wholesale t shirts from china
Importing blanks from China is a route, not a bargain. It has a fixed shape: sample, verify, produce, ship, clear. Get the shape right and the unit price is the best available; skip a stage and the savings disappear in the last two weeks of the journey.
Send the weight, colour, fit and quantity. We return a unit price per quantity tier within 24 hours.
A production order, not a stock purchase: the fabric is knitted and dyed for you, so the minimum is a dye-bath minimum, not a handling minimum. That is why the route starts at several hundred pieces per colour.
Then the sequence: sample, approve, deposit, produce, inspect, ship, clear. Ten to thirteen weeks door to door if nothing slips, and something usually slips at the approval-to-deposit stage.
FOB means the price stops at the port: you appoint the freight forwarder, you pay freight, you clear customs, you pay duty. DDP means the supplier delivers to your door with duty paid, and builds all of it into the unit price.
DDP is simpler and more expensive per piece; FOB is cheaper and requires you to become an importer for one shipment. Neither is better — but the two numbers are not comparable and should never be put in the same column.
Landed cost per shirt, and cash tied up before the first sale. A FOB price of $2.60 with 41.5% duty and $0.55 of freight lands at $4.23 — 63% above the number on the quote.
Cash is the other half: goods plus duty plus freight plus broker, all paid before you have sold a single shirt, and paid again if you reorder before the first order sells through.
Before the deposit: legal entity, bank name match, factory video, references. Before final payment: third-party inspection against the approved sample. Before the vessel sails: HS code and declared value.
Each of those belongs to a specific stage. Doing them all at the end is not diligence, it is a post-mortem.
Below a few hundred pieces per colour, the dye-bath minimum makes it impossible. Above several thousand, it is clearly the cheapest route and worth the complexity.
In between sits the awkward middle — more than a case, less than a container — which is exactly where stock in the destination country earns its higher unit price.
| Route type | Production order, dye-bath minimum |
|---|---|
| Lead time | 10–13 weeks door to door |
| Typical minimum | Several hundred per colour |
| Terms | FOB (you import) or DDP (supplier imports) |
| Landed example | $2.60 FOB → $4.23 landed at 41.5% duty |
| Verify before deposit | Entity, bank name, factory video, references |
A dye-bath minimum, typically several hundred per colour. Below that the route is not available.
FOB usually, if you are competent at importing. DDP costs more but removes the customs work.
10–13 weeks door to door, including sample, production and ocean freight.
Landed cost, not the unit price. Duty can add 27% or more to what the quote implied.
Below a few thousand pieces, or when the deadline is measured in weeks rather than months.
A fabric swatch and a sewn sample come before the bulk run, and finished goods are photographed before packing.