Little Known Secrets to Finding Clothing Manufacturers in China (Definitive Guide 2024)

Recently updated on January 2nd, 2024 at 06:10 pm

Are you prepared to profit from importing clothes? Don’t miss our little known secrets to finding the best clothing manufacturers in China that successful big brands will never reveal.

First, let’s delve into common ways to find a China clothes factory. There’s tons of information online regarding how to find China clothes manufacturers, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of ways based on research and our experience.

What are common ways to find China clothes manufacturers?

  • Search engine (Google, Baidu, Yandex)
  • Online directories and B2B market places (Alibaba, Global Sources, Made in China)
  • Facebook groups
  • LinkedIn
  • Trade Fairs (Canton Fair, Fashion Week)
  • Industry meetups
  • Sourcing agents
  • Clothes wholesale markets
  • Referrals

The extensive range of methods will surely land you to an ocean of China clothes suppliers and there’re chances that you might run into the same garment supplier with your competitors. Then how to distinguish yourself and keep a competitive edge?

Our best-kept secrets to finding reliable China clothes manufacturers based on your capacity target at following two categories of clothing businesses.

  • High end fashion with big capital investments
  • Small businesses with tight budgets looking for small quantity China clothes factories

Why common ways to find China clothes factories lose competitive edge?

  • Losing competitive edge. You might end up producing with the same clothing factory as your competitors. It’s never a good thing to share the same clothing factories with your competitors in the rat race. If you’re a new customer with a relatively small order at the beginning while your competitors are regular customers with years of orders, how many chances are there to get better prices than your competitors? Will your new clothing factory keep all your designs confidential than revealing to please their regular customers? While both of you have urgent orders with tight delivery time, whose orders do you think they’ll prioritize first?
  • Big MOQ. China clothes manufacturers making presence via common ways like online directories, trade fairs usually come with a much bigger MOQ.
  • High prices. Investing in trade fairs, shops in clothes wholesale markets in Guangzhou or online B2B market places like opening a shop on Alibaba with extra marketing services can cost an arm and a leg which usually goes into the unit price of the apparel.

Now comes to the bread and butter, our top secret to finding reliable China clothes manufacturers with competitive edge is Finding China clothes manufacturers that do not/hardly have any presence in media/marketing.

High end fashion with big capital investments

It might sound ridiculous or misleading at a glance, even to our surprise, with experience accumulated we discovered there’s a shocking number of large China clothing manufacturers focusing on ethical, sustainable clothing manufacturing with several decades of presence in fashion industry. Interesting enough, these big clothing factories usually with a capacity of over 1000 workers manufacturing for iconic international brands, getting lots of incentives from local governments quite shy themselves away from public media. A search on Google or Alibaba would get you nothing, even on Baidu(the largest search engine in China), you might only get some blurred information without contacts.

High end clothing brands usually develop their own fabrics, like Lacoste, you wouldn’t be able to find the fabrics of Lacoste available in the market place. Some brands would create their own fabric with our custom fabric printing service. While some iconic international brands used to import some parts of raw materials from Europe then fabricated in China. For example, few well known brands are importing natural fibers from Europe, then make yarn in a factory in Southern China, and compose into fabrics in another factory in North China, then sew into clothes in another factory.  PS: We didn’t reveal the names of these international iconic brands and their factories here as first we didn’t want to expose them to the media as they wouldn’t in few decades of evolvements, besides, we always strive to protect the confidentiality of our customers and connections.

Fiber of Natural Fabric
Fiber extracted from natural resources

Getting to know the hidden secrets of how these iconic international brands outsource their production to ethical, sustainable clothing manufacturers in China that seldom make any public appearance can be quite challenging, usually would require enriching industrial experience, networking or referrals so as to get in touch with those clothing manufacturers.

Small businesses with tight budgets

Thinking out of the box is like an accelerator for small business with tight budgets on their next clothing collection. The most challenging part for going with China clothing suppliers found via common ways is usually those suppliers come with bigger MOQ and much higher prices. Finding China clothes manufacturers locally is a much preferred option to stay on the edge. Here’re 3 of the little known ways to find China clothes manufacturers locally that the public don’t know.

