Sourcing
GOTS certification is independent proof that a textile product contains certified organic fibre. It also shows that certified companies processed it under the Global Organic Textile Standard’s environmental and social rules. Crucially, it covers the whole chain. Every company that spins, knits, dyes, sews, or trades the goods must hold…
Fabric GSM is the weight of one square meter of fabric, measured in grams. For example, a 180 GSM cotton jersey weighs 180 grams per square meter, which is a standard midweight T-shirt. As a rule, the higher the number, the heavier and usually thicker the fabric feels. For an…
Keystone pricing sets a retail price at exactly double the wholesale cost. Specifically, a $20 wholesale garment becomes a $40 retail price, no other math involved at all. It’s the oldest, simplest markup rule in retail. Apparel brands still lean on it constantly. However, it doesn’t fit every product or…
A minimum advertised price, or MAP, policy sets the lowest price a retailer can advertise for a brand’s products. Without one, a single retailer can slash prices online, and every other retailer carrying the line feels pressure to match. For a wholesale apparel brand, that race to the bottom can…
Minimum order quantity, or MOQ, is the smallest number of units a factory or fabric mill will accept per order. For apparel brands, that single number decides which factories are even reachable. A 500-unit MOQ is routine for an established label. For a founder testing a first collection, it can…
A sourcing agent finds, vets, and manages factories on behalf of an apparel brand. In exchange, the agent earns a commission on the order value. Most agents charge 5 to 10% of the FOB price. However, the rate shifts with order size. A small trial order often pays more. A…
Textile waste is not one problem. It is at least two, and they have almost nothing in common. Post-consumer waste happens after a customer stops wearing a garment. Pre-consumer waste, however, happens before a customer ever sees it, through overproduction and unsold deadstock. Regulation mostly targets the first kind. A…
Nearshoring to Mexico should be an easy call on paper. Apparel imports from Mexico carried just a 1.6 percent tariff rate in July 2025, thanks to USMCA. Meanwhile, many Asian suppliers faced rates several times higher. Despite that advantage, US apparel imports from Mexico grew by just 0.5 percent that…
More than 40,000 organizations across 33-plus countries now use some version of the Higg Index (Cascale). For most apparel brands, though, that data still lives in someone’s inbox. Specifically, it sits in a PDF exported from a supplier’s Higg Facility Environmental Module assessment. Usually, that PDF gets filed away until…
Cut order planning is the process of deciding how to group a purchase order’s sizes, colors, and quantities into fabric lays before cutting begins. Each lay follows one marker, the layout of pattern pieces arranged across the fabric width. Get that grouping wrong, and problems compound quickly. A factory either…
