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Custom clothing manufacturer in Bangladesh: your design, your pattern, your fabric, your labels
Fully custom means the garment starts from your design, not from a block our partner factories already make. We develop the pattern, source the fabric and trims you specify, sample until you seal the fit, then place production with an audited factory named to you in writing.
- Shipping terms
- FOB, CIF, DDP
- Ships from
- Chattogram sea port, Dhaka airport
- Quality control
- Inline checks and AQL final inspection
- Minimum order
- From 500 pieces per style and colour
In short
A custom clothing manufacturer makes a garment from your own design rather than from a block it already runs. Through CMB Sourcing Ltd., that means pattern making, grading, fabric and trim development, four sample stages to a sealed sample, then production in an audited Bangladesh factory named to you in writing. Custom styles are quoted per tech pack. Orders start at 500 pieces per style and colour, higher in some categories, and the pattern stays yours. CMB Sourcing Ltd. is a manufacturer and buying house: knitwear (such as T-shirts, polos and hoodies) and caps are made in our own factory, everything else in an audited partner factory, and we manage every order.
What “custom” means here, and how it differs from private label and white label
The word custom is used loosely by suppliers, so we define it. A white-label garment is a finished stock product that a seller relabels; nothing about the garment is yours. A private-label garment starts from a pattern the factory already runs, such as a classic tee or a relaxed hoodie, and you choose the fabric, colours, labels and packaging; the fit is proven and development is short. A custom garment starts from your design: we develop the pattern from your sketch or tech pack, grade it across your sizes, develop or source the fabric you specify, and build the trims and labels around it. The pattern and the design remain yours.
The practical difference is where the work sits. Private label spends most of its effort on branding and colour; custom spends it on pattern, fit and fabric before production begins. That is why a custom style is quoted against its own tech pack, and why it needs more sample rounds than a proven block. The production stage, once the sample is sealed, runs exactly as any full package order: fabric inspected before cutting, inline checks during sewing, and a final inspection before packing.
- White label: a stock garment relabelled; no pattern, fabric or fit choices
- Private label: a proven block in your fabric, colours, labels and packaging
- Custom: your pattern, your fabric specification, your trims, your labels; the design is yours
What fully custom development covers
Pattern making is the first step. From a sketch the factory’s sample room drafts a first pattern in a base size and cuts a proto sample in a fabric close to your specification, so you can judge the shape before money goes into the real cloth. From a tech pack with a measurement chart, the proto goes straight to your numbers. Grading then produces every size in your chart using the increments you specify, or the standard increments for your market if you have none yet.
Fabric development is the second. A knitted fabric can be made to your weight, yarn and finish, but the mill sets a minimum per quality and colour, and dyeing a custom shade adds a lab dip stage. Where your quantity clears those minimums, we develop; where it does not, we source a stock quality in the same weight and hand and tell you the difference in writing. The fabric line is worth getting right: in a published garment costing study, fabric is the largest single cost line in a knitted garment, close to half of the price, so a change of weight or fibre moves the price more than any trim.
Trims, labels and packaging complete the development. Custom zips, buttons, cords and elastics each carry their own supplier minimum, which we list against your style. Woven labels, printed neck labels, care labels, hangtags and polybags are developed once and re-used on every repeat; check the label text against the fibre-content and care rules of the market you sell in before you approve it.
Minimums, and what happens below them
Custom production runs at factory minimums, because a factory plans a sewing line around a style and a mill dyes a lot of fabric for it. Our own orders start at 500 pieces per style and colour, which is also the minimum for t-shirts and hoodies. Denim, jackets, woven shirts, workwear and uniforms start at 2,000; underwear at 5,000 pieces and socks at 5,000 pairs, all per style and colour. Any other category starts from that 500-piece floor, and its exact minimum is confirmed on your quote. Colour matters as much as style: each colour is a separate fabric lot, so a style in four colours needs four times the fabric minimum, not one.
Below those quantities we do not place custom production with our own partner factories. We place small runs from 150 pieces per style and colour with our sister company Collective Studio Ltd., which makes and prices them, managed by us with the same sampling and inspection; that route is described on its own page, with what changes in the price and which categories it covers. The honest advice for a first custom style is to launch in one or two colours at the minimum, prove the fit and the sell-through, then add colours on the reorder when the pattern is already paid for.