  • Ads around fabric markets
  • Referrals from the fabric shops where you buy fabrics from
  • Local clothing industrial parks

Here’s a detailed walk-through of the 3 little known secrets.

# Ads around fabric markets

Ads from China clothes manufacturers looking for customers are quite prevalent around the fabric markets. Sometimes you can also see some representatives from the factories putting on some outdoor advertising show with a desk and some chairs on the side of the side, a large board usually with title Looking for t-shirts customers, introduction of the clothing factory, etc. Besides, there’re some brick and mortar agent shops full of ads where you can get in touch with hundreds of clothing factories for free. Usually these factories are not available in any online market place. They’re in various scales, often paired with smaller MOQ and better prices.

# Referrals from the fabric shops where you buy fabrics from

Feel at a loss in the ads? Another more efficient way is just ask for referrals from the fabric shops if they know any clothing factories specializing in the fabrics you bought. 90% of chances the shops are happy to give recommendations of the factories who are their regular customers.

# Local clothing industrial parks

Many clothing industrial parks scatter around different districts in Guangzhou, with each specializes in different type of clothes.

A few blocks near my home lays a clothing industrial park where you can find a vast array of Guangzhou clothes factories with small minimum order quantity, including uncle Li’s. After 20 years working for a China clothes factory, he ventured out with his wife and set up a clothes manufacturing plant in Guangzhou.

Different from China wholesale clothes suppliers you might find on international alibaba and trade fairs with super high MOQ of about 500-1000 pieces per design, the MOQ of most China clothes factories in our neighborhood is about 100-150 pieces per design.

As to smaller MOQ, you might fear that it would be paired with higher price. A rule of thumb, when you order more, sure you will get more discounts. However, it depends on the suppliers, on whom you are working with. When you order smaller quantity, normally the price would be a bit higher than bigger MOQ. However, on the basis that the price is reasonable and fair enough.

Many of the bosses of the clothes factories here in my neighborhood, as far as I know, they are honest, hardworking, traditional Chinese originally from other provinces that are not so developed, setting up their China clothes factories from scratches after working in other China garment factories for many years. Amicable, reliable, they are typical diligent Chinese you would feel very pleasant to work with.

The difference of China T-shirt manufacturers in my neighborhood and those suppliers on international alibaba, trade fair:
* The price and minimum order quantity of China clothes factories in my neighborhood is for Chinese.
* The price and minimum order quantity of China clothes suppliers in international alibaba and trade fairs is for foreigners.

However, the greatest disadvantage of ordering from Guangzhou cloth factories in my neighborhood is they can’t speak English at all and lack of understanding of international business. And the factory area is located a bit out of town.

The greatest advantage of ordering from Guangzhou clothes factories in my neighborhood is much smaller MOQ and better price, and you can also choose your own fabrics and accessories from wholesale fabric suppliers inside the industrial park for your private label fashion line.

Pros and cons of ordering from these Chinese clothing manufacturers in Guangzhou

Pros:
*Small MOQ
*China Factory Price

Cons:
*Lacking of quality control
*Frequent delays in delivery time
*Language barrier

Take uncle Li’s factory as example, they can make clothes with small MOQ but in the meanwhile they have several big customers ordering like 200,000 pieces per month for simple clothes like T-shirt. Everyone in the factory likes this kind of simple orders even with very tiny profit margin as money comes fast and it’s very easy job.  They used to delay the production of other orders requiring more delicate work to arrange the big orders first, typical practice by Chinese suppliers.

They have the expertise and experience to make much higher quality clothes but usually they make lots of careless mistakes coz being impatient and lack of understand.

To solve the problems, my Italian partner and fashion designer Carlo has trained the workers with higher standards and we follow every process closely. If you are looking for quality China clothes manufacturer with understanding of western standards, we’re your ultimate choice. Contact us to know more  or visit our office when you are in Guangzhou.

