OEM & Private Label · Hoodie Encyclopedia
MOQ for Custom Hoodies
"What's your MOQ?" is the wrong first question. MOQs are driven by knitting runs, dye lots and decoration setup — not by policy. Here's what really sets your minimum.
Fabric drives the floor
The biggest MOQ lever is the fabric run. A knitting machine set up for a specific GSM, structure and yarn count needs a minimum length of fabric to justify the setup — typically 300–500 kg. At ~600 g finished fabric per hoodie that's 500–800 hoodies of fabric per knit run. Using our house fleece (already knit in production quantities) drops MOQs to 50–100 pcs.
Dye / colour
Each custom Pantone requires a dye lot (usually 200 kg minimum) or a garment-dye batch. So five colourways = five dye lots = 1,000 pcs total minimum. Sticking to stock colours (black, heather grey, off-white, navy) removes this constraint entirely.
Decoration setup
- Screen print — 30–50 pcs per artwork per colour (screen burn cost amortised).
- Embroidery — 20–30 pcs per placement (digitising is a one-off).
- DTF — 5–10 pcs minimum (transfer sheet cost).
- Chenille patches — 100 pcs minimum (patch tooling).
- Woven labels — 500 pcs (label loom setup).
Realistic starter range
A capsule of 3 hoodie styles × 2 colours × screen-printed logo lands at roughly 300–600 total units — the sweet spot for a first drop that keeps unit cost sensible without stranding cash in inventory. Below that, expect a 15–25% premium on the unit price.
Pitfalls
- Ordering 5 colours × 100 pcs each — hits 5 dye MOQs, not one.
- Adding a 6th print colour late — new screen, new setup, new min.
- Skipping stock-fabric options for a first drop.
Want your specific MOQ?
Send your fabric + colourway spec — we return realistic minimums.