20 questions to ask a clothing manufacturer before you sign anything

A factory's first reply tells you less than its answers to specific questions do. Anyone can say "yes, we can make that" — the useful information is in how they answer when you press for the operational detail behind the yes. These 20 questions are grouped by what they actually reveal, not in the order you'd casually ask them, because the order matters: capability and compliance come before price, because price on the wrong factory is not a price you want.

Capability — can they actually make your product

• What percentage of your current production is in my product category? A knitwear specialist quoting a leather jacket is answering from theory, not experience.
• Can you show me three finished samples in a similar construction, not just your general capability deck?
• Who is your typical client size — brands ordering 500 units a style, or 50,000? A factory built around one scale often serves the other poorly.
• Do you produce this in-house, or is any part subcontracted? Subcontracted stages are where quality control visibility gets weakest.

MOQ, costing and what the number actually includes

• Is your MOQ per style, per colour, or per style-colour combination? These produce very different real minimums.
• Does the quoted price include trims, labels and packaging, or are those costed separately? A low headline price with everything else added back rarely stays low.
• What happens to price at 2x and 5x the quoted quantity? A real cost breakdown moves predictably with volume; a vague one doesn't.
• Is the costing FOB, and if so, exactly which point does responsibility transfer? (See our guide to FOB, CIF and DDP shipping terms.)

Compliance and certification

• Which certifications do you hold directly, and which are held by subcontractors? A certificate on a mill's letterhead doesn't cover the sewing floor.
• Can you provide a current, verifiable certificate — not a photo of one, a document you can check against the issuing body's own database?
• Who audits your factory, and how recently? Compliance bodies re-certify on a cycle; an expired certificate is functionally no certificate.

Sampling and quality

• How many sampling rounds are typically included before bulk, and what does an additional round cost?
• What AQL level do you inspect to, and who conducts final inspection — the factory itself, or an independent third party?
• What is your policy if bulk fails inspection — rework, discount, or replacement, and on whose timeline?

Timeline and what happens when it slips

• What is your standard lead time from approved bulk fabric to ex-factory, for this specific product? (Not a generic "4-6 weeks" — ask for your product.)
• What happens when a lead time slips — do you communicate proactively, and is there a penalty clause in your standard terms?
• How many other orders are ahead of mine in your current production calendar?

Payment and communication

• What is your standard deposit-to-balance split, and does it change with order size or new-client status? (See our guide to how apparel payment terms actually work.)
• Who is my single point of contact, and what is their response time on a normal working day?
• Can I speak to an existing client of a similar size to mine, as a reference?
• What happens to my tech pack, patterns and any proprietary trim once the relationship ends — is anything retained or reused?

“A factory that answers vaguely on lead time, payment structure, or what happens when something goes wrong is telling you exactly how they'll handle it going wrong for real.”

Send us your tech pack or reference and ask us any of the above directly — we'd rather you ask up front than discover the answer mid-order.