Private label activewear: a factory's stock style under your label

What private label means in activewear

Private label activewear can start from a style the factory already sews: a high-waist legging, a racerback bra, a bike short or a cropped tank. You choose the fabric and colors and add your logo and labels, and the factory cuts and grades its own pattern. The private label clothing page sets out the three routes (relabel, adapt or custom) and the rules for swapping labels. This page covers what changes when the garment is a stretch knit.

In activewear the pattern and the fabric work as a pair. A stock legging pattern is drafted for the stretch of one fabric, so the same measurements in a firmer or lighter knit fit differently. Treat any change of fabric as a new sample round, and approve the fit in your own fabric before bulk.

When you pay for pattern changes, settle in writing whether the adapted pattern is yours or can be sold to other brands. A pattern the factory drafted starts as its design, and even a design you supply is yours only if your contract says so, as OEM and ODM explains.

Minimums per style, color and size

Activewear minimums stack. A factory may set one per style, the mill one per fabric color, and a label or logo supplier one per design. Before comparing quotes, ask each manufacturer how its MOQ divides: per style, per color, and whether you set the pieces per size or must follow its size ratio. The size ratio is what thins a small order:

320 leggings of one style in 4 colors, size ratio 1:2:2:2:1

Size	XS	S	M	L	XL
Pieces per color	10	20	20	20	10
Pieces across the 4 colors	40	80	80	80	40

Illustrative figures, not a quote. Real prices depend on the spec, quantity and factory.

Each extra color takes pieces from every size, so the end sizes are the first to fall below a factory's per-size minimum. Where listed companies publish a minimum on their own websites, the Published minimums box near the top of this page gives the figure, its unit and when it was checked. The fitness clothing line guide works through what a first run of leggings costs once it lands.

Where the label goes on leggings, shorts and tops

The FTC's textile and care labeling rules call for the fiber content, the name or RN of a company responsible for the garment, the country of origin and care instructions. Where they go depends on the garment's shape. On a top with a neck, the rule calls for a country of origin label at the inside center of the neck, midway between the shoulder seams or close to another label there^[1]. Leggings and shorts have no neck, so the rule asks instead for the required information on a conspicuous, readily accessible label inside or outside, with the country of origin always on the front of the label^[1]. For bras and other styles where the neck is less clear, check the FTC's labeling guidance, and fix the placement in the tech pack.

Subject to the neck rule, the required information may appear on any label on the garment, the care label included, as long as the combination is not misleading^[2]. Printing it on the fabric avoids a tag that rubs during training. If the care instructions are printed too, the print must still be a permanent label or tag with the care instructions that stays attached and legible for the garment's useful life^[3]. On a garment that stretches, ask for a wash test of the printed label at full stretch, since a print that cracks can stop being legible.

The identity on the label can be your business name or your own Registered Identification Number (RN). The private label clothing page explains both, and the records you keep if labels are swapped after import.

Fiber content on performance blends

The label lists each fiber by its generic name and percentage by weight; small amounts of spandex have their own rule, set out in the fitness clothing line guide. Blends turn the percentages into a production question. The rule allows a deviation of up to 3 percent of the total fiber weight from each stated percentage, so a fiber labelled at 40 percent may measure from 37 to 43 percent^[4]. Single-fiber claims get none of that room: the rule allows no tolerance at all when a garment is represented as made wholly of one fiber, except for ornamentation the label states is excluded^[4].

An elastic waistband need not spoil a single-fiber claim. The label may use the word All or the term 100% for a garment or part made wholly of one fiber apart from elastic or trim that needs no disclosure, as in “All Nylon, Exclusive of Elastic”^[5]. When waistbands, gussets and elastic count as trim on leggings, see the leggings manufacturers page; pads and linings in bras are on the sports bra manufacturers page.

Mesh panels and other sections knit from a different blend are where activewear labels get longer. The rule allows the fiber content of each section shown separately on the same label when a garment has sections of different fiber composition, a form that is required wherever it is needed to avoid deception^[6]. A legging with mesh inserts in another blend can list the body and the mesh separately, and should wherever one combined figure would mislead.

The mill's spec sheet gives the blend the mill aimed for. A fiber content test on the bulk fabric shows what arrived. Run it before the labels print, so a blend that comes in off target changes the label artwork, not the shipment.

Your product page counts as advertising

The fiber rules reach your online listing too. Under them, an implication of fiber content includes terms in written advertisements, those on the Internet included, that name or connote a fiber, or that describe a method of manufacture, construction or weave that by custom indicates one^[7]. The disclosure must then give the generic names of fibers at 5 percent or more of the fiber weight, plus any smaller fiber named for its function, in order of weight, though the ad need not state each percentage^[8]. Naming a fiber, by trademark or by generic name, brings one more rule. Under it, a fiber trademark or generic fiber name in an ad requires the full fiber content at least once, and in a blend the trademark sits next to the generic name in equal type^[9]. In an ad, the full fiber content means the generic fiber names in order of weight, with percentages optional. So a listing that names a branded spandex gives the full fiber content at least once, with the generic fiber name beside the trademark there.

