DEFINING FASHION: MOQ

This is one for anyone who wants to go into the production side of the fashion industry; buyers, designers, product - you need to know your MOQs.

It’s a really simple one too - Minimum Order Quantity.

This is a term that will come up when you are ordering materials, finished garments or event things like packaging. It’s the minimum amount the factory will produce for one order.

It would be lovely if they could make tiny quantities, like one item or enough custom printed fabric for four items - however factories need to make money. There’s a certain amount of product where the custom creation and worker time actually breaks even - no MOQ and it’s a lot of work for something that won’t earn you enough money to cover what you spent making it!

Sometimes with some gentle persuasion you can agree on a lower MOQ with your factory, but in general they have these in place to make sure they can remain secure, profitable and on track with their workload - which we love!

So next time you enquire about an order, make sure you ask the MOQ from the offset.