OEM vs ODM vs Private Label
Three terms, constantly mixed up — and they decide who designs your product and who owns it. Here's the plain-English difference for knitwear.
When you start talking to factories, three acronyms come up fast: OEM, ODM and private label. They're often used loosely, but they describe genuinely different relationships — mostly around who creates the design. Getting the model right shapes your cost, your control and your brand.
OEM — you design, we make
Original Equipment Manufacturer. You provide the design and the tech pack; the factory produces it to your exact specification, under your label. You own the design completely. This is the model for brands with a point of view — it gives maximum control and a product that's unmistakably yours. It's exactly what we do as an OEM knitwear manufacturer: we make your designs, never our own brand against you.
ODM — designed by the factory
Original Design Manufacturer. Here the factory develops the design from your brief — fibres, gauge, technique, a mood. It's faster if you have no in-house design resource, but the creative starting point sits with the maker rather than the brand. It's a common model for catalogue-led production across the industry.
Private label — your label, retail-ready
Private label describes the commercial outcome rather than who drew it: a garment produced to be sold under your brand — your woven label, your packaging, retail-ready. In practice private label and OEM overlap heavily: you bring the brand and (usually) the design, and the factory delivers finished, labelled goods. See how private label works with us.
The short version: OEM = your design, the factory makes it. ODM = the factory designs from a brief. Private label = your brand on the finished product, usually OEM under the hood.
Which model fits you?
- You have designs and a clear vision → OEM. Full control, your IP — this is what we do.
- You want retail-ready goods under your own brand → private label: your label, your packaging, OEM under the hood.
Our lane is simple: OEM and private label — your designs, your brand, knitted in-house and shipped under your label. Founder-direct, no agencies, no markup. If you're weighing your first run, the private label guide and MOQ explainer are good next reads.
Ready to make it?
Send a tech pack, a reference garment or a brief. We respond within one business day with a capacity check, indicative pricing and a sample timeline — direct with the founder.