Sourcing textiles and apparel from China splits into two decisions: where you buy, and how tightly you control what arrives. For finished garments, the Guangdong cluster (Guangzhou, Humen, Dongguan) is the volume heartland; for fabric by the roll, Keqiao near Shaoxing is the world's largest market; for accessories and low-value basics, Yiwu. The hard part is not finding a factory — it's a clean tech pack, an approved sample, MOQs you can actually hit, compliant labels, and a pre-shipment inspection against an agreed AQL. Skip any of those and a perfect showroom sample becomes a defective container.
Apparel is the category where the gap between "the sample was great" and "the bulk is wrong" is widest. Fabric hand changes, dye lots drift, seams loosen, sizing spreads. This guide walks the whole chain — from picking a city to signing off the inspection report — the way a buyer who has actually worked the markets does it.
Where to source: the three Chinas of textiles
China is not one textile market. It's three overlapping ones, and choosing the wrong one wastes a whole trip.
Guangdong — finished garments at volume
The Pearl River Delta (Guangzhou, Humen, Dongguan) is the country's finished-garment engine. Guangdong holds well over 2,000 large-scale garment companies and accounts for a large share of China's apparel output, with the industrial clustering that lets a good factory turn a design into a sample in roughly 48 hours (Guangzhou sourcing overview). Humen (in Dongguan) is South China's clothing-manufacturing town — its Fumin fabric-and-accessory market alone runs about 60,000 m² and over 1,000 shops (Humen market guide). For finished apparel you can order and reorder, this is the default.
Keqiao (Shaoxing) — fabric by the roll
If you're buying fabric rather than finished garments, go to China Textile City in Keqiao, Shaoxing (Zhejiang) — the largest fabric wholesale market on earth. It carries more than 30,000 kinds of fabric across tens of thousands of operators, and by common industry estimate the wider Keqiao cluster handles on the order of a quarter of the world's fabric trade (Keqiao market guide, Suerte Textile). You go to Keqiao to source the cloth, then have it cut and sewn in Guangdong or a Zhejiang garment factory. In Guangzhou itself, the Zhongda fabric market (Haizhu district) is the southern equivalent — an entire district of fabric shops that has served the trade since the late 1980s (Zhongda guide).
Yiwu — accessories and low-value basics
Yiwu (Zhejiang) is the small-commodities capital: socks, scarves, hats, underwear, promotional and low-value apparel, plus every trim and accessory (buttons, zippers, labels, hang-tags). It's the right market for high-SKU, low-unit-cost items, not for tailored garments. See our Yiwu market guide to plan that leg.
Trade fairs that anchor a textile trip
Markets are for browsing; fairs are for meeting exporting manufacturers with English-speaking sales and export experience. Two are worth building a calendar around.
- The East China Fair (ECF) in Shanghai is China's second-largest trade show and skews heavily to textiles, garments, and home — the 2026 edition runs March 1–4 at SNIEC (ECF). In March it gives you a head start on the season before the spring Canton Fair.
- The Canton Fair Phase 3 (late April/early May and again in autumn) is the textiles-and-garments phase of the world's biggest import-export show.
- Keqiao itself runs Spring and Autumn Textile Expos on the market's doorstep.
For the full year's calendar and how these fit around the Canton Fair, see other China sourcing fairs.
Fabric vs finished garments: decide before you quote
The single biggest sourcing mistake in apparel is being vague about what you're buying. There are two models:
- CMT (Cut, Make, Trim) — you supply the fabric and trims (or specify exact references), the factory only cuts and sews. You control quality and cost of materials; you carry the sourcing and logistics of the cloth.
- FOB / full-package — the factory sources fabric and trims and delivers finished garments. Simpler for you, but you're trusting their fabric choice, so a locked-down spec and sample approval matter even more.
Most first orders should be full-package with an approved fabric swatch, so the factory owns the supply chain but can't substitute a cheaper cloth without you noticing.
The tech pack and sampling loop
A tech pack is the engineering drawing of a garment: flat sketches, a measurement spec (points of measure with tolerances, graded across sizes), fabric and trim references (weight in GSM — grams per square meter — composition, color to a Pantone reference), stitch and construction details, label and packaging instructions. No serious factory quotes accurately without one; a vague brief gets you a vague price and a worse sample.
The sampling loop then runs in stages:
- Proto / fit sample — first physical make, to check pattern and fit.
- SMS (salesman/size-set sample) — corrected version, often across the size run to verify grading.
- PPS (pre-production sample) — the golden sample the bulk is judged against. Approve this in writing and keep a sealed copy; it's your reference in any dispute.
Budget realistically: sampling typically takes 10–25 days, and each round of changes adds a loop (lead-time benchmarks). Don't start bulk until the PPS is signed off.
MOQ per style, color and size
MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) is where apparel trips up newcomers, because it isn't one number — it stacks by style, then by color, then sometimes by size. A factory's headline "MOQ 500" usually means per color, because each color is a separate fabric dye lot, and dyeing has its own minimum (often 300–800 kg of fabric per color). Ordering three colors can mean 3× the fabric minimum even if your total unit count is modest.
