Print-on-demand is the right way to start. It stops being the right way at the point where you reorder the same style every month and the unit price never moves. Here is how to tell where you are - with your numbers, not ours.
Pick a product, enter your monthly volume and what you pay per unit today. Prices are our real published rates.
We would rather tell you to stay put than take an order that loses you money.
This is the part a lower unit price cannot fix. On demand, the fabric, weight, fit, wash and construction were decided by someone else before your design existed.
The same numbers as our pricing page. Excludes freight, which we quote DDP so the landed cost is the quoted cost.
| Product | MOQ | At MOQ | 500+ units | Lead time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Streetwear tee (garment dyed, boxy) | 50 pcs | $11.00 | $7.70 | 3-4 weeks |
| Crewneck sweatshirt (260-300 gsm) | 50 pcs | $15.00 | $10.50 | 3-4 weeks |
| Corporate polo (embroidered) | 50 pcs | $13.00 | $9.10 | 2-3 weeks |
| Gym / activewear set | 50 pcs | $15.00 | $10.50 | 3-4 weeks |
| Windbreaker jacket | 50 pcs | $19.00 | $13.30 | 3-4 weeks |
| Cycling jersey (full sublimation) | 50 pcs | $19.00 | $13.30 | 2-3 weeks |
| Bomber / varsity jacket | 50 pcs | $32.00 | $22.40 | 4-5 weeks |
| Soccer kit (full set) | 15 pcs | $20.00 | $14.00 | 2-3 weeks |
| Cut & sew from your own pattern | 100 pcs | $12.00 | $8.40 | 4-5 weeks |
Nobody should move their whole catalogue at once. Shift your winners, keep the long tail where it is.
Your single best seller - the one you reorder without thinking. Not a new design, and not five at once.
Same design, side by side. Samples are paid and credited against your first production order. If it is not better, you have lost very little.
Start at your minimum rather than your optimistic forecast. Your existing fulfilment carries on serving customers the whole time, so there is no gap.
Shift in increments over two or three cycles. Keep print-on-demand for the long tail and new tests - most brands end up running both on purpose.
When you are reordering the same style every month and the per-unit cost stops falling. Print-on-demand charges the same price on unit 10 and unit 10,000, because you are renting someone else's blank and someone else's printer. Manufacturing gets cheaper as you grow. Use the calculator on this page with your own numbers rather than a rule of thumb.
At low volume, yes - and we will not pretend otherwise. Print-on-demand has no minimum, no upfront payment and no inventory risk, which is hard to beat when you are testing designs. Manufacturing wins once you are ordering steadily, because the unit price drops with quantity and you own the garment specification instead of printing on a stock blank.
The garment itself. Print-on-demand prints a design onto a blank that already exists, so the fabric, weight, fit, wash and construction are fixed. We cut and sew from your pattern: your fabric and GSM, your fit, garment dyeing, embroidery, custom trims, your own woven labels. Heavyweight garment-dyed sets and embroidered pieces cannot be produced on demand at all.
MOQ from 20 pieces. Most styles start at 50 pieces; team sports kits start at 15 sets.
Move gradually. Keep print-on-demand running on your long tail and shift your best-selling one or two styles first, in increments, over two or three reorder cycles. Order a sample, approve it, then place a first production run while your existing fulfilment keeps serving customers.
No. We are a factory, not a fulfilment service - we produce your order and ship it to you or to your warehouse, DDP. If you need per-order shipping to end customers, keep a fulfilment partner for that side and use us for the production.
Tell us the product, your monthly volume and what you pay now. We will come back with a quote, fabric options and a lead time - or tell you honestly to stay where you are.
