OEM manufacturing partner for international sports brands

Manufacturing partner for design-led sports brands

Sports brands typically fall into three shapes: founder-led performance labels, licensed sportswear lines, and mid-market challenger brands scaling into multi-country retail. All three share one problem — they own their design language and cannot use catalogue product without diluting it.

OEM manufacturing solves this. You retain the pattern, artwork and colourway ownership; the factory contributes engineering, sourcing, sampling, ethical production and export documentation. Findup Sports operates purely as a contract manufacturer — we do not sell competing branded product into your markets.

What sports brands actually struggle with

• •Finding a factory willing to sign a genuine NDA and honour pattern confidentiality across seasons.
• •Getting real DFM (Design for Manufacturability) feedback instead of a factory silently substituting materials.
• •PP samples that match the approved tech pack — including logo placement tolerances, GSM, and colour targets.
• •Predictable lead times that survive Chinese New Year, Ramadan, Eid and shipping-lane disruptions.
• •Ethical production credentials that pass a retailer's compliance team on the first audit.
• •IP protection when a factory also runs private-label programmes for competing brands.

How we work with sports brands

• •NDA and tech-pack review before any quotation — with named DFM feedback, not marketing PDFs.
• •Pre-production sample against a signed spec sheet; bulk only starts after your written PP approval.
• •Buyer-nominated compliance (ISO, BSCI, SEDEX, WRAP) configured per PO — you nominate the standard, we run the audit against it.
• •Named account manager and a single point of accountability for each programme.
• •Documented in-line and pre-shipment QC to AQL 2.5 or your specified sampling plan.
• •Export on FOB Karachi or CIF/DAP destination, with full HS-code documentation.

OEM vs private label — for brands

OEM is almost always the right model for a sports brand: you retain the design IP and can defend against copies. Private label makes sense only when you want to test a category quickly with a shared silhouette — for example, adding beanies or scarves to a football-focused range without commissioning new patterns.

We support both, but the default engagement for a brand is OEM against your tech pack.

Custom branding and decoration

• •Sublimation, screen print, DTF, high-density silicone print, embroidery, chenille patches, heat-transfer badges.
• •Woven and printed neck labels, hem tags, size flags, spec-compliant care labels per destination market.
• •Ball panel printing, thermal application, tampo, and pre-approval strike-offs before bulk.
• •Colourway proofing against Pantone TPX / TCX standards.

Quality control for brand-owned product

Every programme runs against a signed spec sheet — GSM tolerances, weight tolerances, dimension tolerances and printing placement all pre-agreed in writing.

In-line QC catches defects during production; pre-shipment QC verifies random samples against AQL 2.5 for general defects. Third-party inspection (SGS, Bureau Veritas, Intertek, TUV) is welcomed at buyer cost.

Packaging options

• •Polybag with printed hangtag and sticker — cheapest, standard retail.
• •Branded folding-carton retail box with insert card.
• •Custom tissue wrap, waxed inner, dust bag for premium SKUs.
• •Barcoded, market-specific outer cartons for retail-DC direct delivery.

MOQ and lead times

MOQ is set per SKU, colourway and construction — not a single blanket number. Complex OEM constructions carry higher minimums because of tooling and cutting yield; a simple sublimated tee has a much lower MOQ than a thermal-bonded ball.

First-order lead time is typically longer than repeat orders because of sampling and tooling. Repeat orders against approved artwork are the fastest cycle.