DUE TO THE HIGH NUMBERS OF EMAILS WE GET EVERY DAY, WE WILL NOT ANSWER TO GENERIC QUESTIONS SUCH AS I AM LOOKING FOR CLOTHES, I AM LOOKING FOR T-SHIRT MY BUDGET IS 0.5 DOLLARS PER PIECE, ETC.

100 Comments on Little Known Secrets to Finding Clothing Manufacturers in China (Definitive Guide 2024)

  1. Hi Sally, Im planning to launch a clothing line. But would like to know if you are able to provide me more info about the places.

  2. Hi Sally,

    I would like to create my own women dresses line, mostly bandage dresses, skirts and Jumpsuits, cocktails and evening dresses for Africa Market.
    So i am looking for a place to find very good quality bandage fabric as well as manufactures who accepts small order quantity for beginning.

    Please let me know how I can manage to do that? I don’t want to source online but I want to visit China and choose fabrics myself. Many Thanks for your response.

  3. hello sally, i stumbled across this website after looking for small order clothing manufacturers in china. i own a clothing business and i am looking for a new factory in china to expand my product range. if you would be able to assist me that would be greatly appreciated. my email is allan071_95@hotmail.com

  4. Hi,Sally!
    I am planing to come to Guangzhou around 25 th of November. I am searching for a reliable manufacturer that is able to replicate shoes, Bags and accessories. Could you please advise where are the best places to look in to it? Thank you

    • Hi Cristina, thank you for contact and welcome to Guangzhou. I have no ides about what styles you are looking for but normally people would go to buyuntiandi(步云天地) for shoes, guihuagang(桂花岗) for bags, taikang/xijiao plaza for accessories. For detailed information about these markets you can find on my blog posts. By the way, just clicked into your website and I love it! 🙂 Best regards, Sally.

      • Thank you very much,Sally! When I come,I would love to meet you, so pls send me an email with your contact! I am looking for places where I can do the production of my creations (style that is on the website)

  5. Hi Sally,
    I was in Guangzhou last week and when to zhongda for Tailoring and Fabric. but seems that the price quite expensive. can you share where can I get a fabric with reasonable price for minimum qty and as well as the factory.
    my email : dieya22@yahoo.com

    • Hi Fadilah, how many markets in Zhongda did you cover? I think there’re some cheaper ones around. May I know your budget? Best regards, Sally.

  6. Hi Sally,

    My wife and I will be in Guangzhou from 25th December to the 28th, and we are looking to open a trendy clothes shop in our country. If you can show us around that would be great. We know the timing is bad, but hoping it works out.

    Regards,
    Abdul

    • Hi Abdul, thanks for contact. If you are just doing market research or buy stocks, it’s okay. But if you want to make in the factory, it’s not a good time as it’s close to Chinese New Year holiday and most factories are very busy. Best regards, Sally.

  7. Hi Sally, my name is Lena I will be coming to Guangzhou end of November. I would like visit factories with small to medium moq. My interest is making muslim female clothing, head scarves(hijabs). I am willing to go for wholesale on the scarfs, however for the clothing i would like to visit a factory. I have samples that I would like for them to duplicate. Can you let me know. Please send me a email if you are willing to help me with sourcing therightcompanyltd@gmail.com.

  8. We are treeking clothing company .
    Kindly Quote following items with the copy brand of North Face & Mahout along with photo of the product.

    • Down Jacket Heavy Qty 200 pcs
    • Down Jacket Light ( M / F ) : Qty 300 pcs
    • Silicon Jacket ( M / F ) : 300 pcs
    • Sleeping Bags (-5 °C) : 50pcs
    • Sleeping Bags (-10 °C) : 50pcs
    • Sleeping Bags (-15 °C) : 50pcs
    • Sleeping Bags (-20 °C) : 50pcs
    • Soft-shell Jacket (M/F) : 300 pcs
    • Double Jacket Gotex with Polar : 300pcs
    • Doble Jacket Gotex with softshell : 300 pcs
    • Rain Jacket (M/F) : 300 pcs
    • Light Jacket ( M / F ) 300 pcs
    • Light outdoor treeking pants : 400 pcs
    • Treeking Stretch Pant : 400 pcs
    • Softsheel Treking Pants : 400 pcs
    • Gotex Pants : 400 pcs
    • Rain Touer Light : 400 pcs
    • Thermal Set : 400 pcs
    • Feelace Double Jacket : 400 pcs
    • Feelace Single Jacket : 400 pcs
    • Trekking Bag (50L/ 55L / 60 L / 70 L / 80 L ) : 50 each pcs total 250 pcs
    • Trekking bottle : 150 pcs
    • Trekking Gas : 300 pcs
    • Trekking Stick : 300 pcs

