skipped this step; none of the stories end well.
- No re-order plan. Decide at launch what triggers a re-order (stock level, season date) and keep the approved sample and spec sheet with the person who will place it. Programs fail at handover more often than at production.
Step 5: Re-orders — the actual point
A private label program is tested at the second order. Keeping the fabric spec, pattern block and label set on file can make the next inquiry faster, because the starting specification is clear. It does not eliminate the need to confirm current fabric availability, colors, production slot, minimum and price by quotation, and it does not guarantee against stock-outs or substitutions. If your volumes are approaching a recorded SKU minimum, spec the style through the wholesale fleece program page and ask for the private label options in the same inquiry; if they are not there yet, compare the blank route on its own terms.