+ The Production Lab / FAQ
It’s likely your question has been asked before, so please read through the FAQs.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please get in touch.

UK
We work with many small quantity garment manufacturers, and so our minimum order is just 100 pcs per style/colour with a total minimum order of 300 pcs depending on the product type.
However, there are some specialised products where we’re unable to offer 100 pcs per style, and the minimum order is higher, or the product must be made in Portugal. We’ll advise you of this when quoting.
Portugal
*Woven & Cut & Sew Styles 300pcs/style/colour (total min order 900pcs)
*Denim styles 350pcs style/colour (total min order 1050pcs)
*Swimwear & Soft Lingerie 300pcs/style/colour (total min order 900pcs)
*Socks 350pcs/style/colour (total min order 700pcs)
*Fully Fashioned Knitwear 300pcs/style/colour (total min order 900pcs)
Note: In some instances and/or as part of a larger order we can produce 150pcs/style/colour in Portugal however there are more limitations to what we can achieve in terms of quality, attention to detail and service. This will be discussed with you when quoting.
Turkey
1000pcs/style and usually 3 colours allowed within those 1000pcs but we will advise when quoting.
China
*Woven styles 500pcs/style/colour (total min order 1500pcs)
*Cut & sew styles 500pcs/style/colour (total min order 1500pcs)
Please note: We include up to five sizes within our minimum order requirements
As each of our projects is bespoke, we’re unable to give you concrete lead-times. Lead-times depend on the factory used and their capacity plus fabric and component lead-times. These differ depending on type and whether you’re using stock items or made to order. We also must consider our availability. Once the order is confirmed, however, a UK or Portuguese factory is usually able to make the production within 6-12 weeks.
We’ll discuss in person once we have a better idea of the support you require, chosen a suitable factory for you and confirmed with them when your production could be fitted into their schedules.
In China, we usually work on a three-month production lead-time for a fully developed product. This comprises one month for fabric and component production, one month for product production and one-month shipping time. However, this may increase or decrease depending on your product complexity.
However, for a brand-new complete collection to be developed from start to finish, we recommend you contact us at least 12 months in advance of when you need the production to be ready.
We’re unable to offer a sampling service on its own. However, we can produce samples as part of a full package production and development order.
We do offer a seamstress service for tricky styles where a toile may be needed before making a factory proto sample. This is charged at an hourly rate and costs are provided as part of a complete quote.
In the UK and Portugal, toiles, proto samples, fit samples and pre-production samples are usually charged at a rate of up to £200 per sample depending on the style and country of manufacture.
Usually we charge the following:
UK
Proto Sample £200 (includes fabric)
1st Fit Sample £150 (includes fabric)
PP Sample/Size Set £75 (includes fabric)
PORTUGAL
Proto Sample £100 (includes fabric)
1st Fit Sample £70 (includes fabric)
PP Sample/Size Set £50 (includes fabric)
The costs are set at this rate because samples are very time consuming for a factory and still often cost more than we charge for them.
In some cases, we do offer discounts on samples once production is placed and the amount depends on the factory used.
When we submit a bespoke quote to you, we always specify the total sample costs for the whole project, including any discounts applied at the production stage.
In the UK, we work in conjunction with many local CMT units and suppliers, which enables us to work across many different product types. Many factories in the UK don’t offer a development service so we bridge that gap by fully developing your product before placing it in a suitable CMT clothing factory for production.
In Portugal and Turkey, we work with several CMT and fully vertical factories.
In China, we’re the UK agent for a garment converter based in Shanghai and another in Shenzhen. This means we have several factories available to us across a range of different product types with fully vertical operations.
Yes. We can either design to a specific brief and produce a range of fully illustrated designs or develop your rough sketches into properly illustrated designs, either as part of a full production and development package or on their own. Fazane is a trained designer, and we have some great designers on our team who can turn your ideas into reality.
As we have our own in-house designers there is no need to get a freelancer to draw up your designs for you.
Ultimately the designs will change to be made suitable for manufacturing which means we will have to completely re-draw the styles at an extra cost to you.
When we design for you we design and sketch in conjunction with our technical team so that any designs presented to you are production ready.
