Almost every first-time apparel founder gets the same surprise: the quote for 100 units at $14 per piece, or 1,000 units at $7.50 per piece. It reads like quantity discount, but the mechanism underneath is different. Understanding it changes how you negotiate.
Why MOQs exist
A garment's per-unit cost is built from three layers:
- Variable costs — fabric, thread, trims, labor time per garment. These scale linearly.
- Fixed per-run costs — pattern grading, marker making, sampling, machine setup, dye-lot minimums, printing screen setup. These are paid once per production run regardless of size.
- Fixed per-SKU costs — hangtags, packaging, labeling, shipping-cartons, export documentation. These scale with SKUs more than units.
At 100 units, fixed costs dominate. If your dye-lot minimum is 200kg of fabric and your 100-unit run only needs 30kg, you're paying for 200kg of fabric against 100 garments. If the screen-printing setup is $80 per color and you have 3 colors at 100 units, that's $2.40 per piece just in screen setup. At 1,000 units, those same fixed costs amortize to 0.30 per piece.
Where factory MOQs come from
Each stage in production has its own minimum:
- Fabric mill MOQ — typically 200-500 meters per color per construction. Below that, you're buying "off the shelf" at a premium.
- Dye-lot MOQ — if you need a specific Pantone, the dye house often won't run less than 100-200kg of fabric in one lot.
- Printing MOQ — screen-printing setup is ~$60-100 per color; digital print setup is lower but unit cost is higher.
- Cutting MOQ — cutting a marker for 50 units costs nearly as much as cutting for 500.
- Stitching efficiency — below a certain run size, stitch operators spend more time switching between styles than actually stitching.
A factory's quoted "MOQ" is the lowest quantity at which all these intermediate minimums line up into an acceptable per-piece cost.
Typical MOQ ranges
- Low-MOQ specialists (India, Portugal, some US micro-factories): 50-200 units per SKU per color
- Mid-range ethical factories: 300-1,000 units per SKU per color
- Scale factories (Bangladesh, Vietnam, China): 1,000-5,000+ units per SKU per color
- Mill-direct (buying fabric straight from a mill at bulk): 3,000+ meters, often much more
How to work within an MOQ constraint
- Combine SKUs to share a fabric lot. If three styles use the same fabric, you can meet the fabric MOQ even if no single style needs that much.
- Reduce color count per style. Each new color = new dye lot, new screen, new everything.
- Use stock fabric instead of custom. Off-the-shelf PFD (prepared for dyeing) cotton, stock polyester, or open-sale textiles eliminate the fabric MOQ entirely.
- Use digital print instead of screen. Digital has higher per-piece cost but no screen setup.
- Pool with another brand. Rare but real — two brands ordering from the same factory can sometimes share a fabric dye-lot.
How to negotiate an MOQ
Factories quote MOQs assuming a clean, complete order. If you can make the order easier — all sizes, one color, existing fabric, simple construction — they'll often move the MOQ down without raising per-piece cost much. If you insist on complexity at low quantity, you'll pay for it in per-piece cost.
The single best negotiating lever is a second order on the table. A factory takes a low-margin first run much more willingly if you're committing to a second run at a proven quantity.
What to tell a factory in the first quote request
- Total units
- Number of SKUs (styles × colors × size breaks)
- Fabric (ideally by mill specification, not just "cotton")
- Whether fabric is already sourced or needs to be milled
- Print / embroidery / wash complexity
- Target delivery date
- Target per-piece price (roughly — gives them a frame)
Give the factory enough to quote you honestly in one pass rather than three rounds of clarification. Three-round negotiations are where MOQs creep up and margins get negotiated away.
Frequently asked questions about apparel MOQs
What's the absolute lowest MOQ I can get?
Sampling studios and micro-factories will take runs of 20-50 units per SKU, usually at a 2-3× per-piece premium over the same product at 500 units. Below 20 is rare; the fixed setup costs (pattern, marker, sampling) genuinely can't amortize any lower without the factory losing money.
Can I split one MOQ across sizes?
Usually yes for the grading/cutting side — a 500-unit MOQ can comfortably spread across a 6-size range (XS-XXL). Where it gets tight is fabric: the fabric mill MOQ is often the binding constraint, not the sewing MOQ. If your fabric requires a 300kg mill minimum, dropping to a 200-unit order means you're paying for fabric you won't use.
Does MOQ include samples?
No. Sampling is a separate line item — usually $40-100 per sample per size, billed regardless of whether you proceed to bulk. Most factories credit 50-100% of sampling cost against a bulk order above a certain threshold. Ask upfront.
Can I negotiate MOQ down for a first-time trial order?
Sometimes, especially if you can credibly commit to a second order at a higher quantity. Factories are willing to eat lower margins on a 200-unit proof-of-concept if they see a 1,000-unit reorder behind it. Don't overpromise — factories remember.
Do MOQs differ by country?
Significantly. Bangladesh and China skew higher (1,000-3,000+ for most factories). India and Portugal have stronger low-MOQ specialist ecosystems (200-500 range). US domestic micro-factories can go as low as 25-50 units but per-piece cost is typically 3-5× overseas.
Related reading
- Writing a Tech Pack: What It Needs to Contain — the one document that turns MOQ conversations from ambiguous into specific.
- Sampling to Bulk: A Realistic 90-Day Apparel Timeline — where MOQ decisions actually play out on the production floor.
- Deadstock Fabric: Pros, Cons, and When It Makes Sense — the low-MOQ path that sidesteps fabric minimums entirely.
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