Sampling stages, in the order they happen
Every custom style goes through the same sequence, and nothing advances without your written approval of the stage before. The number of rounds depends on how complete your specification is: a full tech pack usually seals in two fit rounds, a sketch usually needs three or four.
- Proto sample: the first cut of your pattern, in a substitute fabric, to check the shape and construction
- Fit sample: made to your measurement chart, in the intended fabric where it is available, measured against every point in the chart
- Size set: one garment in each size, to check the grading across the range before bulk is cut
- Pre-production sample: made in bulk fabric with bulk trims, on the production line, with your labels and packaging
- Sealed sample: the approved pre-production sample, signed and kept at the factory as the standard every inspection is judged against
Who owns the pattern, and how we handle confidentiality
You do. The pattern, the grading and the tech pack we complete on your behalf are your property; working copies stay at the factory to make your orders, and we do not use them for anyone else. If you move production elsewhere, the digital pattern files are released to you on request once the outstanding invoices are settled, which is standard practice and stated in our quote.
Design confidentiality is handled the same way: the factory is told which styles are confidential, and samples are not photographed for our own use. What we cannot promise is exclusivity of a fabric or a trim that a mill sells to everyone; if a component must be exclusive to you, it has to be developed for you, and we say so at costing.
Quality control on a custom style
A custom style carries more risk than a proven block because nothing about it has been made before, so the checks start earlier. Bulk fabric is tested against the approved swatch before cutting, and the pre-production sample is made in that bulk fabric. During sewing, quality is checked on the line against the sealed sample. The final inspection follows ISO 2859-1, the sampling standard indexed by acceptance quality limit that garment buyers use worldwide, and its report reaches you before you approve shipment.
The standard you set for the inspection is part of the tech pack: the acceptance quality limit for critical, major and minor defects, the measurement tolerances, and any tests you want run on the fabric, such as shrinkage or colourfastness. If you have no standard yet, agree one for the category before the order is placed, and have it written into the order.
Labels and rules for your market
A custom garment still has to arrive legal, and the rules differ by market. The US requires the fibre content, the country of origin, the name or RN of a business handling the garment, and a permanent care label. Great Britain and the EU require the fibre composition, in English for Great Britain and in the language of each EU country of sale; their textile rules require neither a care label nor an origin label, though any origin you state must not mislead. Children’s garments carry safety rules on top. Check your label artwork against the rules of each market you sell in before it is printed; our market pages set out the duty, labelling and safety position for each country, sourced and dated.
What to send for a quote
The quickest quote comes from a tech pack; the next best is a reference garment with the changes you want marked on it; a sketch with a description works, but expect more questions and one more sample round. Whatever you send, a quote needs the items below. Our free tech pack template lays them out in the order a factory reads them.
- Style description and a flat drawing, front and back
- Fabric composition, weight and finish, or a swatch to match
- Measurement chart in your sizes, with tolerances, or a fit sample
- Trims, labels, prints and embroidery, with artwork and placement
- Quantity per style and per colour, and the market you sell in
- Delivery term and destination, so the quote is a landed figure if you want one
Sources
Checked . Rules and figures change, so confirm anything that affects your pricing.
- ISO 2859-1:2026 — Sampling procedures for inspection by attributes, Part 1: sampling schemes indexed by acceptance quality limit (AQL) (opens in a new tab)
- Rajib et al. (2023) — Complete Garment Costing with Major Cost Breakdown, Journal of Textile Science and Technology, 9, 115–126 (fabric the largest cost line) (opens in a new tab)
- FTC — Threading Your Way Through the Labeling Requirements Under the Textile and Wool Acts (opens in a new tab)
- Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 on textile fibre names and labelling (opens in a new tab)
- The Textile Products (Labelling and Fibre Composition) Regulations 2012 (UK) (opens in a new tab)
- US Federal Trade Commission: Clothes Captioning, Complying with the Care Labeling Rule (care labels attached permanently) (opens in a new tab)
- legislation.gov.uk: Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 as it applies in Great Britain, Article 16 (fibre composition in English) (opens in a new tab)
- European Commission: Review of Regulation (EU) 1007/2011 (EU labelling rules limited to fibre composition) (opens in a new tab)
- GOV.UK: Product labelling: the law (no particular information required on every product; labels must not mislead about where a product was made) (opens in a new tab)
- SEKO Logistics — Guide to exporting from Bangladesh: gateways and typical transit times (March 2026) (opens in a new tab)
Who it is for
Brands and product teams with a design of their own, from a sketch to a full tech pack, who want a garment that does not exist on anyone else’s rail and are ordering at factory minimums.
