How the order actually gets made
These are the words that appear in your first quote and your first invoice. Get them wrong and you overpay, over-order, or wait months longer than you needed to. This is the money layer.
MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity)
The smallest quantity a factory will run is usually set per style, per color, not per order total. It exists because setup (cutting, screen burning, machine changeover) costs the same whether you make 30 pieces or 300. At GIBBEN CLOTHING, the working floor is 50 pcs for most apparel and 100 pcs for headwear. The decision it drives: whether you launch one color deep or three colors thin, and whether a factory is even the right partner versus print-on-demand at your stage.
CMT (Cut, Make, Trim)
A production model where you supply the fabric and trims and the factory only cuts, sews, and finishes. You pay for labor, not materials. It’s cheaper per unit and gives you total control over fabric sourcing, but it means you’re now the one managing fabric mills, minimums, and delays. The decision it drives: CMT if you have a sourcing edge or specific fabric you must control; full-package if you’d rather hand the whole headache to one partner.
FPP (Full-Package Production, “full package”)
The opposite of CMT: the factory sources everything fabric, trims, labels, packaging and hands you finished, packed goods. One point of contact, one price, one accountability chain. You pay a margin on materials for the convenience. This is the right default for most first-time founders: you’re buying the factory’s supply relationships, which you don’t have yet.
OEM vs. ODM
OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) makes your design to your spec; you own the product. ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) sells you a design they already developed, lightly customized. OEM is slower and pricier, but the garment is genuinely yours; ODM is fast and cheap, but you’re one of many buyers on the same block. For a real brand, OEM is the only path that builds an asset you own.
FOB (Free On Board)
A price that includes everything up to and onto the ship at the origin port but not the sea freight, insurance, or duty after that. When a factory quotes “FOB $6.20,” that’s the garment loaded at, say, Karachi; you own the cost and risk from there. The decision it drives: don’t compare an FOB quote against a landed quote and think one factory is cheaper. Convert everything to landed cost before you decide.
EXW (Ex-Works)
The barest price of all: the goods are yours at the factory gate. Every cost after that local trucking, export clearance, port loading, freight is on you. EXW quotes look the cheapest and hide the most. Only useful if you have your own freight forwarder handling origin logistics; otherwise, FOB is the saner comparison point.
The line-by-line breakdown of what a garment costs to make: fabric consumption, trims, labor (CM “cut & make”), wastage, and factory margin. A good factory will show you the sheet; a cagey one gives you a single number. The decision it drives: knowing your true unit cost is the only way to set a retail price with a real margin and to see which trims you’re over-spending on.
Lead time
The clock from approved order to shipped goods distinct from sampling time, which comes before it. For cut-and-sew apparel, bulk production typically runs 30–60 days depending on fabric availability, decoration complexity, and factory load. The decision it drives: your launch calendar. Add sampling weeks + lead time + freight, then work backwards from your drop date. Founders miss seasons by treating lead time as an afterthought.
Nominated supplier
A specific mill or trim vendor you require the factory to use, rather than leaving material sourcing to them. Common when you’ve locked a signature fabric or a branded YKK zipper. It gives you consistency across production runs and factories, but you inherit responsibility for that supplier’s minimums and delays.
Sampling
The development phase before bulk, where the factory builds and revises your garment until it’s right. Costs more per piece you’re paying for skilled one-off work, not a production line. Rushing or skipping sampling is the single most expensive mistake in the whole process, because errors caught in a sample cost one garment; errors caught in bulk cost the whole run.
PPS (Pre-Production Sample)
The final sign-off sample is made with bulk fabric, bulk trims, and the exact construction the line will use. Approving the PPS is your green light for mass production; nothing should change after it. The decision it drives: this is your last chance to catch a fabric shade, a stitch, or a fit issue before it multiplies across hundreds of units. Approve it in person or on real photos, never on a promise.
TOP sample (Top of Production)
A finished piece pulled from the actual bulk run and sent to you as proof the line matches the approved PPS. It’s your quality receipt evidence that what was shipped is what you signed off. If the TOP sample drifts from the PPS, that’s your leverage to hold the factory accountable before goods leave.
