Apparel Manufacturing for Brooklyn Brands

Brooklyn is one of the country's most vibrant hubs for garment and fashion design, home to a distinctive mix of heritage manufacturers, sustainability-forward labels, and direct-to-consumer startups. For brands born in Williamsburg lofts, Bushwick studios, or Sunset Park warehouses, finding a production partner who can match their creative ambition at scale is often the hardest part of growth.

Why source through Ohzehn

Brooklyn founders know what they want. They also know their margins.

Ohzehn Textiles operates from Fuzhou, Fujian Province, the performance-apparel heartland of China. That structure keeps lead times predictable and eliminates the margin erosion that comes from juggling multiple subcontractors.

Co-founder JJ Chen, Chief Operations Officer.

The Brooklyn-to-China lane: ports and transit times

Brooklyn sits just a short truck ride from the Port of New York and New Jersey, the largest and busiest U.S. East Coast port, ranking as the nation's third-largest overall. The port district spans terminals including the NYCT (New York Container Terminal), PNCT (Port of Newark Container Terminal), and Maher Terminals in Elizabeth, one of the biggest container terminals on the U.S. East Coast.

Ocean freight from major Chinese ports to New York and New Jersey typically takes 25 to 35 days via the Suez Canal or Panama Canal route. From Shanghai, CMA CGM service averages around 30 days to NYCT. OOCL runs a comparable 30-day schedule from Shenzhen to Maher Terminals in New Jersey.

Fuzhou Port, our home base in Fujian Province, is a natural seaport on the estuary of the Minjiang River. It is a key hub supporting the developing industries in southeastern China, handling over 3.4 million TEUs in recent years. The port offers direct routes to major U.S. gateways with average transit times of 15 to 30 days depending on destination.

What we make

Brooklyn's brand landscape ranges from streetwear labels rooted in urban culture to yoga studios launching their own lines to sustainability-obsessed founders turning deadstock into product. Our core categories align with this diversity:

Activewear

Fuzhou factories have specialized in performance textiles for decades. Our floor handles everything from bonded seams.

Intimates

Ohzehn produces across the intimates category, including wire-free bras, molded cups, and coordinated sets, backed by in-house lab testing on every batch.

Casual

T-shirts, fleece hoodies, joggers, everyday basics. Brooklyn Cloth was established in 2011 as a Brooklyn-born lifestyle brand focused on streetwear. Brands like these need consistent hand-feel, accurate colorways, and print quality that holds up wash after wash.

Yoga

Leggings, sports bras, flowy tops, studio-to-street pieces. The category demands four-way stretch, opacity testing, and flatlock stitching.

Swimwear

Bikinis, one-pieces, boardshorts, rash guards.

Sustainable and bio-based

Our mill in Fuzhou holds OEKO-TEX Standard 100 (Class I) and completed Higg FEM verification for the 2025 cycle (Cascale, formerly SAC). Brooklyn brands like Neu Nomads, a Brooklyn-based sustainable women's fashion brand offering loungewear and travel essentials, represent the growing demand for responsibly made apparel.

Compliance and tariffs for United States brands

U.S. apparel tariffs on Chinese goods have shifted significantly since 2025. The combined effective rate for a typical China apparel import now sits at approximately 34%, combining base MFN duties, Section 301 tariffs, and Section 122 measures. The Section 122 tariff, implemented in February 2026 at 10-15% on top of existing duties, expires on July 24, 2026, unless Congress extends it.

The apparel sector represents 4.78% of all U.S. imports but pays 25.70% of all U.S. customs duties, a disproportionate burden that predates the current trade tensions. Exact rates vary by fiber content (cotton versus man-made fibers) and specific HTS code classification.

Despite tariff pressures, China often remains the most competitive option for small and mid-sized brands due to minimum order quantities and fabric availability constraints in alternative sourcing countries. China factory prices have declined, with unit prices dropping 11.5% in 2025 compared to 2.2% for the rest of the world, partially offsetting tariff differentials for direct factory relationships.

All shipments clear U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) upon arrival. Documentation requirements include commercial invoices, packing lists, bills of lading, and accurate 10-digit HTS classification. The de minimis threshold for Chinese goods has been significantly restructured since May 2025, affecting direct-to-consumer shipping models.

How time zones actually work

Brooklyn operates on Eastern Time: UTC-4 during Daylight Saving Time (March through November) and UTC-5 during Standard Time. China runs on China Standard Time year-round at UTC+8 with no daylight saving adjustments.

The practical gap: Beijing is 12 hours ahead of New York. When it is 9 AM in Brooklyn, it is 9 PM in Fuzhou.

This inversion sounds difficult but actually creates a productive rhythm. Questions sent at end-of-day Brooklyn time get answered overnight and arrive in your inbox by morning. Production updates from the factory floor reach you before your first coffee.

Categories of brands in Brooklyn we are a fit for

Pre-revenue founders finalizing their first collection. We can work with smaller initial orders to prove out fit and construction before you commit to larger runs.

Growing DTC labels doing $500K to $5M in annual revenue. You have proven product-market fit and need a factory partner who can scale with you without compromising quality or blowing out lead times.

Sustainability-focused brands requiring certified materials and transparent supply chains. The Brooklyn Fashion Incubator, a non-profit mentoring emerging businesses in the U.S. fashion market, supports diverse entrepreneurs. We work with founders who come out of these programs needing production partners aligned with their values.

Private label and licensing operations requiring white-label production with strict quality consistency across SKUs.

The case for going direct

Middlemen add cost. Every broker, trading company, or sourcing agent between your brand and the factory floor takes a cut and adds a communication layer. Specs get lost in translation. Feedback loops slow down. Problems get discovered later than they should.

Going direct to a factory collapses that chain. Fabric approvals happen in the same building where rolls get inspected. Lab-dip iterations stay in-house rather than bouncing between three different companies.

Ohzehn operates as that direct line. When something needs fixing, we catch it before shipping, not after.

Brooklyn brands have built their reputations on authenticity, quality, and hustle. The right manufacturing partner operates the same way.

For brands ready to move production forward, the conversation starts with a tech pack and a timeline.