What is OEM clothing? Why do many clothing brands start from OEM? What are the advantages of OEM clothing for the development of brand business? What is the production process of OEM clothing?
OEM, the abbreviation of original Equipment Manufacturer, has developed rapidly in China’s manufacturing industry in recent years, especially clothing. For many bosses who have achieved a certain scale in the clothing wholesale industry, the first step in clothing branding is to make clothing OEM.
As a special form of clothing wholesale industry, OEM clothing has a relatively high threshold. There is less non-contact, and even some people in the industry have some prejudices against it.
What Is OEM Clothing?
The participants of clothing OEM are mainly brand owners and manufacturers. In general, after a brand owner finds a suitable manufacturer, he authorizes the manufacturer to use its own brand logo; the manufacturer helps the brand owner to design and produce.
Many clothing stall owners want to put their own logo on the clothing they sell and create their own clothing brand. In that way, they become the brand owner in front of the manufacturer.
A brand can entrust multiple manufacturers to help produce. This is why people often complain that the quality of the same brand is different each time; this is mostly because of the different manufacturers and batches. Many bosses who have developed from traditional wholesale to become brands especially need to pay attention to the conversion of this model.
Similarly, clothing styles designed and produced by the same manufacturer without logo can also be sold to multiple clothing brands at the same time. So you can often see the same clothes from B and A with exactly the same texture. (Many of the tailed orders for foreign trade are mainly obtained through the channels of these foundries)
Why Do Many Clothing Brands Start From OEM?
When the clothing business expands, it will naturally move towards the direction of the brand;
It can be said that the first step for most bosses to make branded clothing starts from the OEM.
OEM production has many advantages over traditional wholesale purchases.
①Supervise production and guarantee the quality of clothing
The traditional way of purchasing goods is that the boss personally goes to other wholesalers to get the goods to make the difference. Only those who are very capable can get the first-hand supply, which is time-consuming and laborious, and the quality of the goods is often uneven.
After placing the order, you can supervise the production and improve the needs at any time to ensure that the quality and styles of the same batch are satisfied.
②The investment is small, the profit is maximized
To build factories and production lines by myself, the investment is huge and the cycle is long,
Without strong capital, it cannot be supported at all. Brand owners can apply the saved money in various aspects such as national investment promotion and sales.
③Place orders flexibly with low risk
The demand of the market is changing rapidly. In the process of OEM manufacturing, manufacturers will provide semi-finished products for garment production many times.
Brand owners can modify unfinished designs at any time according to market preferences and trends,
Reduce the risk of unsalable sales caused by choosing the wrong model.
④The manufacturer reduces the capacity
After nearly ten years of accumulation, China’s existing production lines have overcapacity. After being entrusted with the order, the “OEM” will give full play to the idle productivity, promote the technological progress of the enterprise and the growth of the manufacturer’s performance.
In the early stage, brands with tight capital and cooperating with manufacturers with idle resources are a win-win situation.
What Is The Production Process Of OEM Clothing?
OEM is your production and my brand.
A piece of OEM clothing is usually produced like this: the brand company provides a vector illustration of the logo and some logo accessories, such as the clothing mark, and the manufacturer provides all the other materials. The production of a batch of OEM clothing mainly goes through the following processes:
①The manufacturer design, the buyer chooses the model to place an order
Manufacturers will design a number of styles two or three months before the peak season, and then send them to the brand for selection, which is the so-called order fair.
After the brand owners select the styles, they will ask the demand for improvement so that the manufacturers can improve the proofing.
Brand owners are satisfied with the improved samples before placing orders. (There is still a big gap between the sample at this time and the actual sales style).
②Manufacture purchases fabric accessories
The manufacturer of the proofing sample will leave one piece for the bottom. According to the standards of sample clothes, the factory’s procurement is mainly divided into two parts, namely the procurement of fabrics and accessories.
Order fabric: First, calculate the amount of fabric. How much is one piece used (plus 5% loss)? If the order quantity is small, the loss will be increased. After calculating the quantity, the purchaser will contact the dyeing and weaving factories to provide various similar fabrics for later use.
Order accessories: OEM accessories are basically designated by the brand supplier to the factory, and the manufacturer only needs to place an order according to the quantity.
③Sampling before production, modify the process sheet as required
After the purchase is completed, there is a trial production process before the formal production. The factory will use the clothing ERP system to generate a craft bill through the system for crafts and accessories.
After the fabric arrives at the factory, the pre-production samples will be sampled and sent to the brand merchants for review. Then modify the craft sheet according to the comments of the approved version. At this time, it can be officially produced.
④Production report, settlement after QC quality inspection
During the production process, the manufacturer will report the production progress and problems encountered in the production process to the brand every week.
The brand owner will also send an in-factory quality inspection (QC) to supervise the production,
It can be sold only after the final quality inspection is passed and the settlement is completed.
Precautions for Clothing OEM
The advantages of OEM clothing are obvious, but the disadvantages are also obvious. If you do OEM for the first time, failing to pay attention to the following points will easily magnify the shortcomings and take risks.
① Do a good job in quality inspection and strictly control the quality
As mentioned earlier, the problem that OEM production often encounters is that different batches and different manufacturers have different quality.
In fact, if the quality inspection is not strict, the quality of the same batch will be different.
In order to save costs, manufacturers often do shoddy work and use inferior material; or being afraid of surplus when importing fabrics, they will place an order in multiple batches, which is also very easy to cause differences in the quality of the same batch of fabrics. The most important thing about OEM clothing is quality inspection.
②Pay attention to the supply of logo accessories to prevent infringement
Many of the “super A grade goods” and “tailed orders” of big branded clothing, except for some of them are fake and inferior, flow from the foundries of big branded clothing.
After the brand owner signs a trademark license production contract with the designated supplier of accessories, he should always pay attention to the quantity of auxiliary materials ordered by the manufacturer at the supplier, and on the other hand, the QC in the factory should pay attention to whether there is excess goods left.
③Strictly control information before production and beware of commercial disclosure
Everyone who makes clothing knows that style is the core competitiveness, and the information must be strictly controlled during the trial production stage before the formal production. It is difficult to control the information after starting production.
But as long as you produce one day earlier than your competitors, you will make an extra day’s money.