Yes. We have a number of skilled pattern cutters on our team who can either create patterns based on your technical specifications or as part of a full production and development package.
Patterns are charged at a basic rate of £60/hour, and total cost depends on the complexity of your design. Costs are advised as part of a bespoke production and/or development package.
Please note that we’re unable to create single patterns where they’re not part of a product development and production package.
We can also provide fully graded patterns for production. Costs depend on the number of sizes and pieces required for production, and we include this as part of your bespoke production and/or development quote.
Yes. We offer this as part of a product development and production package and work directly with you to create them.
We can also offer technical specifications independently at the cost of £250/specification which includes a CAD sketch (front/back view), and graded size chart. However, we can’t produce specifications online as there is too much room for misinterpretation, so we ask that you come to our studio to get them completed.
It's great if have a completed tech pack, however all manufacturers are different so we usually have to amend or update supplied tech packs at an extra cost to you.
The process will be much quicker and more cost effective if we supply you with the tech pack from scratch if you do not have one.
Yes. We offer a full fabric and component sourcing service as part of a full production and development package in the UK, Portugal and China.
Please note that we’re unable to provide a fabric and component sourcing service independently unless all components are then purchased through us for your production.
If your production is being made in the UK, wherever possible, we source in the UK. However, in many cases we must source from Europe and for more specialised fabrics, we source worldwide.
If your production is being made in Portugal, the factory tries to source fabrics locally or use fabrics specified by us from the UK or Europe.
If your production is being made in China, then ALL components and fabrics are sourced from China.
Wherever your production is being made we try and source the most sustainable, ethical and or recycled options available to us.
Yes. We work with several local UK digital, screen, sublimation and rotary printers. They can print your designs onto fabric provided by you/us or onto one of their stock fabric qualities as part of a full production and development package only.
We also offer a printing service in Portugal and China as part of a full production and development package.
Please note that we do not offer a printing service independently.
Yes, we provide all of these and more as part of a full development and production package.
Yes. We work with several local dye houses and fabric suppliers in the UK that can dye certain fabrics to your shades.
Please note that minimums for this kind of work can be high for UK production so if you’re producing a small collection with us, it won’t be possible. In this instance, we try and source stock fabrics in colours as close to your shades as possible or give you the option to bulk buy a shade and use the excess for a future collection if you have the budget.
In Portugal and China, the factories we work with can provide fabrics dyed to your shade; however, the same minimums as the UK are usually applicable. Therefore, for small orders, it may not be possible.
Yes. We have a number of expert garment technologists and pattern cutters on our team who work in conjunction with Fazane to fit your garments and take them through the usual fitting process. We also advise on the best way to make the garment for production.
Yes. We have a studio in Kimberley, Nottingham and you’re welcome to visit.
Yes. We have UK and Portuguese routes for many different garment types (sportswear, tees, hoodies, hats, jackets, trousers, dresses, uniforms, workwear, childrenswear and babywear, etc.). Ready-made garments are available to customise with your own logo, branding and printed designs with minimums from 100 pcs.
The old saying rings true: you get what you pay for.
We don’t send out items to tender and give the production to the factory offering the lowest price as we believe it creates too many problems with quality control. We choose factories based on their consistency, quality and level of service and believe they should be paid fairly for that service.
However, we do understand that cost is important, especially when working to a budget and do everything possible to help you stay within budget.
We don’t offer discounts as such but the more pieces you order, the cheaper the cost price per piece.
As each project is bespoke, we prefer not to, although, in some cases, we may be able to give you rough CMT costs.
A more accurate quote is provided once we’ve had a face to face meeting at our studios in Kimberley, Nottingham. We offer a FREE one-hour consultation with Fazane to do this.
“Thank you so much for your time at our consultation. It was a really positive meeting from our point of view, and we can see that having your expertise on our side is extremely helpful” – Alice (ethical childrenswear brand)
Please note that due to high demand for our consultations, should you need to cancel your appointment we ask for 48 hours’ notice. Cancellations after this time will incur a fee of 50% of our standard hourly rate.
We’re also able to offer the FREE one-hour consultation via Skype or phone. However, quotes are an estimate until we’ve seen your product in person and/or completed a development day together at our studios in Kimberley, Nottingham.