  9. Hi sally,

    I am visiting Guangzhou from 27th oct until 1st nov. I am looking for a reputable factory to make Oem women’s underwear, bralettes, socks, eyemasks with small moq of 50units per style per colour for first cooperation.

    Can you help me find some reputable factories to make my products. I have my own tech packs for some of my designs.

    Please email me bmzussino@hotmail.com

  10. Hi. I am looking to buy Sofa Fabrics in MOQ of 50 to 100 Meters per colour per design. Can someone please assist.

  11. Hi Sally, this is Nina. Thank your for the information. Tomorrow is my last day in Guangzhou and unfortunately I have been unable to find a professional factory that be able to make my designs in small quantities. I was in a factory yesterday where lots of pattern makers were offering to make my designs with extremely basic equipments and in high price, also they were asking me to bring them fabrics etc. I appreciate if you contact my email as soon as possible please and let me know if you can help. many thanks

    • Hi Nina, sorry for the delay of reply. If your quantities are small, it’s more likely that they would charge a bit higher price as it is the peak season now. Canton Fair is in progress and factories are very busy preparing the 11th, November sales(Chinese Black Friday Shopping). Please check how we work first, https://www.business-in-guangzhou.com/how-to-work-together, thanks. Best regards, Sally.

  12. hi – I will be in Yiwu next week could you kindly contact me I am looking for a factory that can assist with low MOQ ladies fashion orders that could potentially grow?

  13. Hi,

    I will be in Guangzhou later on this month, could I get one of your agents to assist me in purchasing goods.
    Thanks in Advance.

    • Hello Sunil,

      Welcome to Guangzhou China, my colleague will be in touch with you by email, please kindly check it.

      Best Regards
      Ariel

  14. Hello my name is vivian,please I am looking for branded copy children clothes and branded copy children shoes with little moq.

    • Hi Vivian, thanks for your message. My colleague Ariel will be in touch with you. Have a lovely day 🙂

  15. Hi Sally,

    My name is Amy. I am looking for small moq to produce occasion dresses with 4 – 5 styles in 3 sizes (S, M, L) I can read, write and speak cantonese and mandarin. Do I need to provide all pattern to these factories or I can just provide sketches? I have easy access to Guangzhou. Would you be able to recommend me some factories so I can visit them soon? Looking forward to your kind reply at your earliest convenience. Many thanks, Amy

  16. hi Sally.
    how are you?
    iwant open a store in iran and use your factory name and sale your company’s clothes. …

  17. HI Sally,
    I’m looking for OEM service manufacturers with small MOQ for Africa women pants and dresses. I would very happy if you can introuduce me with some small manufacturers in you area so i can discuss with them beforeto move in China…
    Thanks

  18. i will come guangzhou in next month . i need help from you to purchase latest and good quality pullover and accessories for men pullover .

    • Hi dear, welcome to Guangzhou. My colleague Ariel will be in touch with you regarding it. Thanks and good luck.

  19. i am looking for men pullover manufacturer which has wide and latest 10 gg designing . please reply me fast as you can .

  20. I am looking for a children’s clothing manufacturer that has a wide variety of fabrics, lace and buttons. thank you

    • Hi Ashleigh, thanks a lot for contacting us. You can find a lot online or in Zhongshanba wholesale markets. If you need help sourcing, we’re happy to help. Thanks and good luck.

