27 clear answers for apparel buyers & sourcing heads.

Our standard MOQ is 300 pieces per style per colour for woven western wear, loungewear and sleepwear; 400–500 pieces for knit athleisure, menswear and kidswear; 600 pieces for lingerie and intimates, because of cup and size-set complexity. Party and occasion wear can start at 200 pieces per style where hand work dominates the cost. For a first trial order we will look at lower quantities against a marginally higher per-piece price — ask us rather than assuming the answer is no.

Yes. Most relationships start with a one- or two-style trial. We price trial orders transparently: the per-piece cost is higher because development and fabric minimums are spread over fewer units, and we show you that difference on the cost sheet rather than hiding it.

Yes. We run repeat private-label programmes with dated drops, size-ratio splits by store cluster, retail-ready packing, hangtag and price-ticket application, GS1 barcode compliance and consolidated container planning. Full vendor onboarding packs, facility disclosure and audit access are provided as part of that process.

Every quotation is an itemised cost sheet, not a single number. It shows fabric consumption and rate, trims, cut-make-trim, value additions such as printing, embroidery or washing, packing materials, testing cost, inland freight and port charges. You can see exactly what you are paying for and challenge any line. Quotations are valid for 30 days.

Standard terms are 30% advance against a proforma invoice to book fabric, and 70% against a scanned bill of lading after a passed final inspection. We also work on an irrevocable letter of credit at sight through a first-class bank, and on documents-against-payment for established relationships. We do not ask for 100% advance.

We invoice in USD, EUR or GBP. We quote FOB, CFR and CIF as standard from Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Chennai and ICD Tughlakabad, EXW where your forwarder handles everything, and DDP on request for US and EU destinations.

Proto and fit samples are charged at a development cost that covers pattern, fabric and labour, plus courier. That development cost is credited back against your first bulk order. Gold-seal samples for a confirmed order are free.

A proto sample takes 7–10 working days from an approved tech pack for most knit and woven categories. Heavily embellished party wear and moulded-cup lingerie take 12–18 working days because of hand work and cup tooling. Samples ship by DHL or FedEx with tracking.

Typically 45–75 days from gold-seal approval and receipt of advance, depending on category, quantity and whether fabric is in stock or has to be woven or knitted and dyed to order. Embellished occasion wear runs 60–90 days. We give you a dated time-and-action calendar at order confirmation and report against it weekly.

You hear about it from us at least 14 days before the ex-factory date, in writing, with a recovery plan and revised dates. If the delay is inside our control, we cover the airfreight differential on the shortfall quantity up to the value written into your purchase contract. We would rather lose margin than lose your season.

Bulk is never cut before you have approved a pre-production sample made in bulk fabric with bulk trims. Three identical gold seals are sealed — one couriered to you, one held at QA, one on the cutting floor. Inline QC measures against that physical seal at every operation, and the final audit is run at a 2.5 AQL for major defects and 4.0 for minor, with 100% metal detection before packing.

Yes, and we encourage it. SGS, Intertek, Bureau Veritas, QIMA, TÜV and your own QA team are all welcome at our units for inline and final inspections. We schedule around your inspector, share the packing list in advance, and the balance payment falls due against a passed inspection.

Standard protocol covers dimensional stability after five washes, colourfastness to washing, rubbing, light and perspiration, fabric weight and construction verification, seam strength and slippage, pilling, azo-free dyestuff, pH and formaldehyde. Kidswear adds CPSIA lead and phthalate testing, drawcord safety and flammability to 16 CFR 1610. We test to your buyer protocol where you have one.

Send photographs, the affected quantity and the carton and lot numbers within 30 days of arrival. We trace it back through the inline QC log and lot records, tell you honestly what went wrong, and settle it by rework, replacement in the next shipment or a credit note — agreed in writing within seven days of your claim.

RLO Enterprises operates on OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 certified inputs, holds GOTS scope certification for organic cotton programmes, runs an ISO 9001 quality management system, and is socially audited on amfori BSCI with SMETA 4-pillar reports and WRAP certification available to buyers. We are IEC-registered for export and hold AEPC and Texprocil membership.

Yes. We maintain cotton traceability documentation from bale to garment — supplier declarations, purchase records, spinning and knitting or weaving records, and transaction certificates where the programme is certified. No cotton in our supply chain is sourced from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. This documentation pack is issued with the shipment, not assembled after CBP asks for it.

Every facility that will touch your order is disclosed to you by name, address, headcount and audit status before production begins. We do not move work to an undisclosed unit under any circumstance — unauthorised sub-contracting is the single fastest way to lose a retail account, and we treat it as a termination-level breach internally.

Yes. We label to EU Regulation 1007/2011 on textile fibre names, work to REACH restricted substance limits, and support extended producer responsibility data requests. We are preparing for the ESPR Digital Product Passport requirements and can already supply the underlying fibre-composition and origin data in structured form.

You do. A mutual NDA is signed before you send us anything. Contractually, every pattern, block, print, trim development and construction detail created for your order is your exclusive property, and we will not offer that style or a close derivative to any other buyer. Your artwork sits on a restricted-access drive limited to your named project team.

Yes. Give us a market, a price band, a season and a customer, and our design team will come back with a trend-researched concept board, a range plan, CADs and costings before a single sample is cut. Many buyers use this when they want to enter a category they do not yet have in-house design capability for.

Yes. Roughly half of our new enquiries arrive as a photograph, a rough sketch or a reference garment. We convert that into a production-ready tech pack — measurement chart, bill of materials, construction notes and grading — and share it with you for approval before sampling.

We ship from Nhava Sheva (JNPT), Mundra, Chennai and ICD Tughlakabad. Indicative sea transit is 22–30 days to US East Coast, 30–40 days to US West Coast, and 18–25 days to Rotterdam, Hamburg and Antwerp. Airfreight runs 3–6 days door to door. Transit times vary with carrier schedules and we quote the live schedule at booking.

Yes — polybag or hanger packing, folding to your standard, hangtags, price tickets, GS1 barcodes, size stickers, carton marking to your specification, ratio packing by store cluster and solid-colour cartons. Send us your packing manual and we will build to it.

Yes. We prepare FNSKU labelling, carton labels, shipment-plan-compliant carton weights and dimensions, and can deliver DDP into an FBA facility or your 3PL. Send us the shipment plan and we will build the cartons to it.

One named merchandiser, with a named backup, both reachable on email, WhatsApp and scheduled video calls. Every enquiry gets a written reply inside 24 business hours. Our team keeps a daily overlap window with US Pacific and Central European working hours so you are not waiting a full day for an answer.

Both. Book a live video walkthrough of the production floor with your merchandiser and ask to be shown anything you like, or visit in person — including unannounced during working hours. We will also arrange travel and accommodation support for buyers visiting India for the first time.

Send your enquiry with the category, an indicative quantity, your target FOB price and your delivery window. You will have a named contact and a signed NDA inside 24 business hours, and an itemised quotation within three to five working days.