Knitwear MOQ Explained: Why 250 Is the Sweet Spot

If you've emailed factories for quotes, you've hit it: the MOQ, or minimum order quantity — the smallest run a manufacturer will produce. For new and growing brands it's often the single biggest barrier to getting made at all. Here's how it really works in knitwear, and how to work with it.

Why factories set a minimum

A knit production run has fixed set-up costs that don't shrink with order size: programming the knitting machine for your style, dialling in tension and gauge, yarn procurement (mills have their own minimums), and the linking, finishing and QC set-up. Spread those costs over 1,000 pieces and they're trivial per unit. Spread them over 30 pieces and each garment is uneconomical. The MOQ is simply where the factory's economics start to work.

The detail that trips brands up: per colour, per size

MOQ is almost never "per order" — it's per colour, per size. Each colour is a separate yarn dye lot and each size is knitted from its own machine programme, so the 250 minimum applies to every colour-and-size combination, not to the style as a whole.

How minimums vary — and why the unit matters more than the number

There's no single industry MOQ; it depends on the factory, the construction and how the yarn is bought. What matters more than a headline number is the unit it applies to. Cut-and-sew factories often quote a minimum per style, because many sizes are cut from the same roll of fabric. Fully-fashioned and WHOLEGARMENT knitwear is different: each size is knitted to shape from its own machine programme, so the minimum applies per colour and per size. That per-size discipline is exactly why the garments hold their shape and fit true — you're paying for a size that was engineered, not cut down from a shared lay.

At Kiwi Giyim we work to 250 pieces per colour, per size. It's a genuine production commitment — a real run, not a sample — set where machine set-up stays economical and quality stays consistent, rather than chosen to be the lowest number on a quote.

Why 250 is the sweet spot

250 sits at the point where the factory's set-up is still economical and the order is small enough for a brand to fund and actually sell through. It lets you:

• Test a capsule or core programme — a real production run you can plan tightly, then reorder what sells.
• Keep a first run focused — a few strong colourways done properly rather than one oversized commitment.
• Reorder the winners — scale the styles and colours that sell, drop the ones that don't.
• Protect cash flow — capital isn't frozen in a warehouse for a year.

How to work within MOQ

• Consolidate colours. Fewer, stronger colourways beat many half-hearted ones — and each colour is a full minimum.
• Share a yarn across styles. Using one base yarn in several styles can ease the yarn minimum.
• Start narrow, then expand. Launch two or three styles well, prove demand, then broaden the range on reorder.
• Ask about trial runs. For prototypes or simple constructions, smaller trial quantities can sometimes be arranged — just ask.

The bottom line

MOQ isn't a factory being difficult — it's the maths of set-up cost. The question is whether a manufacturer's minimum matches the way real brands launch. A 250-piece minimum does, which is why it's our standard. If you're sizing a first run, see how private label works with us or read how to prepare your tech pack.