Not included
- Design services: we develop what you send, and ODM is the model if you want a range proposed to you
- Orders below factory minimums, which go to our sister factory's small-run route instead
- Decorating ready-made blanks, which is printing, not manufacturing
What is included
- Pattern making and grading from your sketch, tech pack or reference garment
- Fabric development within mill minimums, or sourcing from stock qualities to your weight and hand
- Custom trims: zips, buttons, cords, elastics, woven and printed labels, hangtags and packaging
- Proto, fit, size-set and pre-production samples, each approved in writing before the next
- Production in our own factory for knitwear and caps, or in an audited partner factory matched to the category, named before it starts
- Bulk fabric tested against the approved swatch, quality checks on the line and a final inspection to ISO 2859-1, with the report sent to you
- Export documents, and shipping on FOB, CIF or DDP terms as you choose
How the price works.
What sits inside the number we quote, and what you need to supply for it to hold. Quotes state the shipping term, so you can compare like with like.
What the price covers, and what is quoted separately
- Development is quoted per style: pattern, grading and each sample stage, so you see the cost before work starts
- The production price per piece covers fabric, trims, cutting, sewing, finishing, inspection and export documents
- Custom fabric adds the mill’s minimum and lead time; stock qualities avoid both, and we say which applies to your spec
- Trims with their own minimums, such as custom zips or branded buttons, are listed separately so nothing is hidden
- We publish no prices: every custom style is quoted against its own tech pack, with a first costing within one working day
What you provide
- A sketch, a reference garment or a tech pack: the more complete it is, the fewer sample rounds you pay for
- Fabric composition, weight and hand, or a swatch we can match
- A measurement chart with tolerances, or a fit sample to measure
- Artwork in vector format for labels, prints and embroidery, with Pantone references
- Your market and sales channel, so labels and packaging meet the rules on arrival
- Written approval at each sample stage, which is what moves the order forward
Where this goes wrong, and how to prevent it.
The common failure points on this model, and the control that catches each one before it costs you money.
| Risk | How it is prevented or handled |
|---|---|
| A pattern built from an incomplete tech pack | Ask for a written list of every missing measurement, seam and trim before pattern work starts, so the first proto is close, not a guess. |
| Custom fabric that cannot be made at your quantity | We check the mill minimum for your exact quality before sampling, and offer a stock quality with the same weight and hand if yours falls short. |
| Fit drifting between the sealed sample and bulk | The pre-production sample is made in bulk fabric on the production line, and every inspection measures against it, not against the tech pack alone. |
| Sample rounds multiplying and eating the budget | Give each round a written change list, and do not run a round that changes nothing measurable. |
Choose this model when
- You have a design of your own, from a sketch to a full tech pack, and want it made exactly
- The fit, fabric or construction you want does not exist as a proven block
- You are ordering at factory minimums and plan to reorder the style
- You want to own the pattern and keep the design confidential
Not the right model when
- You want a proven basic under your label quickly, which is private label
- You want a range proposed to you from a brief, which is ODM
- Your quantity is below factory minimums, which goes to our sister factory's small-run route
How it works.
An approval point at every stage, so you know exactly what you are getting before bulk production starts.
Send your design, tech pack or reference garment
We cost it and list the questions a factory would ask
Pattern, proto and fit samples until you seal the fit
Size set and pre-production sample in bulk fabric
Production, inspection and export documents
Delivery on the term you chose
What to ask for, in order
A model is only as good as the paper trail behind it. These are the documents to ask for on an order under this model, from the first costing to the shipment, so nothing depends on trust alone.
