Low MOQ t-shirt manufacturer: 150 pieces per style, made in Bangladesh
A t-shirt is the product most new brands start with, and the one most often bought as a printed blank and called "manufacturing". This page is about the other route: a tee cut and sewn to your pattern, in the jersey weight you choose, with your own neck label, from 150 pieces per style and colour. Our sister company, Collective Studio Ltd., makes these runs in Narayanganj; CMB Sourcing Ltd. manages the tech pack, samples, inspection and delivery.
- Minimum
- 150 pieces per style, per colour
- Made by
- Collective Studio Ltd., Narayanganj, our sister factory
- Small runs since
- 2019
- Production time
- About 40–50 days after sample approval; freight on top, DDP
- Organic option
- Organic cotton on request (ask for the factory’s GOTS licence number and check it in the GOTS public database before you order)
- Colours
- Stock shades keep a first run small; custom dye lots need larger fabric minimums
- Typical weights
- 140–240 GSM single jersey; heavier for oversized streetwear
Made by our sister factory
Collective Studio Ltd.
Small runs on this page are cut and sewn by our sister company, Collective Studio Ltd.: a Narayanganj factory making small quantities since 2019, to support new businesses and creators. CMB Sourcing Ltd. manages your tech pack, sampling, quality checks and DDP delivery exactly as on its own orders, and names the factory in writing before production. Both our founders work with Collective Studio Ltd.: Homaira Jashim is a co-founder and AB Rahman is Head of Growth; see our founders. Our sister company has its own website and minimum, and prices these runs itself.
In short
T-shirts from 150 pieces per style and colour, cut and sewn from your own pattern in your choice of jersey weight and stock colour, with your neck label and print, made by our sister factory, Collective Studio Ltd., in Narayanganj and delivered to your door. Not printed blanks: your fit, your fabric, your label, with factory inspection on every run.
What 150 pieces of a t-shirt actually buys you
One hundred and fifty pieces per style and colour is enough to cut from your own pattern rather than decorate a blank. That difference shows everywhere a customer touches the product: the neck opening, the shoulder slope, the sleeve length, the hem width and the weight of the jersey are all yours to decide, and the label in the neck is yours, not a brand you overprinted. Our sister factory runs a 150-piece style through the same steps as a bulk order, a sealed sample, a cutting plan, a sewing line, and inline and final inspection by us.
What it does not buy is a custom-dyed shade. Jersey is dyed in lots far larger than 150 pieces, so a first run uses our sister factory’s stock colours, and a custom Pantone comes later when a style has proved itself and the quantity justifies a dye lot.
Choosing the jersey
Weight decides how the tee feels and who it is for. A 140–160 GSM combed cotton single jersey drapes and suits fashion basics and warm markets; 180–200 GSM is the everyday retail standard; 220–240 GSM gives the boxy, structured feel of premium streetwear. Combed and ring-spun yarns make a smoother, stronger fabric than open-end yarn at a modest cost; bio-washed or enzyme-finished jersey feels softer from the first wear. Blends with polyester or elastane change drape and recovery and suit activewear more than basics.
Tell us the tee you like and we match it with knit-down swatches from our sister factory’s stock, or say the weight and hand-feel you want and we propose two or three options with the sample.
Fit, construction and the details that read as quality
The details that separate a considered tee from a blank cost little at 150 pieces if they are in the tech pack from the start: a 1x1 rib neck at the width you specify, a taped back neck, twin-needle hems at the depth you choose, a side seam or a tubular body, a set-in or drop shoulder, and a pattern graded across your size range. Our sister factory sews to the sealed sample, which is measured against your size chart before the run is cut.
- Neck: rib width, depth and whether the back neck is taped
- Shoulders: set-in, dropped or oversized, with the seam position measured
- Hems: single or twin needle, depth in centimetres
- Body: side-seamed for shaping, tubular for a seamless torso
- Labels: printed neck label, woven side label with fibre and care content
Decoration on a small run
Screen printing works at 150 pieces for one- or two-colour designs; the set-up spreads over fewer garments, so a six-colour print is better placed with digital printing, which has no colour-count cost and suits photographic artwork. Embroidery suits a small logo on the chest or sleeve. Each method has its own briefing list on our method pages, and every one is approved on the bulk fabric before the run.
