How we work

A typical order passes through several samples, and each one answers a different question. The proto sample tests the idea: pattern, construction and proportions, usually in whatever fabric is available. The fit sample checks measurements on a body or dress form, and often goes through one or two rounds of comments. The size set proves the grading across every size you will sell. Lab dips and strike-offs approve colour and print separately from the garment. Finally, the pre-production sample is made in bulk fabric with bulk trims on the production line, and it is the one that matters: once you approve it, it is sealed and becomes the standard every inspection is judged against. Skipping the pre-production sample is the single most common cause of disputes about bulk quality, so we do not start cutting without it.

The inspection report comes to you before shipment, with the measured findings, so you decide what happens next rather than discovering a problem on arrival. If the failure is cosmetic and limited, the factory usually re-works the affected pieces and the lot is re-inspected. If it is a measurement or construction issue across the run, we look at whether the goods can be re-processed, sorted into acceptable and rejected pieces, or discounted with your agreement. If the goods cannot be made acceptable, they are not shipped. Who pays depends on your terms with us and is agreed before production, not negotiated in the middle of a crisis. Because the order is placed through us, you are dealing with one company on the remedy rather than negotiating with a factory in another language and time zone. We also report what caused the failure, so the fix goes into the next order rather than repeating.

That depends on the shipping term. On FOB, we deliver the goods to the port or airport in Bangladesh and your freight forwarder takes over. On CIF, we book the sea freight and insurance to your destination port. On DDP, we deliver to your warehouse with duties and clearance handled, which is the simplest option if you have no forwarder. Whichever term you choose, you receive the commercial invoice and packing list, the bill of lading or air waybill, the certificate of origin your market needs, and the final inspection report. For the EU we prepare the statement on origin from a registered exporter, and for other markets the certificate the customs authority expects. We also send the carton marks, so you can check the shipment matches what you ordered.

It depends on four things, which is why we confirm the date in writing per order rather than publishing one number. First, sampling: a brand that comments quickly and approves the pre-production sample in one round is weeks ahead of one that takes three. Second, fabric: cotton knits are made locally, while synthetic and technical fabrics are usually imported and add weeks. Third, the calendar: capacity tightens when many buyers need the same ship window, and Eid closes factories for up to ten days twice a year. Fourth, transit: sea freight from Chattogram takes about 22 to 30 days to Europe and the UK and 18 to 35 days to the United States on a freight forwarder’s published guide, and air from Dhaka two to five days. Give us the date the goods must be in your warehouse and we work the plan backwards from it, and the confirmed date goes into your order confirmation.

Yes, and the rule is the same for every change: we tell you what it does to the price and the date before you decide, and the decision is confirmed in writing. What a change costs depends on when it comes. Before bulk fabric is ordered, most changes cost little: a colour, a quantity split, a label. After fabric is booked, a change of colour or quantity may mean fabric that is already dyed for you, and we say so. After cutting has started, changes to construction or measurements mean garments already made to the sealed sample, and the honest answer is usually to finish this run as approved and change the next one. A move of delivery date on your side is handled the same way: we tell you what the factory can do and what it costs, if anything, and you choose. Nothing is changed on a phone call alone.

You do. Patterns, tech packs, artwork and any samples developed for your order are yours; they are never shown to or reused for other buyers. Your sealed sample is kept with your order file rather than on an open shelf. Two practical points help. Put your brand name and style number on every page of the tech pack and every sample tag, because a labelled sample is easy to protect and an unlabelled one is not. And tell us at the enquiry stage if a style must not be photographed for our own records; by default we photograph inline and final inspections for your reports only. If you want the mould, screen or embroidery disc kept for reorders, say so and it is stored under your name.

Garment production in a factory runs in a set order: fabric inspection, cutting, sewing, finishing, packing and final inspection, with printing, embroidery or washing slotted in at the point each method requires. Bulk fabric is checked first against the approved swatch, because a fault found after cutting is repeated in every piece. It is then laid up in many layers and cut along a planned marker, and the cut panels are bundled with shade lots kept apart. Decoration follows its own rule: sublimation is printed onto panels before the garment is sewn, while garment dyeing and washing happen after sewing. On the sewing line each operator repeats one operation, and quality is checked from the first bundles. Finishing then trims threads, presses and measures the garments before they are folded and packed. On our orders, the packed goods go through a final random inspection to the agreed AQL, and you see the report before shipment.

A pre-production meeting is a short meeting on the factory floor, held after the pre-production sample is approved and before bulk cutting starts, in which the factory’s production and quality staff and the buyer’s side agree how the style will be made. At CMB Sourcing Ltd. it follows the bulk fabric test and works from the sealed sample and the final revision of the tech pack. The meeting names the difficult operations, fixes machine settings such as stitch density, seam allowances and needle type, confirms what counts as a defect, sets the cutting plan with shade lots kept apart, and books the dates of the inline and final inspections. Its purpose is to stop the line sewing from an old tech pack, with the wrong trims or to unclear measurements. Ask for the signed minutes; your inspector can attend, and we can arrange it by video.