The first order teaches you what sells. The reorder is where you apply that knowledge to build the business. Here is how to read the signals and make smart reorder decisions.
The first knitwear order is exploratory: you are testing the market, learning what your customer responds to, and establishing the factory relationship. The reorder — within the same season or for the following season — is where the business starts to compound. But the reorder decision is also where brands make expensive mistakes: reordering the wrong styles, misjudging timing, or misreading early sell-through signals. This guide covers how to read your data, when to reorder within the Turkish production window, and how to use first-season learning to design a better second season.
Sell-through rate = units sold ÷ units received × 100. A 70%+ sell-through within the primary selling season indicates strong demand — this style/colour deserves reorder consideration. A 40–70% sell-through is moderate — reorder the best colourways, skip the slow ones. Below 40% sell-through at full price by mid-season is a warning sign — do not reorder until you understand why (wrong size run? wrong price point? wrong marketing?). Reordering slow-selling styles because you "believe in them" compounds the inventory problem.
A style that sold 200 of 250 units (80% sell-through) in the last 2 weeks of the season is not the same as one that sold 200 of 250 in the first 6 weeks. Velocity matters for reorder timing: a fast-selling style needs reorder earlier; a style that gradually sold through may not have the reorder demand you think. Track weekly sales velocity per style/colour from the day you launch — this is the signal for in-season reorder decisions.
If your first order included sizes XS-XL in equal quantities but you sold out of M and L while XS inventory is sitting, your size run is wrong for your customer. Read the size sell-through data per style before placing a reorder — and adjust the size ratio in the reorder to reflect actual demand. Reordering in the wrong size distribution wastes the reorder opportunity.
A style available in two colourways may have sold 90% sell-through in one colour and 35% in the other. The reorder decision for the style is based on the strong-selling colour, not the average. Go back to the colour with the highest velocity; consider retiring the slow colour or introducing a new colourway if the factory has a minimum for new colours (typically 50–100kg of yarn).
Can you reorder within the same selling season? It depends on timing:
| Season | Selling period (UK) | Last viable reorder date | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| AW (Oct–Feb) | October–February | ~End of October | 8-10 week production + 2-week sea freight → delivery by January for final 4 weeks of selling |
| SS (Apr–Aug) | April–August | ~End of April | 8-10 week production + 2-week sea freight → delivery by July for final 4-6 weeks |
In-season reorder is only viable if: (1) you have strong sell-through evidence within the first 4–6 weeks of the season; (2) the factory has capacity to start production within 2–3 weeks of your order; and (3) the reorder quantity meets the factory MOQ (250 units — you may need to combine slow-moving colours with reorders to reach MOQ). In-season reorder to Turkey is achievable for AW by November 1 at the latest for a January delivery.
The most effective second-season strategy for a new knitwear brand: carry forward the 2–3 bestselling styles from Season 1 as core (continuity range, may introduce new colourways but same construction); introduce 1–2 genuinely new styles. This approach: maintains customer trust for returning buyers (your bestseller is back); gives new customers the best of what worked; limits new style risk to 1–2 experiments rather than a full new range.
Colour is the easiest and cheapest way to make a core style feel new. A 7gg merino crew neck in a new season colour feels like a new product to the customer even if the construction is identical. Retire the colourways that sold below 50% sell-through; maintain the bestsellers; introduce 1–2 new colours from the season's directional palette. This strategy spreads the "newness" investment across colour (low risk) rather than new styles (higher risk).
If your Season 1 bestseller sold 220 of 250 units, Season 2 quantity for that style should be based on: expected customer base growth × velocity × season length — not "we'll do 500 because it's our best style". The appropriate Season 2 quantity for a style that sold through at 88% in Season 1 at a DTC brand with modest marketing investment might be 350–400 units, not 1,000. Dramatic quantity jumps without matching demand evidence create the overstock problem that kills cash flow.
If your first order was 50 units each in XS/S/M/L/XL (250 total) but sold out M and L while XS/S remain, your Season 2 size run should reflect the actual demand: perhaps 20 XS / 35 S / 80 M / 80 L / 35 XL = 250 total, better allocated. The exact adjustment depends on your specific sell-through per size — but the principle is consistent: let first-season data correct the size distribution, not intuition or fashion industry convention.
When reordering the same style, confirm with the factory that: the yarn lot/dye lot is matched (or acceptable variation is agreed in writing); the machine programme is unchanged; and the same measurements as the approved sample will be produced. A "same as last time" instruction without these confirmations can result in an identical-looking product that differs in colour or measurements from the first bulk — unacceptable for a returning customer expecting consistency.
For any reorder — especially in-season — get the factory's confirmed delivery date in writing before placing the order and paying the deposit. "We should be able to do it" is not a confirmed delivery date. "We will deliver to Mersin port on or before [date]" is. Delivery date is the most frequent source of dispute in reorder situations; written confirmation makes the expectation clear and provides a reference point for any follow-up.
If your reorder for one style/colour is below 250 units, you have options: combine it with new colourways of the same construction to reach MOQ total; combine it with another style's reorder in the same production run; ask the factory if they have a short-run MOQ for existing clients (some do, at a per-unit cost premium); or wait until you have sufficient demand to reach a full MOQ. Placing a sub-MOQ order without agreement typically results in either refusal or a per-unit price increase — understand this before placing.
A factory that has delivered well for you and receives consistent reorders from your brand will prioritise your production when capacity is tight. The brands that factories deprioritise when busy are the ones that place one order and disappear for 18 months. Regular communication — even off-season updates about what you're planning — maintains the relationship and ensures you are on the factory's radar when you need production capacity. Treat the factory relationship as a strategic asset, not a transactional one.
If a style has a 40% sell-through by mid-season at full price, do not reorder it regardless of how much you believe in the design. Reordering slow stock is the most common error in small fashion brand inventory management — it assumes the problem is stock availability when the problem is demand. Stop the supply before diagnosing the demand.
Before marking down, understand why the style is slow. Is the price point wrong for your customer? Is it not visible enough in your marketing? Is the fit off (lots of returns indicating it doesn't fit as expected)? Is it a wrong-season product (a heavy knit launched in March)? The diagnosis determines whether the style is fixable for Season 2 or should be retired. Price reduction is a symptom treatment, not a diagnosis.
If the style is not going to sell at full price and you need to clear inventory, mark down to the minimum price that generates the cash flow to fund your next order — not all the way to cost or below. A 20–30% markdown typically generates enough velocity to clear without destroying the brand's price perception. Avoid deep discounting publicly if the brand has a consistent premium positioning — reserve discounting for closed email lists or off-platform channels.
Overstock is not a failure — it is data. A style that underperformed tells you something specific: the colour didn't resonate, the gauge was wrong for the price point, the marketing photographs didn't convey the hand-feel, the size run was off, the timing was wrong. Record these learnings systematically; they are the inputs to a better-designed Season 2 range. A brand that learns from overstock and adjusts its buying is more sophisticated than one that just reduces its first-order quantities out of fear.
Our factory team responds to reorder enquiries within 24 hours. We maintain machine programmes for all past orders; yarn dye lots are documented so we can reproduce colourways accurately for reorders. We aim to confirm delivery dates within 48 hours of a reorder enquiry. Build your knitwear business on a consistent supply partnership — not a one-off transaction.
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