Low-MOQ factories in the Guangdong cluster now quote 50–100 pieces per style/color for simple items, while dresses, suits or lined garments often start at 300 pieces per design, and print-heavy programs at 200 pcs per graphic (low-MOQ guide, MOQ guide). A common workaround: combine your size run inside one style/color to hit the MOQ (e.g. 50 S + 50 M + 50 L = 150 toward a 150 minimum) rather than ordering 150 of each size.
Product type → typical MOQ → lead time
Figures are 2026 mid-market ranges for a Guangdong/Zhejiang factory; simple, high-volume items sit at the low end, technical or custom-dyed ones higher. Always confirm per color.
| Product type | Typical MOQ (per style/color) | Typical bulk lead time* |
|---|---|---|
| T-shirts, basic knit tops | 100–300 pcs | 20–35 days |
| Hoodies / sweatshirts | 100–300 pcs | 25–40 days |
| Woven shirts / blouses | 200–500 pcs | 30–45 days |
| Dresses (lined/detailed) | 300–500 pcs | 35–55 days |
| Denim / structured trousers | 300–800 pcs | 40–60 days |
| Outerwear / padded jackets | 300–1,000 pcs | 45–75 days |
| Fabric by the roll (Keqiao) | 300–800 kg per color (dye lot) | 15–30 days (greige stock faster) |
*Lead time is after PPS approval, excluding sampling and ocean transit. Sources: lead-time benchmarks, MOQ guide.
Labeling and compliance: don't import a fine
For the EU market, textile labeling is not optional and it's tightening. Under Regulation (EU) 1007/2011, every garment must carry its fibre composition using standardized fibre names (e.g. "100% cotton"), not marketing terms, and declare non-textile parts of animal origin (EU textile labelling). Care labels must be permanent and legible — a label that fades illegible after washing makes the product legally defective (apparel regulations 2026).
Chemical compliance runs on REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), which restricts substances such as azo dyes, certain phthalates, formaldehyde and nickel in textiles. Two 2026 dates matter: a PFAS restriction covering clothing and footwear takes effect in 2026, and the "Empowering Consumers" green-claims rules apply from 27 September 2026 (apparel regulations 2026, EU textile strategy). Put label content and a chemical-compliance clause in the purchase order, and pull a lab test on the first order — retrofitting compliance onto a landed container is far more expensive than testing a sample.
You'll also need the right HS code (Harmonized System code — the customs classification that sets your duty rate) for each garment; apparel duty varies widely by fibre and construction, so classify before you cost.
Quality control: measurements and AQL
Apparel QC is measurement-driven. A pre-shipment inspection (PSI), run when ≥80% of the order is produced and packed, samples the lot against an agreed AQL (Acceptance Quality Limit) — the worst defect rate you'll tolerate — and checks each garment against your measurement spec (points of measure within tolerance), plus workmanship, color, labeling and packing. For garments, inspectors also run function tests: seam strength, colorfastness rub, and a size-set measurement across the run.
Word the PO so pass/fail is a number, not an argument, and hold final payment until the report passes. The full method — the four inspection stages, how AQL sampling is calculated, and third-party costs — is in our quality control & inspection guide.
FAQ
What's the minimum order to manufacture clothing in China?
For simple knits (T-shirts, hoodies) low-MOQ Guangdong factories quote 50–100 pieces per style/color; woven shirts and dresses start around 200–500. Remember MOQ stacks per color because each color is a separate dye lot, and fabric dyeing has its own 300–800 kg minimum. Combine your size run inside one color to reach the MOQ rather than multiplying it.
Should I buy fabric and garments separately or full-package?
For a first order, use full-package (FOB) with an approved fabric swatch: the factory sources fabric and trims but can't substitute a cheaper cloth without you catching it against the sealed sample. Buying fabric separately (CMT) gives you more control and often better cloth pricing from Keqiao, but you take on sourcing, logistics and the risk of fabric/factory finger-pointing.
How long does a China apparel order take end to end?
Plan the full timeline in three blocks: sampling 10–25 days, bulk production 20–60 days after PPS approval depending on the garment, then ocean transit (roughly 25–40 days to Europe/US) plus customs. A straightforward T-shirt order can land in 8–10 weeks; a structured jacket program in 4–5 months. Sampling delays and label revisions are the usual culprits for slippage.
What compliance do I need to import clothing into the EU?
A permanent fibre-composition label using standardized names, a permanent legible care label in the destination language, and chemical compliance under REACH (azo dyes, phthalates, formaldehyde, and a PFAS restriction landing in 2026). Classify each item under the correct HS code for duty. Put label and chemical clauses in the PO and lab-test the first production run.
Where in China do I go for finished garments vs fabric?
Finished garments: the Guangdong cluster — Guangzhou, Humen and Dongguan — for the deepest choice of exporting factories and fast sampling. Fabric by the roll: Keqiao (Shaoxing) for the world's largest fabric market, or Zhongda in Guangzhou for the southern equivalent. Accessories and low-value basics: Yiwu. Many buyers source fabric in Keqiao and cut-make in Guangdong.
Textile trips generate hundreds of photos, swatches and quotes, and the details — GSM, MOQ per color, the exact price at a given quantity — blur by the third booth. Fairloop is built to capture each fabric or garment in under 15 seconds on the spot — photo, quoted price, MOQ, supplier — then compare the same item across suppliers and compute landed cost back home. One field tool for the whole trip, at 99 USD/year with a 24h trial.