Two kinds of minimum, two different economics
A factory minimum is a fabric minimum. Cotton is dyed in a bath sized in kilograms; if the bath is 300kg of yarn, the mill runs 300kg whether your order needs it or not. That is why a custom-coloured shirt has a minimum in the hundreds or thousands — you are buying a dye lot, not a shirt.
A stock minimum is a handling minimum. The garment already exists; what costs money is picking it, checking it, bagging it, labelling it and raising the paperwork. Below a certain quantity that handling cost per shirt exceeds the shirt’s own margin, which is why stock suppliers stop at a case or a hundred rather than at one.
We are the second kind. Our 100-piece minimum is not a rule invented to look exclusive; it is the point where handling stops dominating the unit economics.
Why sizes can be mixed but colours cannot
Sizes inside one colour come off the same shelf: picking 12 smalls and 30 larges costs the same as picking 42 mediums. There is no extra setup, so there is no reason to impose a minimum per size — and every reason not to, because a size curve is the thing a first-time buyer most needs to get right.
A second colour is a second picking run, a second count and a second label. So it carries its own minimum. A 100-piece order in two colours is two 100-piece minimums, not one 50-piece order — and buyers who assume otherwise are disappointed at the quote stage rather than before they plan.
- One colour, 100 pieces, six sizes: one minimum.
- Two colours, 50 pieces each: two minimums, so 200 pieces in total.
- One colour, 100 pieces split across two styles: two minimums.
How the tiers actually work
Our ladder starts at 100 pieces and steps at 300 and 600. On the 230gsm crew that is $3.90 → $3.70 → $3.55. On the 180gsm tubular crew, $3.30 → $3.10 → $3.00.
The step is real money but it is not magic: above 300 pieces the picking run is amortised over more units and the mill price improves slightly. Below 300 you are paying for handling, not for fabric.
How to reach a better tier without overbuying
The honest way is to consolidate: one style, one colour, the whole size curve, in a single order. That is how a first order reaches 300 without inventing demand.
The dishonest way — which suppliers sometimes suggest — is to quote the 600-piece price for a 100-piece order and recover it later. It looks generous and it is a trap: either the price changes at invoice, or the quality drops to make the number work.
- Consolidate to one colour rather than two.
- Take the size curve seriously — a curve sells through faster than an even split.
- If 100 is genuinely too many, buy 50 twice and pay the higher per-piece price; that is a legitimate choice, not a failure.
Red flags in an MOQ conversation
A minimum that changes once you ask for a written quote. A minimum that applies per size. A factory that quotes 50 pieces for a custom dye — which means either the dye lot is shared with someone else, or the colour will not match on reorder.
And the quiet one: a supplier whose minimum is beatable only by paying a surcharge that brings the total back to where it started. Ask for the all-in cost at your real quantity before you celebrate a low MOQ.