Clothing Manufacturing

Clothing manufacture can be a very tricky task to get right.

At Hook and Eye UK we focus on building a strong foundation with your tech packs, patterns, and samples to ensure your bulk manufacture runs as smoothly as possible. We use a team in China to bulk manufacture your designs, and we organise and manage everything for you from fabric selection to shipping methods and everything in between. We manage the full cycle for you. We use our purchasing power and wealth of industry experience to ensure your designs are made to the correct quality level and within the correct timelines. Our MOQ starts at 50 units per design / colour (this gets higher with the complexity of your design).

Use us as your very own garment development, purchasing and bulk production management team! 

Contact us for more information:

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Clothing Manufacturing process – How it works

  • 1. Initial Design Concept

    Simply send some simple visuals to our team of the kinds of styles you would like and we'll give full guidance on how much tech pack and design time you'll need with our designer to create your tech packs.

    Design concept discussion with trained designers. 

  • 2. Tech Packing 

    Our tech pack and design sessions are live on a one-to-one basis with our industry trained designer. They'll draw your tech packs up in front of you while showing and explaining fabric, graphic, fit and construction options. You leave the session with your fully completed tech packs. 

    Industry standard tech packs drawn in front you by our designer.

    Full guidance from our designer.

  • 3. Fabric Sourcing

    Choose fabrics from our extensive in-house library with hundreds of options during your tech pack and design session with full guidance from our designers. If you can't find what you're looking for we'll source fabric options to your requirements. 

    Hundreds of fabric options.

    Specific fabric sourcing available.

  • 4. Sampling 

    Once your tech packs are completed you'll be provided with full sample and bulk production costing including shipping and any additional accessory costs. You commit only to sampling. Every one of your designs is sampled for your approval. 

    Fully inclusive costings including shipping estimates. 

    One sample per design.

  • 5. Bulk Manufacturing

    A pre-production sample is offered free of charge with commitment to your bulk production order. This is to sample any minor changes made in the sample development stage. Once approved your garments will be produced in bulk to the specifications requested in your tech packs. 

    Free pre-production sampling to check minor changes.

  • 6. Quality Control

    All Hook and Eye UK products go through rigorous quality check protocols with detailed reporting to ensure your garments meet our premium quality standards every time. After QC your garments are shipped from our factory to your given address.

    Premium quality standards as standard. 

    Bulk manufacture shipping.

Ethical & Sustainable Practices 

At H&E we adhere to as many ethical and sustainable practices as possible in premium quality low unit garment manufacture. 

  • All staff receive living wage or above. 
  • All staff work in good, safe working conditions. 
  • Our integrated China team has industry-leading certifications from Sedex, The Certification of Quality Management System and Alibaba Gold Plus Supplier Certificate - SGS.
  • We provide fabric options including recycled, organic and eco-friendly choices with certifications like GOTs etc.
  • All of our fabrics are sourced in China only to reduce travel footprint. 
  • We only offer premium quality fabrics and garment construction methods to make styles that last. 
  • Our bulk manufacture unit quantities run on a +/-5% system to allow for the least garment and fabric wastage possible. 
  • We have rigorous quality checks and reports to spot any fixable manufacturer errors.
  • We offer 6 week sea shipment to all brands that order over 100kg (that's only about the weight of 100 hoodies) to reduce shipping footprint.
  • Our live tech pack and design sessions are specially designed to dramatically reduce the number of sampling rounds required. H&E build solid foundations get your sample as close to prefect as possible in one go to reduce financial and textile waste. 
  • We offer free development sessions to discuss minor sampling changes. Our industry standard developer is trained in finding clever pattern cutting and garment construction solutions to reduce the amount of sampling required. 

Garment manufacture is a human made process and certainly not perfect however following the practices above allow us to manufacture with as much transparency as possible and create garments that last. We pride ourselves in not offering 'fast-fashion' garment manufacture and endeavour to consistently reduce waste within all our processes.

FAQs

Q. What is your minimum order quantity for bulk clothing manufacture?

A. There is an MOQ of 50 units per design/colour. (This gets higher with the complexity of your design). To go into bulk manufacture you must have a minimum of 2 designs, this could be one garment in two colour ways or two separate garments.

Q. How long does bulk clothing manufacturing take?

A. 4-8 weeks + shipping (This time assumes that you have already been through the sampling processes with us). If you are a returning customer and you want to re-order stock, we can usually shorten this time frame.

Q. Where is bulk manufacture made?

A. We have an integrated manufacturing team based in China.

Q. What sustainable practices do you implement in your manufacturing process?

A. Yes! See above!

Q. Can you accommodate custom fabric sourcing requests for specialized designs?

A. Yes. Choose fabrics from our extensive in-house library with hundreds of options during your tech pack and design session with full guidance from our designers. If you can't find what you're looking for we'll source fabric options to your requirements.

Q. How do you ensure ethical labor practices within your manufacturing facilities?

A. Our integrated China team has industry-leading certifications from Sedex, The Certification of Quality Management System and Alibaba Gold Plus Supplier Certificate - SGS.

Q. What quality control measures are in place during production?

A. We have rigorous quality check protocols with full reports for every sample and bulk production produced. We have an AQL (average quality limit) of 1.5. This is very high for low unit manufacturing which is usually 2.5 or above.

Q. Do you offer prototyping or sampling services before full-scale production?

A. Yes we do. You always commit only to one initial round of sampling without commitment to bulk production.

We also offer free pre-production sampling (when you commit to bulk production) to check any minor first stage sample tweaks before proceeding with bulk production.

Q. How do you handle intellectual property and design confidentiality?

A. Your tech packs are yours! Our standard privacy policy is to never share your tech pack designs with our other brands.

Q. What is your approach to accommodating small batch orders or startups?

A. We balance lowest possible MOQs (minimum order quantities) with highest possible fabric and construction techniques. We've found the perfect balance at 50 units per style/colour that can be split into 4-5 sizes. We have a minimum style requirement of only 2 designs, this can be the same design in two different colourways or two separate designs.

Q. Can you assist with design development and technical specifications?

A. Yes. This is exactly what our tech pack and design session are for. See more here

Q. What are your lead times for different stages of production?

A. Lead times vary on time of year and availability of manufacturing schedules but generally:

1. Tech pack and design session are bookable in 1-2 weeks from purchase.

2. Sample and bulk costing is sent 1-2 weeks after tech pack completion.

3. Sampling lead times are 4-8 weeks from purchase/reference sample receipt.

4. Bulk manufacture lead times are 3-8 weeks but often run at 3-5 weeks from bulk purchase. Keep in mind if you choose to have free pre-production samples this will add 3-5 weeks to your lead times.

5. Bulk manufacture shipping lead times are 2 weeks for air freight and 6 weeks for sea freight.

Q. How do you handle revisions or changes during the production process?

A. After each stage of sampling you have a free development session live online with our trained developer to discuss any sampling tweaks. Your tech packs are updated free of charge.

Q. What are the key challenges in scaling up sustainable clothing manufacturing?

A. Brand growth. The larger the brand is the more finance available to invest in sustainable processes.

Q. How does the choice of stitching technique affect garment durability and sustainability?


A. Don't worry our designer will give full guidance on the best type of stitch to use for your designs in your tech pack and design session. Garment stitching heavily relies on fabric composition and weight, for example stretch garments need a stitch type that will allow movement to stop the garment from ripping at the seams whereas heavier garments need more solid stitch construction to ensure the garment stays together.