A listing also has to say whether the product is imported, made in the USA or both; the private label clothing page covers that rule. The fitness clothing line guide covers the matching rule for fiber names on hang tags.

Care labels for spandex blends

A care label is written for one fabric, so a stock style's label is written for the factory's stock fabric. When it gives a washing instruction, the FTC's Care Labeling Rule requires it to state whether the garment should be washed by hand or by machine, and a water temperature^[10]. Temperatures can be left off only when heat is safe. The rule allows leaving off the water temperature only if hot water up to 145 degrees F (63 degrees C) is harmless, and the drying temperature only if a high dryer setting is harmless too^[10].

Bleach is where saying nothing has a meaning. The rule calls for no bleach line only if every commercially available bleach is safe, “No bleach” or “Do not bleach” if none is, and “Only non-chlorine bleach, when needed” if only chlorine bleach harms the garment^[10]. Ask the mill or your lab whether chlorine bleach harms the spandex in your fabric, and print the line that matches. The rule also requires a warning, such as “Do not”, “No” or “Only”, against any washing step consumers can reasonably be expected to use that would harm the garment or others washed with it, but none for an alternative to the label's procedure^[10]. For dark leggings that bleed, that means a line such as “Wash with like colors”. For a stretch knit, check the drying line and any heat warning against your fabric's test results.

When your version changes the fabric, the print or the logo, the care label needs a basis for your version, not the factory's original. Before sale, the manufacturer or importer must hold reliable evidence, such as proof the garment was not harmed when cleaned reasonably often as labelled, tests on it or a fair sample, evidence for each component and the whole garment, or technical literature, past experience or industry expertise^[10]. That evidence has to cover every instruction on the label, and what its silence means, such as a missing temperature or bleach line. A shrinkage test on the bulk fabric, such as AATCC TM135, the test method for length and width changes of fabrics after home laundering^[11], can form part of it. So can repeated home washes of a finished sample with its logo and printed label. Keep the results with the order.

Symbols can replace the words. The rule permits the ASTM D5489-96c care symbols, in place of words or combined with them, as long as they meet the rule's requirements^[12]. If the factory's artwork uses another symbol set, ask for it redrawn in the ASTM edition the rule names. Each symbol still has to say what the words would have said, and a warning with no symbol stays in words beside the symbols.

Flammability: which activewear fabrics need a test

The general clothing flammability standard applies to activewear. Its two testing exemptions are fabric types: plain surface fabrics, regardless of fiber content, weighing 2.6 ounces per square yard or more^[13], and fabrics of any weight whose fibers all come from this list: acrylic, modacrylic, nylon, olefin, polyester, wool^[13]. The exemptions cover the listed fabrics, and products made entirely from one or more of them^[14]. So a garment skips the test only if every fabric in it is exempt, linings, gussets and mesh panels included.

Spandex is not on the fiber list. A nylon or polyester knit with spandex in it therefore relies on the weight exemption. That exemption needs a plain surface: fabric without an intentionally raised fiber or yarn surface such as a pile, nap or tuft, including fabrics with fancy woven, knitted or flock-printed surfaces^[15]. Brushing raises a nap. That puts a fabric on the other side of the line: 16 CFR Part 1610 defines a raised surface textile fabric as any fabric with an intentionally raised fiber or yarn surface, such as a pile, nap or tufting^[15]. For peached or sanded finishes, ask your lab which side they fall on. Mill spec sheets usually give weight in grams per square meter, so convert it before you compare.

Common activewear cases that need a test: a light spandex mesh, lining or gusset below the weight line, and a brushed knit with spandex at any weight. Light or brushed fabrics with cotton or rayon, such as fleece joggers, need one too. A brushed knit made only of polyester or nylon stays exempt by its fibers.

A test result is not the end of it. The law also asks for a certificate: every manufacturer of a product subject to a rule the CPSC enforces, and its private labeler if it bears a private label, must issue a certificate^[16]. It states, based on a test of each product or on a reasonable testing program, that the product complies with every rule that applies to it^[16]. For a line made abroad, the CPSC's certificate rule names who certifies: the importer^[17], meaning the importer of record, who may be an owner, purchaser or authorized customs broker^[18]. A brand importing its own activewear is that party; under delivered duty paid terms, find out who files the entry. Your factory has to supply its part of the record: the month and year of manufacture, and the manufacturer's name, street address, city, state or province, country or administrative region, email address and telephone number^[19]. Whoever certifies must eFile the certificate data when the entry is filed, for finished products made outside the United States and entered for consumption or warehousing^[20].

Adult garments made only from exempt fabrics have a carve-out. Over a missing General Certificate of Conformity for them, the CPSC has said it will not pursue compliance or enforcement actions^[21]. The policy is narrow: it does not apply to any adult apparel that does not fit the specific testing exemptions in 16 CFR 1610.1(d)^[21]. Exempt from testing is not exempt from the standard, either: garments the policy covers must still comply with all flammability requirements under the Flammable Fabrics Act^[21]. Ask your customs broker how the entry declares adult garments made only from exempt fabrics.