  21. i will come to guanzhou next week, i need help finding the manufacture as well as the fabric and good beading work, please email me so we can discuss and meet up, many thannks.

    • Hi Caroline, thanks for your message and welcome to Guangzhou. My colleague Ariel will be in touch with you regarding sourcing manufacturers and fabrics. Thanks and good luck.

  22. Hi Sally,

    I would like to check with you are we able to walk in the factory to enquire the working staffs about clothes manufacturing or do we have to make an appointment w
    etc? Any special procedure we have to follow basically when visiting the factory? Thank you and good to hear from you soon.

    Bestest regards,
    Kee

    • Hi Kee, it depends, some factories have put advertising banners or write contact information anywhere near the factory. You can just go there and call them to enquire about it. However, there are also some factories that are a bit weird if you just walk in to enquire about it. It’s best to make appointments in advance but not bad to go in person and try your luck if you can speak Chinese.

  23. Hi, we are looking for custom manufacturers of t-shirts, hoodies and caps in small MOQs of 30 to 50. Where can we find them? We will be in Guangzhou next month.

    • Hi Yoli, thank you for your information. Which markets are you targeted at and what styles are you looking for? You can find some in the wholesale markets. Good luck.

  24. Dear Sir/Madam.

    i got your information through an exhaustive search in the internet. We are authorized Government/Business agent based in Ghana, Are you a manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor, sales agent or sole Entrepreneur ETC.? There is an ongoing Tender in the Contract Procurement Authority of Legacy Contracting Agency (LCA) for the supply of various Items.

    Terms of Payment An upfront payment of 80% (T/T) will be made to your account before production, while 20% will be paid before shipment, for the purchase of your products in large quantity, If your interested kindly reply for more details,
    I am a commission agent.
    Best Regards
    Mr.Emmanuel Donkoh
    General Business Consulting
    Email: emmanueldonkoh2017@hotmail.com
    Address: No.22 Accra New Town, Ghana
    Phone: +233560970647

  25. Hi Sally,

    I will be visiting Guangzhou in May and would need your services as to the factories you mentioned.

    • Hi Wendy, thanks a lot for contacting us and welcome to Guangzhou. I’m out of town and my colleague Ariel will be in touch with you. Thank you.

  26. Hi sally, where can I buy women dresses produced for united states of america clothing brands at cheaper prices.

    • Hi Jason, thank you for your message. What kind of information do you need? Actually you can find most of it on my post. Thanks.

  27. hello sally, i stumbled across this website after looking for small order clothing manufacturers in china. i own a clothing business and i am looking for a new factory in china to expand my product range. if you would be able to assist me that would be greatly appreciated. my email is basedorigins@gmail.com. i was waiting for a response from ariel your colleague but i have not heard back from her after the message on this forum was posted.

    kindest regards!

    • Hello Ian, thank you for your message. Sorry Ariel has been quite busy recently. She’ll in touch with you later. Thank you.

  28. Hi Sally,

    My name is Nathan and I will be travelling to Guangzhou next month to make an order of custom designed men’s jeans and boots.

    I have found a factory on alibaba in Foshan that is willing to do the jeans for 500MOQ total (100pcs per colour, per design). I have samples and details ready to go.

    Do you think this is reasonable?

    I’ve also found a boots factory that can make my boots for 100pcs MOQ per colour per design with a total minimum of 300.

    Do you think I could find better options by looking around in Guangzhou?

    Even a slightly higher price per unit but 50MOQ per colour per style would be much more ideal if possible.

    I’d very much appreciate an email response if possible please!

    Thanks in advance,

    Nathan

  29. Hi Sally,

    My name is Nathan and I will be travelling to Guangzhou next month to oversee my own custom designs for Jeans I’m planning to have manufactured in Foshan. I sourced this supplier on Alibaba.com and their prices are reasonable, l was happy with the quality of initial samples but they have a MOQ of 500pcs total, and 100 per colour per design.

    After seeing some of your posts, I’m starting to question whether this may be a mistake. I am wondering whether it might be possible to find a source whist in China that offers lower MOQ?

