Custom Teamwear MOQ: What "From 20 Pieces" Actually Covers

Why an MOQ exists at all

Every custom sportswear order carries fixed costs that do not scale down with the number of garments. Someone has to build the artwork into a print file, set up a cutting table, and run a machine through its first metres of fabric before a single wearable piece comes off the line.

Those costs are real, and they are the same whether the run is 20 pieces or 2,000. An MOQ is simply the point at which those fixed costs stop distorting the unit price. Below it, either the factory loses money or the buyer pays a unit price that looks nothing like the bulk rate.

Sublimation is the process that pushes MOQ lowest. Because the print is applied to fabric before it is cut, there is no screen to burn, no plate to engrave and no colour to mix in a vat. Changing a design costs a file edit, not a setup run.

What "20 pieces per design" includes

Our published minimum is 20 pieces per design. In practice that means:

• Per design, not per size. A 20-piece order can be split across sizes — for example 3×S, 5×M, 6×L, 4×XL, 2×XXL. You are not forced into 20 of one size.
• Per colourway. A red home kit and a white away kit with different artwork count as two designs, so each carries its own 20-piece minimum.
• Name and number personalisation is free of MOQ impact. Player names, squad numbers and sponsor logos are printed in the same pass as the base design.
• Mix and match is allowed. A basketball jersey and its matching short can be ordered together as one design programme.

For clubs ordering a single squad set, a 20-piece minimum usually covers a full roster with a few spares. For a new brand testing a colourway, it is enough to run a limited drop and see how it sells.

Where the minimum goes up

MOQ rises when the production route stops being purely digital. The usual drivers:

• Custom-dyed fabric. If you need a fabric colour that is not already in stock, the mill dyes a batch. That batch has a minimum length, and that minimum translates into garment MOQ — often several hundred pieces.
• Custom knitted panels or seamless constructions. Knitting a seamless body to a new specification means programming a machine and running a test panel, so the entry point is higher than flat sublimation.
• Bespoke trims and hardware. Custom jacquard tape, moulded zips, woven badges or branded buttons each carry their own tooling and quantity minimums.
• Retail-ready packaging. Printed polybags, hangtags and individually folded retail packs are produced off-site and have their own minimums.

The practical rule: the further your requirement moves from stock fabric plus digital print, the higher the entry point. If a low first order matters more than an exact fabric match, say so in the brief — there is usually a stock option close enough.

How to keep a first order small and still economical

• Start with sublimated styles. They carry the lowest entry point and the fastest sampling loop.
• Use the existing colour range. Our colour grid exists precisely so small orders can run without a custom dye batch.
• Keep to one design for the first drop. Consolidating sizes into one colourway keeps you at 20 rather than 40 or 60.
• Standard size curves. An established size ratio cuts cutting-room waste, which is one of the costs a small order is most sensitive to.
• Accept a longer window. Small runs are slotted around larger production. Building in a little slack usually costs nothing and keeps the price at the standard tier.

What to have ready before you ask for a quote

A complete brief turns a quote around in hours instead of days. Send:

• Product type and target quantity per design
• Artwork in vector form (AI, EPS, PDF or SVG) — raster files are accepted but may be redrawn
• Colour references (Pantone, hex or a physical swatch)
• Size breakdown and, if personalised, the name/number list
• Where the goods are shipping to, and by when

With those five items we can produce a digital mockup within 48 hours and dispatch a physical sample in 72 hours.