A costing per style with development quoted separately from the production price
A written list of the questions your tech pack leaves open, before pattern work starts
Fabric confirmation: composition, weight, mill and whether it is stock or developed
Proto, fit, size-set and pre-production sample approvals, then the sealed sample record
The factory named with its address, audits and certificates, before production
The final inspection report, then invoice, packing list, transport document and proof of origin
Read next
- How to write a tech packWhat a custom style needs from you, with a free template
- How to find a clothing manufacturer in BangladeshWhere to look, what to ask, how to verify
- Minimum order quantities explainedWhy minimums exist and how to plan a range around them
- Order cost estimatorA quoted price turned into an order total
How this compares with the other models.
The price you are quoted depends on which model you choose. The same style costs a different amount under each, because each puts different work, and different risk, inside the price.
| Model | You supply | The price covers | Where the risk sits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custom (this page) | Your design: sketch, reference or tech pack | Pattern, grading, fabric and trim development, sampling to a sealed sample, production, inspection, export documents | The supplier carries material risk once the sample is sealed; development is quoted per style |
| Full package (FOB) | Tech pack or sample | Fabric, trims, production, inspection and export documents; sampling is quoted separately | The supplier carries material risk; you carry freight from the port |
| CMT | Fabric, trims, often the pattern | Cutting, sewing, finishing, packing | You carry fabric quality, shortages and import delays |
| Private label | Your labels, artwork, colour choices | A proven block in your fabric choice; labels, hangtags and packaging are quoted as their own lines | The supplier carries material risk; fit is proven before you start |
| OEM / ODM | A full specification (OEM), or a brief (ODM) | Production to spec, or development plus production | Shared: we develop, you approve, our sister factory or a partner factory makes |
| Small runs | Tech pack or reference; stock fabric preferred | Cut and sew from 150 pieces at our sister factory, priced separately | Our sister factory carries production; we manage and inspect |
| Sampling | Sketch, tech pack or reference | Pattern, grading and each sample stage, quoted per style | Nothing goes to bulk until you have approved a sealed sample |
Products made this way.
Every product category, each with its own page.
Common questions.
How much does it cost to manufacture custom clothing in Bangladesh?
We publish no prices, because a custom style is quoted against its own tech pack; send it, or a reference garment, and the first costing comes within one working day. Our minimum for t-shirts and hoodies is 500 pieces per style and colour. Two costs are involved. Development is quoted per style and covers pattern making, grading and each sample stage; it is paid once and does not recur on reorders. The production price per piece covers fabric, trims, cutting, sewing, finishing, inspection and export documents, and fabric is the largest single line, close to half of a knitted garment’s price in a published costing study. So a heavier fabric or a custom-developed quality moves the price more than any trim. Custom fabric also adds the mill’s minimum, and custom zips or branded buttons carry their own supplier minimums, listed separately on the quote. Ask for a landed figure if you want freight and duty included.
What is the minimum order for custom clothing?
Custom production runs at factory minimums, because a line is planned around your style and a mill dyes a lot of fabric for it. Our own orders start at 500 pieces per style and colour; confirmed minimums include 500 for t-shirts and hoodies and 2,000 for denim, jackets, woven shirts, workwear and uniforms, and for other categories the quote gives the figure that applies. The minimum counts per colour as well as per style, since each colour is a separate fabric lot, so a style in three colours needs three fabric minimums. Below those quantities we do not place custom production with our own partner factories; small runs from 150 pieces per style and colour go through us to our sister company Collective Studio Ltd., which makes and prices them, in the knit and cut-and-sew categories it covers, and that route is described on its own page. A first custom style can launch in one or two colours at the minimum and add colours on the reorder.
How long does custom clothing take to make?
We do not publish a standard lead time, because a custom style has two clocks and both depend on your specification. The first is development: pattern, proto, fit rounds, size set and pre-production sample, each waiting on your written approval. A complete tech pack usually seals in two fit rounds; a sketch usually needs three or four, and each round adds courier time in both directions. The second is production, which starts when the fabric arrives: custom-developed fabric adds the mill’s lead time, stock fabric does not. Your quote states the production time the factory has committed to against its own capacity, and the order confirmation carries the delivery date. After that, SEKO Logistics’ published guide puts sea freight at roughly 22 to 30 days to the UK and EU and 18 to 35 days to the US, and air freight at two to five days, before customs.
How do I find a custom clothing supplier I can trust?
