Activewear Manufacturer

Yes, from 150 pieces per style in each colour, so one legging in black is a complete first order. Every piece is sewn from your own pattern; nothing is a decorated blank. Colour is where activewear launches most often get surprised, because a matching set counts as two styles: a legging and a sports bra, each in black and navy, is four style-colour combinations and 600 pieces in total, not 150 or 300. Inside each 150 you choose the size split, so put the depth where your customers actually buy. For a first technical range, fewer styles in more depth usually teaches you more about fit than a wide, thin launch. Below about 150 units, the fixed costs of stretch cut-and-sew, such as pattern making, grading a stretch garment across sizes and the mill's own minimum for performance fabric, no longer spread across enough pieces to make sense. Our MOQ calculator works it through for your own range.

We quote each activewear order for your spec, because four things set the price, in order: fibre, fabric weight, construction and quantity. Fabric is the largest part of a legging's unit price, so nylon-elastane costs more than polyester-elastane before anything is sewn. Weight comes next: stretch fabric is bought by the kilo, so the 240–280 GSM we spec for opaque leggings costs more than a 190 GSM cloth that goes sheer, and higher elastane content raises it again. Construction is what separates a legging from a training tee: flatlock seams run on a dedicated machine, a diamond gusset adds a panel and two more seams, and bonded hems cost more than coverstitch. Quantity comes last: sets and extra colours multiply your minimums, and the unit price falls as a style's quantity rises. Our guide to what clothing costs to make breaks a unit price down; once you have our quote, the pricing calculator turns it into retail price and margin.

Yes. Private label activewear means the garment is made to your own spec and carries your brand, and that is how every piece here is produced, with a minimum of 150 per style in each colour. White label means buying a finished stock design and adding your label, which is a different business and usually a different supplier; our private label vs white label guide sets out the difference. In activewear, what matters most is whether the factory sews the garment or buys it in, because opacity, seams and fit are decided when the pattern and fabric are specified. We start from fibre blend, GSM and what the piece has to do, whether studio, running or gym-to-street. The branding is yours throughout: neck labels woven, printed or pressed on as a tagless transfer, plus care labels, hangtags and polybags, all under your name and never ours. Tell us your markets and we draft the care-label wording for you to approve.

Leggings first, then shorts and any light-coloured sports bra, tank or training top: anything that stretches over the body. Opacity comes from knit density and fabric weight, not stretch or elastane percentage, because stretching opens the gaps between yarns. Below roughly 240 GSM a legging fabric goes sheer under tension whatever its blend, so we spec 240–280 GSM and tell you what you trade away if you ask for lighter. Shade matters across the range: light and heather colours show through sooner than dark solids at the same weight, so a pale bra or tank gets the closest look. On light training shorts, a mesh or jersey liner is the usual fix. We check under stretch, never flat on a table: you get a stretched sample photographed against print, or a fit sample in your actual fabric, and final QC includes an opacity check by our QC team, led by Walter Meyer. Our leggings page covers the full legging test.

Nylon for the softest, most premium feel; polyester for colourfastness, chlorine resistance and value. Both wick because both are hydrophobic, whereas cotton absorbs and holds sweat. Nylon drapes better and suits premium leggings, studio and lifestyle pieces, but it fades faster under sustained UV and copes poorly with chlorine, so it is the wrong choice for a product that lives in a pool or strong sun. Polyester dries fastest and suits training kit, swim-adjacent and high-wash-frequency pieces; it is the wrong choice when you want the softest hand at a premium price. Nylon also costs more per kilo, and since fabric is the largest part of a legging's unit price, the fibre choice moves your quote before any seam choice does. An all-over print settles the question: sublimation works on polyester, not on nylon. A range can mix them, say nylon leggings with polyester training tops. We recommend per piece and price point rather than one fibre across a range.

