Clothing manufacturers: finding a custom clothing factory that fits

What kind of clothing manufacturer you need

Custom clothing manufacturers differ less by country than by what they own when the work starts. The US industry definition includes apparel contractors, which cut or sew materials owned by others; jobbers, which perform entrepreneurial functions in apparel manufacture; and tailors making custom garments (NAICS 315)^[2]. For a buyer, the useful line is who owns the fabric, because it changes what a quote covers.

• Full package. The factory buys the fabric and trims, makes the pattern and samples, and quotes one price per finished garment, usually under an Incoterms rule such as FOB. You pay for the fabric through the garment price, and you control it only if you name the mill.
• Cut, make and trim (CMT). The factory cuts and sews fabric you own. The quote is mostly labor, so add your fabric, trims, freight to the factory and a cutting waste allowance before you set it against a full package price.
• Blanks plus decoration. You buy a finished blank and have it printed or embroidered. The garment is a catalog item: its maker sets the fit and the fabric, so the brand work sits in the artwork, the labels and the packaging. Check the blank's fabric weight and fiber content on its spec sheet before you pay for decoration samples.

Between full package and blanks sits a factory's own range made under your label, which is private label. Whether the design is yours or the factory's is the OEM or ODM question, and it decides who owns the pattern.

Knit or woven: the split that picks the factory

Clothing factories are organized around fabric construction before anything else. The US tariff schedule draws the same line. Knitted garments fall in HTS chapter 61, whose first note limits it to made up knitted or crocheted articles^[3]. Woven garments fall in HTS chapter 62, which covers made up articles that are not knitted or crocheted (bras of heading 6212 go there either way)^[4].

The machines and skills differ as well. Knit plants run T-shirts, polos, hoodies, sweatshirts, leggings and underwear on jersey, rib and fleece. Woven plants run shirts, trousers, denim, dresses and jacket shells. Ask each candidate for photos of garments in your construction on its lines now.

Ask a knit plant, too, whether it knits its own fabric or buys it. NAICS 315 covers plants that cut and sew purchased fabric and plants that knit the fabric first, then cut and sew it^[2]. The answer decides who controls the fabric lead time and the shade.

The chapter also decides which duty lines apply to your style; the import duty guide shows how to price that.

Where US clothing imports come from

In UN Comtrade's figures, the United States imported $44.81 billion of knitted apparel and $33.81 billion of other apparel in 2025, at FOB value ($78.62 billion combined)^[1]. By value: Vietnam ($16.47 billion), China ($11.14 billion) and Bangladesh ($7.87 billion), the three largest sources of US apparel imports in 2025 (HS 61 and 62, FOB value)^[1]. Then India ($4.98 billion), Cambodia ($4.89 billion) and Indonesia ($4.68 billion), the fourth to sixth largest sources of US apparel imports in 2025 (HS 61 and 62, FOB value)^[1].

Pick the country after the garment type, and get quotes from at least two. Duty can differ by country of origin, so rank countries on landed cost, not import value; the import duty guide shows how to price each origin.

Wherever a garment is sewn, check the cotton. Per CBP, goods with any input from Xinjiang, or from a company on the UFLPA Entity List, are barred from US commerce unless the importer meets the law's exception requirements^[5]. That reaches a garment sewn outside China from Xinjiang cotton or yarn. The overseas manufacturing guide lists the sectors the enforcement strategy targets. Ask every cotton supplier where its yarn was spun and its cotton grown.

Two smaller suppliers are worth knowing for particular programs: Pakistan for knitwear, and Portugal for European production of knit styles.

Pakistan

Pakistan's statistics bureau reports $4.97 billion of knitwear and $4.29 billion of readymade garments exported by Pakistan in FY 2025-26 (July to June), within $17.93 billion of textile group exports^[6]. US import data show $1.34 billion of knitted apparel and $1.08 billion of other apparel imported by the United States from Pakistan in 2025, at FOB value^[7]. Knitwear is the larger garment export in the bureau's figures, so ask Pakistani factories to quote knit basics. Ask where the yarn was spun and the cotton grown, for the forced-labor reason above.

Portugal

Portugal's clothing exports lean to knits. Its economy ministry reports €2,186 million of knitted apparel and €992 million of other apparel exported by Portugal in 2025 (preliminary), within €5,636 million of textile and clothing exports^[8]. US import data show $228.0 million of knitted apparel and $157.8 million of other apparel imported by the United States from Portugal in 2025, at FOB value^[7]. That is small next to the Asian suppliers above.

Ask Portuguese factories to quote when you want European production. Ask early whether the factory already ships to US customers and what its minimum per color is. Put the freight to the US into every comparison.