Samples, approval and delivery
A first run goes through a proto or fit sample, then a pre-production sample in the bulk jersey with your labels, which you approve and we seal. Production, inline checks and a final random inspection follow, in about 40–50 days from your approval of that sample, and the goods then ship DDP to your door as one landed cost, with freight time on top. Sample charges are agreed before development starts. When a tee outgrows the small-run route, the same tech pack, sealed sample and grading go with it as the starting point to the factory that suits the export order, our sister factory or an audited partner factory, and you approve that factory’s own sample before bulk.
Ordering in export quantities instead? See T-shirts at volume, made in our sister factory or an audited partner factory that suits the order. Not sure which route fits: our minimum order guide.
Questions about small-run t-shirts.
Is a 150-piece t-shirt run the same as printing blanks?
No, and the difference is the whole point. A printed blank is a ready-made tee, usually from a wholesale label, with your design on the chest; the fit, fabric weight, neck and hem are whatever the blank’s maker chose, and the label in the neck is theirs unless you pay to have it removed and replaced. A 150-piece run at our sister factory is cut and sewn from your pattern: you decide the jersey weight and finish, the shoulder and body shape, the neck rib and the hem, and your own printed neck label and woven side label go in at the sewing stage. It costs more per piece than a blank and takes longer, because it is a manufactured garment, and it gets factory-standard inspection. Blanks are the right answer for an event or a one-off; your own tee is the right answer for a brand that intends to reorder.
Can I have my own colour at 150 pieces?
Usually not on the first run, and it is better to know why than to be promised otherwise. Jersey is dyed in lots that run to hundreds of kilograms, far more fabric than 150 tees need, so a custom Pantone shade means buying a dye lot you cannot use up. Our sister factory keeps stock shades that cover the usual palette, and a first run in a stock colour is how a small brand tests a style without carrying fabric it does not need. When the style proves itself and the quantity per colour rises, a custom lab dip becomes practical, and the sealed sample and grading from the first run carry over unchanged. If a specific shade is essential to the brand from day one, tell us at the enquiry stage: sometimes a stock shade is close enough to approve, and sometimes the honest advice is to launch the style in fewer colours.
Which jersey weight should a new brand choose?
Start from the customer and the climate, then the price point. For fashion basics and warm markets a 140–160 GSM combed cotton single jersey drapes well and feels light; 180–200 GSM is the everyday retail standard that most shoppers recognise as a proper tee; 220–240 GSM gives the boxy, structured feel of premium streetwear and holds an oversized shape. Combed ring-spun yarn feels smoother than open-end at a modest extra cost, and a bio-wash or enzyme finish softens the fabric from the first wear. Blends with polyester or elastane belong in activewear rather than basics. The practical way to decide is to send us a tee you like: we match it against our sister factory’s stock jerseys with knit-down swatches and put two or three options in front of you with the sample, so you choose by hand-feel rather than by number.
Is the 150-piece minimum per style, per colour or per size?
Per style and per colour: 150 pieces of one t-shirt design in one colour. The published minimum sets no separate figure per size, so the sizes of that colour count together towards the 150, and three colours of one tee mean 450 pieces. A cutting plan still works best with a sensible spread, so a ratio that leaves one size with only a handful of pieces is worth raising when you enquire, and a factory may ask for a minimum per size. Two styles in two colours are four lots of 150, which is why a first run usually stays to one or two stock colours and a tight size range, extended on the reorder once you know which sizes sell. Stock shades are what keep the minimum at 150; a custom dye lot needs far more fabric. Ask for the size split and colour count to be confirmed in writing with your quote.
How long does a 150-piece t-shirt order take?
About 40 to 50 days of production, which is our sister factory’s published figure and counts from an approved sample. Freight comes on top: by its figures about 5 to 7 days by air and longer by sea, delivered DDP. Before that clock starts comes development: a proto or fit sample, then a pre-production sample in the bulk jersey with your neck label, which you approve and we seal. How quickly that happens depends mostly on how fast comments and approvals come back, so a complete tech pack and a reference tee shorten it. Print or embroidery is approved on the bulk fabric before the run. A custom Pantone shade is not normally possible at 150 pieces, because jersey is dyed in lots far larger than a small run needs; the first run uses stock colours, which keeps the timeline predictable. After production and final inspection the goods ship with duty paid, so plan freight and customs clearance on top of the 40 to 50 days, not inside them.
Guides on this topic
Planning a small run of t-shirts? Send the brief.
Send a tech pack, a sketch or a photo of a garment you like. We reply within one working day with questions or a first costing.
- A reply within one working day
- An enquiry, not an order: you are committed to an order only when you sign the written order confirmation
- Certificates and audit reports shared before production
- AQL final inspection report before you approve shipment
- Your patterns and artwork never shown to or reused for other buyers