About 10 days for sampling, then 40–50 days of production once you approve the sample, plus shipping on top: air about 5–8 days depending on market, sea longer. Technical fabric can add time at the front end if a specific performance knit needs to be sourced or a colour developed, so raise unusual fabric requirements early. Expect at least one sample revision — activewear fit is harder to get right first time than a woven or a basic tee, because a stretch garment behaves differently on a body than on a table. That is why the sample is made in the actual performance fabric: a substitute knit tells you very little, and seam placement problems only appear under load. Wear the sample, train in it, don't just try it on. Brands that budget for two fit rounds on a first activewear style are rarely disappointed. From order to your door, plan on about 70 days by air.

Leggings, sports bras, shorts, training tops, tanks and joggers, each made to your own pattern, starting at 150 pieces a style in every colour. Each piece gets the fibre that suits its job. Nylon-elastane suits premium leggings and studio pieces, where the hand matters most. Polyester-elastane suits training tops, shorts and anything washed hard or printed all over. Cotton-rich blends suit gym-to-street and low-intensity pieces, not garments meant for real sweat. Recycled performance blends are available as well. Construction follows the piece too: flatlock seams on leggings and sports bras, a diamond gusset on leggings, and bonded or coverstitch hems chosen per style. Everything on our own floor is cut-and-sew, meaning panels cut from knitted fabric and sewn together, so tell us early if your design depends on a different method. If you run a gym and want branded training kit for members or staff, our gym clothing page covers that.

Yes: recycled polyester and nylon performance blends, and organic cotton-rich fabrics, and the useful question is who can document each claim. For recycled fibre, the evidence to ask for is the fabric mill's certificate under the Global Recycled Standard, a recognised Textile Exchange standard. That paperwork comes from the partner mill that supplies the fabric. Our own certification is GOTS only (RSC 9687, scope certificate on request), so talk to us before you plan a GRS label on the finished garment. Recycled fibre is usually specified interchangeably with virgin, but long-term durability data is thinner than the marketing suggests, so ask for the mill's test reports as well. GOTS covers a fabric only where it qualifies: a cotton-rich piece whose synthetic content stays within the standard's limits can; a polyester- or nylon-based performance knit cannot. We tell you which fabrics in your range qualify before you build packaging around a claim.

Yes, and sublimation is the right method for all-over prints, with one consequence to plan for: it commits that style to polyester. Sublimation bonds dye inside synthetic fibre and nylon does not take it well, so if you want a nylon legging with an all-over print, the print decides the fibre. On leggings and bras we print the flat panels first, then cut and sew them, so the artwork runs across seams instead of stopping at a print area, with the layout fixed against the pattern before cutting. With the colour inside the fibre, nothing sits on top to crack or peel under stretch. Two limits to design around: sublimation has no white, so the base fabric must be light and any white in your artwork is the fabric showing through; and a cotton-rich piece will not take it. For a small logo on leggings or a bra, heat transfer usually beats embroidery. See our sublimation page.

In the UK, EU, Canada and Australia, usually none: Bangladesh-origin clothing enters duty-free there when the origin paperwork is in order. The US is where fibre moves the rate, and on activewear it moves it a lot. Women's leggings and shorts of polyester or nylon knit (HTS 6104.63.20) carry 28.2%, against 14.9% for cotton (6104.62.20). The 10% Section 301 duty on goods of Bangladesh, for entries from 24 July 2026, makes that 38.2% against 24.9%. A synthetic knit training tee pays 42% in total, a cotton one 26.5%. Sports bras are the exception: 16.9% under 6212.10 in either fibre, so 26.9% in total. Men's styles and blends can sit on other lines, so have a licensed customs broker confirm your codes. We quote DDP, so duty sits inside the landed price. US rates are from the USITC tariff schedule, read 27 Sep 2026; our duty guide in the Journal covers the other markets.