Ask for proof you can check yourself, before you pay for anything beyond a sample. A supplier you can trust names the factory that will make your order, with its address, in writing before production, and sends its latest social audit report and certificates. Check each audit ID or certificate number with the body that issued it, not only the copy you are sent, and check building-safety status on the International Accord’s public factory list where the factory is covered. Ask for a costing that shows development separately from the production price, and a written list of the questions your tech pack leaves open, since a supplier who asks none is guessing. Pay for a proto sample first: it shows the pattern work before your fabric money is committed. Confirm in writing that the pattern stays yours and that no part of the order moves to another site without your approval. We do all of this on every custom order.
Can you make clothing from a sketch, or do I need a tech pack?
We can start from a sketch. What changes is the number of questions and sample rounds. From a sketch we return a written list of the decisions the drawing leaves open, such as fabric weight, seam types, neck opening, pocket size and label placement, and the factory’s sample room drafts a first pattern in a base size and cuts a proto in a substitute fabric so you can judge the shape cheaply. Each answer you give removes a round later. A reference garment with your changes marked on it is faster still, because the fit and construction already exist to measure. A tech pack with a measurement chart, fabric specification and trim list is the fastest and cheapest route, usually sealing in two fit rounds. Our free tech pack template shows what to include, in the order a factory reads it.
Custom or private label: which do I need?
Ask one question: does the garment you want already exist as a proven block? If you want a well-made basic, a classic tee, a relaxed hoodie or a five-pocket jean, in your fabric choice and colours with your labels and packaging, private label gets you there with the least development, because the pattern and fit are already proven in production. If the fit, construction or fabric you want does not exist on anyone’s rail, or you need to own the pattern, custom is the right model: we develop the pattern from your design, develop the fabric and trims, and sample until you seal it. Many brands run both, launching basics as private label and the styles that define the brand as custom, and the production, inspection and documents are identical once the sample is sealed. Send what you have and we will say which model fits each style.
Can you make a custom garment based on one from another brand?
Yes, a custom garment can start from another brand’s piece as a reference for fit, fabric and construction, but it cannot be a copy of that brand. The reference is measured, its fabric is described back to you, and a new pattern is built with the changes you mark. Another company’s logo, label or trade mark cannot be reproduced: registration lets its owner take legal action against anyone using the brand without permission. In the EU, an unregistered Community design is protected from the moment it is made public, for three years, against deliberate copying, though not against a similar design developed independently. In the UK, a product’s appearance is protected for three years from the date it is made public, and the shape and configuration of an object for up to 15 years. Change what is distinctive, and take legal advice before following any detail closely. The pattern developed for your version stays yours.
Can you match a fabric swatch for a custom clothing order?
Yes, on a custom clothing order a fabric can be matched from a swatch or a garment you send, and a physical swatch settles more questions than a description. Matching means pinning down the fibre composition, the weight in GSM, the construction, such as jersey, piqué or twill, and the finish and hand, then finding or developing a quality that agrees with them. Which of the two applies depends on your quantity. A mill sets a minimum per quality and colour, so where your order clears it the fabric is developed to your specification, and where it does not we source a stock quality in the same weight and hand and tell you the difference in writing. Colour is matched separately, through lab dips against a Pantone TCX reference or the swatch itself, never a screen colour. You approve the fabric in writing, and bulk fabric is tested against that approved swatch before cutting.
Is custom clothing manufacturing the same as OEM or cut and sew?
Largely yes: custom clothing manufacturing, OEM and cut and sew all describe a garment made from the buyer’s own design, not from a supplier’s existing block or a ready-made blank. The words stress different things. Cut and sew says the garment is cut from fabric and sewn to your pattern, in contrast to printing on blanks. OEM is the trade’s term for production to a buyer’s specification, and usually assumes a complete tech pack. Custom, as we use it, includes the stage before that: turning a sketch or reference garment into a pattern, grading it, developing fabric and trims, and sampling through proto, fit, size set and pre-production stages to a sealed sample. So a brand with a finished tech pack is placing an OEM order, and a brand with a sketch needs custom development first. Either way the pattern stays yours, and production starts at 500 pieces per style and colour, higher in some categories.
Related services
Guides on this topic
Tell us what you want to make.
CMB Sourcing Ltd. is a knitwear manufacturer and buying house in Narayanganj, Dhaka. Send a tech pack, a sketch or a photo of a garment you like, and 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