For adult activewear, the certifier chooses who tests: an independent third party may run the tests behind a certificate at the certifier's option, unless a CPSC rule requires third-party testing for that rule or class of products^[16]. A style sized for children brings third-party tests and a tracking label, which the kids clothing manufacturers page sets out.

Seamless styles and the country of origin

Seamless leggings and bras are knit close to their final shape on circular machines, then trimmed and finished. That can change the origin on your label. A garment sewn from cut panels takes the origin of the single country where it was wholly assembled (headings 6101 to 6117)^[22]. A knit to shape garment follows another rule. That rule defines knit to shape as a good with 50 percent or more of its exterior surface formed by major parts knitted directly to the shape used in it, and minor cutting, trimming or sewing of those parts does not change that^[23]. For garments of the knit chapter, the origin is then the country where the knit to shape components were knit, provided they were knit in a single country (headings 6101 to 6117)^[23]. Bras sit in another chapter, and their rule gives the same answer for knit to shape goods of heading 6212: the country where the knit to shape components were knit, provided they were knit in a single country^[23].

So a seamless body knit in one country and finished in another may take the knitting country as its origin, not the finishing one. Ask your customs broker whether each seamless style counts as knit to shape before the label artwork is final, and name the knitting plant in the order.

Matching sets at customs

A bra and legging set sells as one product, but the tariff may treat it as two. The knit chapter defines an ensemble as a set of garments made up in identical fabric and put up for retail sale: one for the upper body, and one or two for the lower body from this list only: trousers, bib and brace overalls, breeches, shorts other than swimwear, a skirt or a divided skirt^[24]. Every piece must share the same fabric construction, style, color and composition, in corresponding or compatible sizes^[24].

Several common activewear sets fall outside that definition. A sports bra classified as a brassiere cannot be a piece of one: HTS chapter 61 (knitted apparel) excludes goods of heading 6212, where brassieres are classified^[24]. The sports bra manufacturers page covers when a top with a built-in bra is classed differently. The definition itself leaves out suits and articles of headings 6107, 6108 or 6109^[24], and the last of those is heading 6109, T-shirts, singlets, tank tops and similar garments, knitted or crocheted^[25]. The note also excludes track suits and ski-suits of heading 6112^[24], so a zip jacket and jogger set may be classed as a track suit instead.

Where a women's set does qualify, it goes under the ensemble subheadings, for example subheading 6104.23.00, women's or girls' ensembles of synthetic fibers, dutiable at the rate applicable to each garment in the ensemble if separately entered^[26]. The general duty rate then works out as it would for the pieces entered on their own. What changes is the line your broker declares, and any added duty or trade agreement rule follows that line. Send your broker a photo of the set, the fiber content of each piece and how the set is packed for sale. The import duty guide shows how to turn the lines into a landed cost.

What to ask a private label activewear manufacturer

• Which stock styles can you show in our size range, with the graded size chart for each?
• Which fabric qualities do you buy as stock, from which mill, and will you send each spec sheet with the latest fiber content and shrinkage test reports?
• What is the mill's minimum per color, and how long does a lab dip take?
• Which logo methods do you run in-house, and will you wash-test the logo and the printed label on stretched fabric?
• Do you print or weave labels yourselves, and can one label carry our name or RN, the origin and the care instructions?
• Do you knit seamless styles in your own plant? If not, where are the bodies knit?
• For any brushed or light fabric that is not exempt, who runs the flammability test, and will you send the report?
• Which tests (fiber content, shrinkage, flammability) are in your price, which are extra, and who pays for a retest?

Stock styles are easy to resell, so some companies offering them under your label buy them from other factories. A video call shows a sewing floor, not who owns it, so it cannot rule out a trading company. Before any deposit, check that the bank payee on the proforma invoice is the company on the business license. The activewear manufacturers page lists more checks that tell a maker from a reseller.

A company appears on this page only after a check of its own website shows it offers private label activewear and that it has operated for at least a year. The methodology explains the full standard. The listing does not show who knits or sews in-house, or which fabrics have been tested, so ask every listed company.

Your reference garment is a pre-production sample cut from the bulk fabric and carrying the bulk labels and logo. Hold the final payment until a quality inspection, sampled at an agreed AQL, has compared the bulk with that garment. Ask the inspector to stretch a few pieces from each size and check that the logo and printed label do not crack.

What to put in your request

Tell us each style and whether you want the factory's stock pattern, an adapted one or your own. Give the fabric (the blend and weight, or the mill's quality code), the colors, and how many pieces you want of each style, color and size. Say when you need the goods. Give each manufacturer your target price per piece, the Incoterms rule you want quoted and the destination once you are introduced. Say whether any style is seamless, brushed or sold as a set, and whether you want the manufacturer's help with logo or label artwork. We read the request and introduce you by name to private label activewear manufacturers that fit; if none does, we say so. Brands pay nothing, and the manufacturers quote you directly. 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.