    I also want some men’s suede boots custom made, are you aware of businesses around Guangzhou that offer low MOQ for custom, (original) branded men’s boots?

    By low MOQ I mean roughly 30-50pcs per design (even less wouldn’t hurt).

    Let me know if you have any thoughts, specific recommendations, or if you think you could help me on a professional basis.

    An email response would be very much appreciated if possible.

    Thanks in advance.

    Nathan

    • Hi Nathan, thanks for your message and welcome to Guangzhou. As to jeans manufacturing, do you only put on your logos basing on the factory’s current designs, or do you make lots of changes basing on the jeans the factory provides? If it’s the latter one, the MOQ from that factory is not too bad. But if you just put your logo or make some small changes, maybe you can find better ones.
      If you search around clothes markets on zhanqiang road(站前路), the one for jeans, you can find lots of suppliers. Some of them have stocks for certain designs so it wouldn’t matter too much about MOQ. You can also check around zengcheng(增城), the outskirt of Guangzhou with manufacturing base for jeans. Good luck.

  30. Hi Sally, I am going to guangzhou next month. I am looking for a manufacturing that can do around 100pcs per design. Then I need about 10 design, 1000pcs in total. can u please give me some opinion and introduce me some manufacturing. thank you

    • Hi Ray, thank you for contacting us and welcome to Guangzhou. Do you have your own designs or do you want to choose from designs available in the markets/factory? Thanks.

      • i got my own design and sample. I can post the dresses to the factory first and let them have a look with the design. the main product is women dresses. you can email the address or give your contact number, so that we can have more details discuss. lowwenchang89@hotmail.com

  31. Hello sally.i am a Nigerian fabric seller. I want to do business with you. I need your whatsapp number so we can communicate better

  32. Hi, Sally I will be in Guangzhou in April-17, would like to know the wholesale lady office clothing and man official shirt with small order. Your assistant will highly appreciated please contact me at lnshikongo@yahoo.com

    • Hi Loide, thank you for your message. You can find ladies clothes and men’ clothes in the wholesale markets near Guangzhou railway station. If you need help sourcing, we’re always happy to help you. My colleague Ariel will be in touch with you regarding it, thanks.

  33. hello sally, i stumbled across this website after looking for small order clothing manufacturers in china. i own a clothing business and i am looking for a new factory in china to expand my product range. if you would be able to assist me that would be greatly appreciated. my email is basedorigins@gmail.com

    kindest regards

    • Hello Ian, thanks for your message. We can help you with cloth manufacturing. My colleague Ariel will be in touch with you. Cheers.

  34. hi I am a first time buyer coming to Guanzhou in May 2017. I am looking for ladies clothes and accessories etc. I am looking for good quality fashion clothes not replicas. can you help me?

  35. Hi honey, looking to do production , require 60 pieces for first run, will increase to 100 pieces, can u source manufacturers for me, it will be ongoing orders every week?

    • Hi Rebecca, thank you for your message and welcome to Guangzhou. My colleague will be in touch with you about clothes manufacturing. Cheers.

  36. Hello Sally,
    Lovely post and tips please will really appreciate if you can help me with address of factories that make female dresses and with low minimum order like 30pcs

    • Hello Mela, thanks for your message. My colleague Ariel will be in touch with you regarding clothes manufacturing. Thanks.

  37. Hi,

    We are looking for a guide who can bring us to look at ladies clothes manufacturer. Can you email us your contact

  38. Hello Sally,

    I will be in Guangzhou April 10th 2017 and would love a list of small MoQ factories to visit while I am there. Making women’s clothing – tops, dresses, skirts, pants etc. Please email me at bareanthology@gmail.com

    • Hello Sarah, thanks for contact. My colleague Ariel will be in touch with you regarding clothes manufacturing. Thanks.

  39. Hello,

    For a project I need to know the supply chain of a knitted tunic from Enelle (Zantman).
    I need to find out the name of the factory and was wondering if maybe this company manufactures or has manufactured for Enelle or maybe better known as No Man’s label (their buying office). thank you in advance.

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