Private Label Sportswear Manufacturing: How OEM Works, Labels, Minimums and Costs

Published September 28, 2026 · Reviewed by the RUIJUN production team

Short answer: yes – every garment RUIJUN makes can carry your brand only: your woven neck label, printed care label, hangtag, poly bag and carton marks, with no RUIJUN branding anywhere on the product. Private label is available from the same 10-piece MOQ; the labels themselves have their own small minimum (usually 500–1,000 pieces per label design, which lasts many orders) and add a few cents per garment. Below is how the private-label (OEM) process works, what each branded component costs and takes, and what a sportswear brand needs to prepare.

OEM vs ODM – which one are you?

• OEM (your design, our factory): you supply the design, tech pack or at least a clear brief; we manufacture to it under your label. Most brands and team dealers work this way.
• ODM (our design, your label): you choose from our patterns and stock designs, we adapt colours and logos and label it as yours. Fastest way to launch a line.
• Team orders under your brand: a team dealer sells kits to clubs under the dealer’s brand; we make them with the dealer’s labels and ship either to the dealer or directly to each club.

All three use the same production line and price list; the difference is only who owns the design and what goes on the label.

What “private label” includes

Component	Options	Minimum	Typical cost
Neck label	Woven (damask, high definition), printed satin, or heat-transfer “tagless” print	Woven 500–1,000 pcs per design; tagless print none	Woven US$0.05–0.15 each; tagless included
Care / content label	Printed with fibre content, care symbols, country of origin, your brand and importer details in the language your market requires	None	Included
Size label	Woven or printed, or combined with the neck label	None	Included
Hangtag	Your artwork, card stock, string or plastic tag pin; barcode if you sell retail	500–1,000 pcs	US$0.05–0.20 each
Poly bag	Plain (included) or printed with your logo and warning text	Printed 1,000–3,000 pcs	Printed US$0.03–0.08 each
Carton marks	Your brand, style, size breakdown, barcode	None	Included
Sublimated “label”	Brand logo printed inside the neck or at the hem as part of the design	None	Included

The cheapest fully branded route is a tagless printed neck label plus a printed care label and plain poly bag: no label minimums at all, nothing added to the unit price. Woven labels and hangtags are worth it once you sell at retail.

Step by step

1. Brief. Tell us the garments, quantities and that you want private label. Send your logo (vector) and, if you have them, label artwork and a brand guideline.
2. Label artwork. If you do not have label files, our designers draw the neck label, care label and hangtag in your brand colours and send a proof. Legally required content (fibre %, care symbols, “Made in China”, importer address for the EU/UK) is added for your market.
3. Label sampling. Woven labels take 7–10 days to sample; you approve a physical label before the bulk label run. Printed labels and hangtags are faster.
4. Garment sample with your labels sewn in – so the sample looks exactly like the final product (see our sample policy).
5. Bulk. Labels are sewn in during production; hangtags and poly bags are applied at packing. Leftover labels are stored for your next order.
6. Re-orders use the stored labels, so a repeat order under your brand has no extra label lead time.

Timeline

Add about one week to a first private-label order for label artwork and label sampling: mockup 1–2 days, label proof 2–3 days, woven label sample 7–10 days (runs in parallel with the garment sample), then bulk 10–20 days as usual. Re-orders are the standard 10–20 days.

What brands typically ask

Will RUIJUN appear anywhere? No. Our name is not on the garment, labels, bags or cartons; export documents show the seller only where customs require it.

Can you keep our designs exclusive? Yes. Your patterns, prints and label files are used only for your orders. We can sign an NDA on request.

Can you make our brand’s own fit? Yes. We grade a pattern to your measurements – a slim “brand fit” or a longer body – and keep it as your block for all future styles. Pattern development is free for orders that go to bulk.

Do you provide photos for our website? We send product photos of finished pieces on a plain background; for lifestyle photography most brands shoot locally.

Can we ship directly to our customers? Yes – individual packing by order and dropship to end customers or to several clubs is possible; each shipment is priced by weight.

What about certifications for retail? Fabric test reports (SGS colour fastness, dimensional stability) are available per fabric; REACH or OEKO-TEX statements can be obtained for specific fabrics on request.

Costs in practice

For a 200-piece polo order with woven labels, printed care labels, hangtags and printed poly bags, the branded components add roughly US$0.20–0.40 per garment, plus a one-time label run of about US$80–150 that covers several future orders. Garment prices are unchanged from our standard price list.

Checklist for a first private-label order

1. Vector logo and brand colours (Pantone)
2. Label wording: brand name, size range, fibre content, care instructions, country of origin, importer name and address for EU/UK sales
3. Hangtag content: barcode/SKU if sold retail, price or leave blank
4. Garment list with quantities and sizes
5. Whether you want plain or printed poly bags
6. Destination and whether shipments go to one warehouse or several

FAQ

Is the MOQ higher for private label? No – 10 pieces per style. Only the woven label and hangtag have their own minimum runs, which are stored for you.

Can I mix RUIJUN stock styles and my own designs under one label? Yes, that is the usual ODM + OEM mix for a new brand.

Do labels need to be in a specific language? The EU and Germany require fibre content in the local language; the US requires English with country of origin; we prepare the correct version for each market.

How long do you keep my labels and patterns? Indefinitely while you order; stored free of charge.

Ready to launch under your own label? Send your logo and garment list – we reply with a mockup, label proof and quote within two working days. See also our custom services.

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