If you’re looking to start your own private label clothing brand but need a little nudge in the right direction, this is the post for you. Here’s my best vendors for elevated merchandise: beanies, hats, hoodies, and sweats.
You want to make great clothing? Start here.
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Here’s my old list to start your own DTC online clothing shop with non-lux options, too.
I consistently get this question on how to make elevated merchandise, and there’s tons of options!
Best Vendors To Start Your Own Private Label Clothing Brand
I’ve waded through the chaff and I’m focusing on actual high quality, modern, cool stuff in this post. Let’s get to it!
Rue Porter
Rue Porter is still the highest quality affordable blanks I’ve come across to start your own private label clothing brand with.
They’ve got dope billboards in LA and had them in and out Coachella this year pushing “luxury blanks”. Their fit is fire… modern and different. Quality high, tags are just size to make it easy.
You can apply to have a wholesale store right on their site. The only downside is there is pretty hefty order delays often, and lots of sell-outs, but they’ve got the quality.
The Studio
For Beanies, the best domestic solution I’ve found is The Studio.
Plenty of options from embroidery to patches and they take care of it all.
200 from $7.49/e
I’ve done lots of beanies overseas, they don’t have the reliable quality these guys do (especially with embroidery)
For jerseys… we’re going overseas. You want factories that do die-sublimation, and do thread embroidery just for jerseys.
Domestic middleman markups are insane.
Healong Sportswear
The Healong Sportswear team in Guangzhou does it all: basketball, baseball, rugby, golf.
Pro tips for working with teams like the above
Get exact dimensions for the sizing you want for your small, medium, and large items.
Do NOT use what they consider to be small, medium, or large sizes — they will simply be too small, having been made for an entirely different market.
This is crucial!
WATC Studio
A gem I’m currently working on a product with right now is WATC Studio.
I love them because they have a digital studio for wholesalers. Upload logos and hit printed samples for $50-80. Their quality is also very similar to Rue Porter.
Short run digital print samples are crucial for workflow. It means you can check designs fast, and be shooting content while your product is in production — as long as you’re willing to pay more for pre-production units.
Doing it all from in their store is a game changer.
Pietra Studio
If you have a solid following and want to focus on creative not operations, I’d also take a look at Pietra Studio.
They did these caps for Nostalgia Killer that just dropped, and they handle fulfillment, packaging, etc., too.
You can google any of these, or I’ll drop links directly in my Product People newsletter, a weekly ultra-resource of factories, playbooks, ideas, and inspiration for people that currently are or want to make products. Any merchandising products you don’t see on here and want me to drop in this week’s newsletter, just comment below.
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– Oren
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Your article helped me a lot, is there any more related content? Thanks!