Mexico and Central America: nearshoring and origin rules

Closer to home: $7.41 billion of US apparel imports from the six CAFTA-DR partners and $2.77 billion from Mexico in 2025 (HS 61 and 62 combined, FOB value)^[9]. The Central American agreement is CAFTA-DR, whose six partner countries with the United States are Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua^[10].

Shorter transit is only half of the case. The other half is lower duty, and that depends on where the yarn and fabric were made, not only on where the garment was sewn. The USMCA gives duty-free (zero tariff) entry under the USMCA into Canada, Mexico or the United States for textile and apparel products that qualify as originating^[11]. For apparel: the USMCA apparel rule, yarn-forward with certain exceptions: the yarn and every later production step must be in a USMCA country, while the fiber can come from anywhere^[11]. CAFTA-DR gives duty-free (zero tariff) entry into a U.S.-CAFTA-DR country for textiles and apparel that qualify as originating under the agreement^[10], and it applies the same idea: the CAFTA-DR yarn-forward rule: yarn spinning, fabric making and garment assembly all in the United States or the CAFTA-DR region, with some exceptions^[10]. A garment sewn in the region from Asian fabric does not meet those rules unless an exception covers it. Qualifying removes the regular duty, but other tariff actions by country of origin can still apply, so check the import duty guide before you count the saving.

Before you compare a nearshore quote with an Asian one, ask the factory which rule the style qualifies under and where its yarn and fabric are made. Ask, too, whether it will supply the origin records with each shipment. When a style does not qualify, compare its quote as if the full duty applies.

US apparel manufacturers: what domestic production is good for

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 6,199 private establishments in US apparel manufacturing (NAICS 315) in the first quarter of 2026 (preliminary), a count that includes contractors, jobbers and tailors^[2]. The industry counted 72,000 people employed in US apparel manufacturing (NAICS 315) in August 2026 (preliminary, seasonally adjusted), down from 78,700 in August 2025^[12]. Sewing is the core job: the industry employed 25,280 sewing machine operators in US apparel manufacturing in 2025, at a median wage of $17.37 an hour^[2].

A US plant earns its place when you already hold the fabric and want a CMT run near your warehouse, or when a woven fit needs sessions in person. It also gives you a US origin line on the label. A garment sewn here from imported fabric needs a qualified line, which the clothing brand guide explains. For a large run of a sewn basic, get an overseas quote too.

Telling a factory from a middleman

Not every company that answers a clothing inquiry owns sewing lines. These checks do not rest on the supplier's word:

• the name and business scope on its registration match the contract, the invoice and the bank account you pay;
• an unscheduled video call walks the line while it sews your garment type;
• any audit report it shares is issued in the factory's own name and address.

A trading company can still be a good partner if it says so and names the plant. Before a large first order, a factory audit checks the answers on site.

A company appears on this page when its own website says it makes clothing. A listing does not show that it owns sewing lines, so run these checks on every listed company.

Agree the deposit and the balance in writing, and pay only into an account in the contracting company's name. Keep a signed approved sample. Release the balance against a quality inspection report at an agreed AQL, measured against that sample.

What to send for a quote

Send one request that a factory can price without a round of questions:

• the tech pack, or reference photos with measurements;
• knit or woven, with the fabric type, weight and fiber content;
• the route: full package, CMT with your fabric, or decorated blanks;
• quantity per style, color and size, the sample quantity, and decoration and labels;
• a target price, and whether any style is children's wear;
• the delivery date and destination, your sales channel's packing and labeling rules, and whether the goods must qualify under the USMCA or CAFTA-DR.

Minimums and lead times are set per manufacturer; where a listed company publishes its minimum, this page shows it with the date it was checked. Ask how the MOQ splits across colors and sizes, and approve a pre-production sample in bulk fabric before cutting.

We introduce you to clothing manufacturers that fit the request, each one named, overseas first or in the US if you ask. Once we offer it, manufacturers can pay for a Featured placement, labelled as paid. Paying for placement does not change who we shortlist, though a Featured manufacturer may receive your details sooner if you agree to share them, as how it works explains.

Questions buyers ask

How do you find a manufacturer for clothing?

Start from the garment, not the search engine. Decide knit or woven and the production route, then look for factories that make that construction today, in two or more countries. Screen them with the checks above, then pay for samples from the two or three that answer clearly.

How do I get clothing manufactured?

Pick the route first, because it decides who you brief. A full package factory gets the whole tech pack, a CMT shop gets your fabric and patterns, and a decorator gets artwork for a blank. The clothing brand guide takes one style from sample to a first run.

How do I create my own clothing brand?

Start with a narrow range on the route that matches each garment. Knit basics such as tees and hoodies can start on decorated blanks, while woven styles usually need a full package or private label maker from the start. Move a style to cut and sew once it proves itself.