Private label and custom manufacturing are two different starting points, and the right one depends on where your brand actually is. Private label means producing a style the factory has already developed, with your labels and colours applied. Custom manufacturing means building the garment from your tech pack and your patterns. Both are real options from 500 pieces per style at Kizen Lab. The question is which one fits your volume, your timeline and your plans.
The case for private label
With a private label style, development is already paid for. The pattern is proven, the construction is stable, and the factory can move you from decision to delivery without a sampling saga. You pick the block, choose fabrics and colours, apply your branding, and go.
You give up some uniqueness. A block that exists in one factory’s range can exist in another’s. Private label suits brands where speed, price and branding carry the sale, and where a season of real sales data matters more than a signature fit.
The case for custom
Custom manufacturing begins with your documents: measurements, materials, tolerances, construction notes. Patterns are made to your spec and kept on file, so re-orders match the first delivery. Sampling runs one to two weeks, bulk six to twelve, and if your style needs fabric developed for it, fabric sourcing adds more time.
The upside is ownership. Your fit is yours. Nobody can reorder it, and over a few seasons a well-fitted custom style usually earns back its development cost in margin and repeat sales.
Minimums and money
Private label minimums sit lower because the development risk is already absorbed. Custom starts carry real development work, so they ask for a firmer commitment. At Kizen Lab both paths run on a full production service basis from 500 pieces per style, FOB, with one team taking the style from fabric to packed cartons.
Cost per piece tells only part of the story. Add sampling, freight and the cost of your own time. A slightly dearer custom style that sells twice often beats a cheaper generic one that sells once.
A simple way to decide
Choose private label when you need stock in hand quickly, when you are testing a new category, or when branding does the selling. Choose custom when fit is the brand, when you plan to run the style for several seasons, or when you want something competitors cannot reorder from a catalogue.
Plenty of brands do both at once: private label to hold the shelf, custom to build the name. Tell us your volumes and your deadline and we will point you at the shorter path, including the honest answer that a smaller run is the right first step.
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