Most first enquiries to a factory are not wrong, they are incomplete. The factory can see the idea but cannot price it, so it either asks a list of questions — which costs a week — or it quotes a guess. Both outcomes are avoidable.
The seven things that make an order quotable
1. The style, as a drawing or a sample
Flat sketches are better than photographs. A sketch with seams, hems, openings and closures drawn in tells a pattern maker what to build; a photograph of a garment on a child tells them what it should look like when finished but not how to construct it. A physical reference sample is better than both, if you have one.
2. The measurement table
Not just the sizes you want, but the actual measurements: chest, body length, sleeve, leg opening, neck width. If you do not have a table, say so and ask for one — but then expect to approve it before sampling, not after.
3. The fabric specification
Composition, weight in gsm, and knit structure. If you have a swatch, send it; a swatch answers more questions than a written specification does. If you have neither, describe the hand-feel you want and the end use, and the factory will propose two or three options with their weights and behaviour.
4. The colour reference
A Pantone number or a physical swatch. Not a screenshot, and not a description like "dusty pink" — that phrase covers a range wide enough that the bulk will be wrong for someone.
5. The size range and grade rules
Which sizes, and how the increments work between them. Babywear grades tightly: the difference between 3-6M and 6-12M in a bodysuit body length is a few centimetres, and getting the increment wrong at one end makes the whole range unusable.
6. The trim and labelling list
Neck label, care label, hang tag, snaps, zips, drawcords, thread colour. Say who supplies the artwork and who supplies the physical trims. A style that needs a custom snap can lose a week waiting for it, and that week is better spent knowing about it up front.
7. The commercial frame
Quantity per colour and per size, the destination country, the Incoterm you want quoted, and the date you need the goods sellable — not the date you would like them to leave the factory. Those two dates are usually two to five weeks apart.
The three gaps that send enquiries back
- No measurement table, no fabric weight, no colour reference. This is the most common. It does not stop the order, but it converts a quotation into a conversation.
- Quantity that does not match the fabric choice. A custom knit in a custom colour at 200 pieces is a different conversation from a stock interlock at 200 pieces. If the quantity is fixed, the fabric has to flex.
- A deadline that was never checked. If the goods need to be on a shelf by a date, work backwards through shipping, inspection, production and sampling before sending the enquiry. A factory that says yes to an impossible date is not being helpful.
A format that works
You do not need a formal tech pack for a first enquiry. A single email with seven numbered headings — style, measurements, fabric, colour, sizes, trims, commercial — is enough to produce a real quote. The formal pack can follow once the price and the date both work.
A photograph of a garment you already sell, plus its measurements, plus the quantity you want. That combination is enough to start. Everything else can be filled in as the order develops.