Minimum Order Quantity, or MOQ for short, is one thing that often plays havoc with many buyers' inventory planning.
It is also the one thing that acts as a barrier to entry for a lot of aspiring new clothing brand owners and first-time corporate buyers, preventing them from getting the products they've envisioned manufactured.
It's obviously easy to understand what MOQ is, but the deeper point that not a lot of buyers and people new to garments understand is the "why" associated with MOQ.
- Why do some garments have lower MOQs while others have much higher MOQs?
- Why do some manufacturers have low to no MOQ requirements while others have MOQs in the tens of thousands?
- How does MOQ and price influence each other?
Let's dive in to understand this from a manufacturer's perspective.
Process driven MOQ
Let's say, you, as a buyer, have specified baggy jogger pants made from a heavy 450 GSM (grams per square metre) 60% cotton plus 40% polyester blended French terry knit fabric and approach a manufacturer like us to get this manufactured.
MOQ for customised fabrics
The above is a custom fabric that is not readily available in the market and needs to be made from scratch. So the MOQ we would mention in such a case would often be something like 200 to 300 nos. per colour minimum.
To understand the reason for this, all you need to do is look at a standard knitting machine and a standard dyeing machine.
A modern knitting machine. Notice the hundreds of yarn cones in the background as well as the roll of fabric getting formed at the bottom.
A modern fabric dyeing machine. Such large machines process hundreds of kilograms of yarn and fabric every hour, requiring significant resources.
From the images above, the most obvious thing that stares at you is the huge sizes of these two machines. Such large machines take in hundreds of kilograms of yarn and knit large volumes of fabric every hour. Similarly with the dyeing machines. They also require lots of electricity and resources like water, for dyeing.
So just switching on and running the machines for a short time will produce a lot of fabric, like in the hundreds of kilograms range.
And there you have the MOQ for such a fabric going into the hundreds of kilograms. The process and the machines involved dictate the MOQ, and there's nothing the factory or manufacturers like us can do to reduce this MOQ.
Knowledge check: Similarly for woven fabric, the weaving machines cause the MOQ. For denims, the weaving as well as the washing machines cause the MOQ, and so on.
Wondering about the difference between woven and knitted fabrics? Read our easy to understand explanation →
MOQ for popular, readily available fabrics
In comparison, if you had wanted the same joggers in something like a 240 GSM French terry fabric in 100% cotton composition, the MOQ would be much lesser, like 50 to 100 nos.
This is because the 240 GSM French terry fabric, being a fast selling one, is often made in large quantities by fabric wholesalers in various popular colours and stocked up in their shops. Cotton pique for corporate polos and poly-cotton blends for uniform programs work the same way: popular colours in ready stock keep the MOQ and dispatch time low.
Fast selling fabrics in popular colours stocked up by a fabric wholesaler in Tiruppur.
We manufacturers can then buy this pre-made fabric in smaller quantities from the wholesalers, and thus make your joggers, polos or uniform tees with lower MOQs. See the ready-stock fabric colours and gsm options on our fabrics page.
Price driven MOQ
Another type of MOQ you usually see in garment manufacturing is MOQ tied to the price of the item. This is simple and straightforward to understand.
A large order will give manufacturers like us leverage to get better and better prices from fabric wholesalers, stitching yarn vendors, embroidery factories, printing factories, and every other part of the supply chain.
These cost savings are directly passed on to you, the customer, and you can get a much better price. But this price is tied to the large volume.
Hence, the MOQ and price in this case are tied to each other.
Why not MOQs lower than 100?
Well, that leaves us with that final question that runs in the minds of a lot of first-time buyers.
"Why not 10 nos. per style? Why not 50?"
The answer simply comes down to the reward gained to effort involved ratio.
It is essentially putting in the effort to make 10 garments in a specific style to make some money versus spending that same time and effort on something else that can make us a lot more money.
Pro tip for small first orders
When you're starting with very small quantities that a factory won't take on, get them made locally from a family-run tailor shop first. Once your numbers grow past around 100 pieces, that's when it makes sense to come to a manufacturer like us.
Manufacturer size driven MOQ
The size of the manufacturer can also drive the MOQ they accept.
A large manufacturer having thousands of tailors and stitching machines, with a capacity of 200,000 garments per month, will simply not be interested in taking up orders less than 10,000 units.
Small to medium sized garment manufacturers, like us, will take up both small (MOQ of 100 nos.) and medium (order quantity up to 10,000 nos.) sized orders. This allows us to keep our tailors occupied and grow alongside our buyers, from a first pilot batch to a company-wide uniform rollout.
Author's note
Understanding MOQ is just the first step in your manufacturing journey. At Anuvavi, we pride ourselves on being a partner that helps you navigate these technicalities while you focus on your brand or your company's uniform program.
Happy manufacturing.
Arjun, Anuvavi Apparels, Coimbatore, India