If you’re having a full product development and production package with us, or in some instances, a product development package on its own, then it’s essential we have a ‘development day’ together at the start of the project.
Fazane runs our development days and often one of our designers, garment technologists or pattern cutters are on hand to help with the development process.
We consider your project as a whole, look at each style individually and develop them further for the first protos or toile. We look at available fabrications and components, individual costs for each process and we may fit some styles or work on measurements for the technical specs.
We can also help you work out a more accurate budget for the whole project, so we’re more informed about the level of support you require. We then produce a final quote.
Some of our clients like to book a development or design day with us before committing to a full production package to gauge whether their project is technically and financially viable.
Development or design days cost £1500+ (dependent on the level of help required). 50% is payable upon booking with the 50% balance due at the end of the day.
“We really enjoyed the development day and found it extremely valuable” – Women’s breastfeeding label
“Thanks again for the development day. I’m glad we managed to choose the eight styles and have a clearer idea of the range. I am super excited about this project and I have a strong feeling it is in good hands!” – Accessories brand
“We have achieved more today with you than we have ourselves in the last year!!” – Menswear brand
“Thanks again for your time on Friday, I really felt it was a productive workshop, and I am so thrilled with the team working with me on this!” – Soft lingerie brand
For a production run of 500 pcs+ per style and colour, we add a small margin onto the production price per piece. This is to cover our costs for developing and managing your project, assuming there is minimal development work needed upfront.
If there’s a lot of design and/or development work needed, we may charge for this separately at our current day rate. This is discussed with you before proceeding, and a quote is provided.
For anything under 500 pcs per style and colour, depending on the size of the collection, we charge for design, product development, fitting, and production management separately at our current day rate. Again, this is discussed with you before proceeding and a quote provided.
Pattern cutting and grading are ALWAYS charged separately regardless of order size, but you retain the rights to the patterns once paid for.
We charge 50% upfront before we start for all development costs and the balance 50% on completion. Development costs include Design, Product Development, Fitting, Pattern Cutting and Sampling.
For production we charge 50% before we proceed to PP sample, 40% once the PP is approved, an ex date indicated and the production slot confirmed. The final 10% is due before shipment on receipt of a QC form from us showing the products conform to the PP.
For our regular clients that are registered as a limited company, we are partnered with iwocaPay enabling us to offer up to 90 days credit.
Note: All new clients are subject to a credit check, and if this fails, we require 50% of the total contract amount upfront before any work is started.
Prices for production can be given in a number of different ways
CMT – This price is for the Cut and Make of the garment only and all costs for fabrics, trims and components will be invoiced and agreed separately.
Complete Price – This includes CMT and all fabrics, trims and components and includes shipping (UK only)
Landed – This is the full cost for the components and CMT including shipping and any import charges.
All prices are quoted in GBP as we are a based in the UK but can in some instances price in Euros or Dollars if requested.
According to our clients, we’re their ‘best-kept secret’ so are unable to disclose who we work with. To see the different types of brands we work with, please take a look at the homepage.
Yes. We’re more than happy to work with well thought out and well- funded start-ups.
Please note that you must be able to provide us with a clear business plan, marketing strategy and/or brand bible – if you need help creating this, we suggest contacting Alex from Line & Dot Creative as she has helped a number of our clients (please quote #fazanefox)
Note: All new clients are subject to a credit check, and if this fails, we require 50% of the total contract amount upfront before any work is started.
Over the years, we’ve found that the factories able to produce under 100 pcs have less machinery, lower quality skills and a small workforce.
In our experience, this results in poor quality garments, unsatisfactory service and long lead-times.
So, we prefer to work with larger factories and high- quality clothing manufacturers with better quality machinery and excellent service.
We’re unable to offer product development or production for the following product types (although this is likely to change in the future):
*Bags
*Washed denim (UK)
*Footwear
You can read our handy guide HERE
When contacting us please can you provide us with the following information for Fazane to review so we can determine if we are able to help you.
- Service/s Required
- Number of Styles to be developed
- Preferred Country of Manufacture
- Production Quantities required per style and colour. E.G Style 1 we require 300 pcs over 2 colourways 150 pcs of each.
- Target RRP and Target Make Price
- Brand Bible/Proposal and/or Business Proposal.