Typically 12–25%, and the right figure depends on how much compression you want rather than how much stretch. At the lower end you get comfortable four-way stretch with minimal squeeze, which suits yoga pieces, training tops and anything close to loungewear. At the upper end you get genuine compression for performance leggings and support bras, and the fabric holds its shape better through wear. More elastane has costs. It is the most expensive yarn in the blend, so moving from 12% to 25% raises the fabric price per kilo; it can slow sewing; and it slightly reduces breathability. So we spec the lowest content that gives the compression you are after. Elastane will not fix a sheer fabric, because opacity comes from weight and knit density. It also limits certification: GOTS caps synthetic content, so compression-level elastane can rule out a GOTS claim, and our leggings page checks three blends against both label grades.

Flatlock seams lie flush against skin, while overlock leaves a raised inner ridge that chafes under repeated movement and sweat. An overlock seam folds the fabric edges together and leaves a small raised ridge on the inside, which is completely fine on a loose training tee. Under the repetitive movement, sweat and direct skin contact of leggings or a sports bra, that ridge becomes a chafe point — and chafing is one of the most common reasons a garment gets a bad review despite fitting well. Flatlock butts the two fabric edges together and stitches across them so the join lies flush. It costs more to run and takes longer, and it is one of the clearest quality tells in activewear. On leggings we also add a diamond gusset, which removes the four-way seam intersection at the crotch where leggings most often blow out.

Yes. Wicking and four-way stretch come from the fabric you choose, so we set them at fabric selection; a supplier offering to "add wicking" to cotton is overselling. Construction is what decides whether the garment survives real training: flatlock seams that sit flush to skin, a diamond gusset for movement and seam durability, a waistband with an internal drawcord channel where relevant, and hems that do not curl. Bonded hems use adhesive tape and a heat process and sit flatter against skin, while coverstitch is quicker and cheaper; we choose per style and quote both where the design allows either. Contrast taping is applied on our own line, and precision matters there, because two millimetres off shows on every piece. Tell us the use case, whether studio, running, lifting or everyday, because a legging and a training tee are different engineering problems, and the spec should follow what the garment has to do.

A set, yes: when the bra and legging share one fabric, we book them as one dye lot and cut both from it. A reorder is a new lot matched to your approved lab dip, so it comes out very close rather than identical. It matters in activewear because customers wear pieces together and compare them across seasons, and a shade gap shows in daylight and more in product photos, with synthetic fabric less forgiving than cotton. If the bra uses a different knit or weight, we have both qualities dyed together in one lot at the partner mill where we can, so the set still matches. Your approved lab dip stays on file as a physical sample, and each new lot is checked against it before cutting. Where an exact match across seasons is essential, dyeing a whole season's quantity together and holding the stock is the only certain route, so tell us at the start if you are planning a continuing range.

Yes, on the same floor, with the same minimum of 150 pieces per style and colour and the same 40–50 days of production after sample approval. What changes is the spec, because athleisure is worn more than it is trained in. Performance pieces need fabric that wicks, flatlock seams where they move against skin, and enough weight to stay opaque under stretch. Gym-to-street pieces can use cotton-rich blends, loopback French terry or brushed fleece, which feel better at rest but absorb sweat, and a looser fit can take overlock seams where a legging can't. Cotton-rich pieces can use organic cotton, made in our GOTS-certified facility (RSC 9687), where the blend qualifies. Many ranges mix the two: nylon or polyester leggings and bras for training, with a hoodie and jogger set for before and after. Our joggers, hoodie and loungewear pages cover those pieces in detail.

Yes, if you can back it up, and the evidence has to come from the fabric. Wicking is a property of the fibre and knit, which is why a polyester or nylon performance knit can earn the word and a cotton-rich blend usually can't. In the US, the FTC expects advertisers to have a reasonable basis for a claim before it is made. In the UK, rule 3.7 of the CAP Code asks marketers to hold documentary evidence for objective claims before publishing them. For wicking, the usual evidence is a moisture management report under AATCC TM195 on the fabric quality you are ordering. The partner mill or an independent lab supplies it; we don't issue it ourselves. Ask for it at fabric approval, keep it on file with your approved sample, and word the hangtag to match what the report shows. Quick-dry and UV claims work the same way: test first, then print.