Most people starting a clothing brand get stuck in the same place. The logo is done, the Instagram handle is taken, the mood board is full — and then nothing, because nobody explains how a drawing becomes a box of finished garments.
This guide is the practical version. It goes from one idea to one product you can sell, and it says where the money and the mistakes usually are.
In this guide
What you actually need to start
Start with one garment, not a collection
Decide the fit and the fabric
Make your tech pack
Find a manufacturer
Get a sample and check it properly
Work out what it costs before you commit
Publish a size chart shoppers can use
Where first drops go wrong
Start with a template
What you actually need to start
Less than you think, and different things from what most people prepare. You do not need a fashion degree, a studio, a photoshoot or a full collection.
You need one garment worth making, a factory willing to make it in your quantity, a document telling them exactly what to make, and enough money to pay for a sample and a first run.
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A garment you can describe precisely, not a vibe.
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A tech pack: the spec sheet a factory works from.
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A manufacturer whose minimum order you can afford.
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Money for a sample first, then bulk. Samples usually cost more per piece than production.
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Somewhere to sell it, even a single product page.
Start with one garment, not a collection
A first drop of one or two styles is easier to fund, easier to explain to a factory, and easier to sell. It also fails cheaply if it fails.
Pick something you understand as a wearer. A boxy heavyweight tee or a cropped hoodie is a good first garment: simple construction, forgiving fit, and a shape people already know how to buy. A tailored jacket is not.
Fit is the difference between your tee and everyone else's. Boxy or fitted, cropped or long, drop shoulder or set-in. Measure a garment you already own and love, laid flat, and write the numbers down. That is your starting point.
Fabric is decided mostly by weight, written as GSM (grams per square metre). A 180 GSM tee is light and everyday; 240 GSM and up feels substantial. Heavier costs more and ships more expensively.
Make your tech pack
This is the step almost everyone skips, and it is the one that decides whether your sample comes back right. A tech pack is the instruction sheet: flat sketches of the front and back, every measurement in every size, the fabric and its weight, and how each seam is sewn.
Without one, the factory guesses, and you pay for the guess. With one, you get a real price, a closer sample and fewer rounds of back and forth.
Find a manufacturer
Search for makers who already produce your garment type in your quantity. Look at Alibaba and Made-in-China for overseas factories, and at local industry directories if you want production closer to home. Ask other small brands who they use; many will tell you.
The number that decides everything is the MOQ, the minimum order quantity. Many factories start at 50 to 100 pieces per colour and size run; some go lower for simple knitwear. If a factory's MOQ is far above your budget, keep looking rather than stretching.
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Send your tech pack with the first message. It marks you out immediately.
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Ask for: price per piece at two or three quantities, MOQ, sample cost and lead time, production lead time, and what fabric they can source.
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Ask for a fabric swatch before you approve anything.
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Message several. Prices for the same spec vary widely.
Get a sample and check it properly
Never order bulk from a photo. Order one sample, wear it, wash it, and measure it flat against your tech pack.
Expect the first sample to be wrong somewhere. That is what samples are for. Write the corrections as numbers, not adjectives: "body length 2 cm shorter", not "a bit too long".
Work out what it costs before you commit
Add up everything per piece: the factory price, shipping and any duty, labels and packaging, the payment processor's cut, and returns. That total is your landed cost, and it is always higher than the factory quote.
Brands commonly price somewhere around two to two and a half times landed cost for direct sales, and higher if they ever want to sell wholesale. Those are rough conventions rather than rules — work out your own numbers before you order, not after.
Publish a size chart shoppers can use
Wrong size is one of the most common reasons clothes get returned, and a return on a small first drop hurts. Give shoppers the garment measurements for every size you sell, laid flat, in both centimetres and inches.
Take the numbers from your approved sample, not from another brand's chart.
Where first drops go wrong
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Ordering bulk without approving a physical sample.
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Designing six styles and being able to fund none of them.
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Sending a factory a photo and a paragraph instead of a spec.
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Choosing fabric by name instead of by weight and hand feel.
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Forgetting shipping, duty and packaging when pricing.
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Launching with no size chart and eating the returns.
Start with a template
Every LineDrop template is a complete tech pack you can edit: flat sketches, a graded size chart from XS to XXL, fabric weight with a safe range, and construction notes. Change the colour, the weight and the sizes, then export the PDF and send it to a factory. Two templates are free.