72-hour quote activewear factory. Tech pack in, full quote out.

What the 72-hour SLA actually covers

Founders sourcing overseas for the first time get quotes that arrive weeks late, arrive incomplete, or arrive with a headline unit cost and no yardage math behind it. The 72-hour quote fixes that. Here is exactly what lands in your inbox on business day 3.

Yardage math off your tech pack. Cut plan against the size run you sent us, plus a documented waste percentage for the construction. You see the yards per unit, the yards per size, and the total yards per colorway. No black-box quote. If you disagree with the waste assumption you can push back before the sample stage.

MOQ options across colorways and constructions. Three tiers. A per-color MOQ tied to the dye lot the mill can actually run. A blended MOQ that lets you split the run across a small number of colorways with a modest premium. And a low-MOQ sample-batch option if you want to test market before you commit to a bulk run. This is where the biggest gaps show up on Alibaba-sourced quotes. We hand you all three so you can pick against your inventory strategy.

Sample-run cost per SKU. Broken out by size and construction complexity. Typical band is 90 to 250 US dollars per size for activewear. Samples are billed at cost, not at retail markup, because samples are the front door of the relationship.

Production lead time in weeks. Split by dye lot booking, knitting, cut-and-sew, finish, and QC. Baseline is roughly 60 days from PO signed to bulk shipped, with dye-lot booking as the pacing constraint. You see the whole calendar, not a single number.

Landed-cost estimate to your delivery port. Freight band, duty band, HTS classification if we can call it, and estimated landed cost per unit. Landed cost, not FOB, is the number that decides whether a program is worth running. For the full model of that math, run your target FOB through the landed-cost calculator.

What you need to send us

Complete quotes need seven things. Missing any of them and we come back with a scoping question inside 24 business hours instead of a phantom quote. If you have never assembled a tech pack for an overseas factory, start with the activewear tech pack template, then come back here.

• Fabric target GSM and composition preference. A grams-per-square-meter target (say 240 GSM double-knit) and a composition preference (say 78 percent recycled nylon, 22 percent elastane, or an open request for a plastic-free equivalent). If you do not know the GSM, send a physical benchmark garment and we will run the target off it. See GSM in fabric for the primer.
• Color list. Named colors with Pantone TPX or TCX references. If you have brand hex codes but no Pantone match, we will convert but flag the color-fidelity risk.
• Print or dye complexity. Solid dye, sublimation, all-over print, garment dye, tie-dye, panel-color. Each carries a different MOQ and lead-time floor.
• Construction spec. Stitch types (flatlock, coverstitch, overlock, bar tack), seam finishes, waistband construction, gusset, panel count. This is what separates a real tech pack from a mood board. See cut-and-sew manufacturing.
• Size run and tolerances. XS through 3XL or wherever your run lands, plus grading tolerances in centimeters at the key measurement points (bust, waist, hip, inseam, sleeve).
• Target unit count. Total units across the program and split by SKU if you have it. Ranges are fine at the quote stage. Precision comes at the PO.
• Target ship date and target FOB or delivery port. Ship date drives the dye-lot booking window. Delivery port drives the freight math. If you are shipping into the US, name the port (LAX, LGB, NYC, SAV).

The intake form

Fill this in and it opens your email client with a pre-filled message to Kelvin. Attach the tech pack PDF and send. Kelvin owns the intake inbox and replies inside one business day.

What happens after you send

Three business days, three deliverables. The rhythm is deliberate. It exists because it is the shortest interval that gives us time to build a defensible quote and gives you time to move to the sample stage without waiting.

The alternative, if you are still shopping

Directory-sourced quotes take 4 to 15 business days on average, come back with headline unit cost only, and quietly revise MOQ up once the tech pack passes through the trading-company layer to the real factory. Spec drift between sample and bulk is the second-most-common failure mode after MOQ revision. We wrote the direct-factory alternative case in detail at Alibaba alternative for activewear manufacturer, including the five checks that separate a real mill from a middleman before you send anything sensitive.

If you are early enough that you are not sure whether your spec sheet counts as a real tech pack, start at the activewear tech pack template and build from there.

Why we can commit to 72 hours

Three reasons. First, the intake is bilingual (Kelvin owns Mandarin and English) so the tech pack does not bounce through a translation layer. Second, JJ runs the mill side. Yardage math and MOQ come off the actual knitting-hall capacity, not a broker's guess at what a factory might quote. Third, Ohzehn Textiles operates four factories in Fuzhou with an in-house PVH lab and one of approximately 10 apparel-mill Target Corporation lab certifications globally, which means the compliance and testing paperwork is already sitting on the shelf. There is no waiting on a partner factory to answer. For the compliance depth, see Target-certified apparel manufacturer. For the vertical-integration case, see in-house yarn and knitting factory.

Frequently asked questions

How fast is the 72-hour quote really?

72 business hours from receipt of a complete tech pack. Business day 1 we parse the pack and run yardage math. Business day 2 we draft the quote with three MOQ options. Business day 3 we send it and book a 20-minute call to walk it through.

What if my tech pack is incomplete?

We come back inside 24 business hours with the missing-fields question. The 72-hour SLA starts when you re-send the complete pack. We do not sit on incomplete packs, and we do not build a phantom quote off assumptions.

Do you charge for the quote?

No. Quotes are free. Samples carry a per-SKU cost that we disclose in the quote itself, typically in the 90 to 250 US dollar range per size depending on construction complexity.

What if you are already quoting a competing brand in my category?

We disclose category conflicts before the sample stage. The quote itself carries no exclusivity. If a real conflict emerges at the sample or production stage we tell you before you spend money, and we can gate exclusivity into the sample MOU on a per-program basis.

What does the quote actually include?

Yardage math off your tech pack, MOQ options across colorways and construction variants, sample-run cost per SKU, production lead time in weeks including dye and finish, and landed-cost estimate to your named delivery port including freight and duty band. Everything a founder needs to model unit economics against a target retail price.