Chenghai Fashion Women’s Wear Factory: A Flexible Pillar of Women’s Apparel Manufacturing – Accepting Small Orders, Stylish Designs, and Fast Delivery
Located in China’s fertile manufacturing landscape, we’ve been deeply engaged in women’s apparel manufacturing for 12 years. From initially producing basic T-shirts for foreign trade brands to now focusing on serving domestic women’s apparel startups, niche boutiques, and e-commerce sellers, the three most common questions we receive from clients are: “Can you make 200 pieces? Other companies have a minimum order of 1,000.” “Can you help me design? Renting my own studio is too expensive.” “Can you ship before the big sale? The last big sale delayed me by two weeks.”
These questions directly address the challenges faced by small and medium-sized women’s apparel brands: concerns about overstocking, overordering, a lack of design resources to keep up with trends, and wasted effort due to missed sales deadlines. Rooted in Chenghai, we’re committed to becoming a women’s apparel manufacturer that solves these problems: We happily accept small orders of 300 pieces, our Australian and American design teams can help you create hits, and regular styles can be delivered within 20 days. Today, let’s discuss how we achieve these three goals.
We accept small orders, even as small as 300 pieces: we won’t turn them down, nor will we charge a “small order premium.”
Many competitors are reluctant to take small orders for practical reasons: small-batch production requires adjusting machines and changing fabrics, which is costly, low-profit, and cumbersome. But we recognized this five years ago: the women’s apparel manufacturing market is no longer about “quantity to quality.” Especially for startup brands, a trial order of 500 pieces is a good start, with 300 pieces being their “safety line.” To handle small orders of 200 pieces, we spent six months optimizing our production line. We replaced the large cutting table, which could only handle orders of over 1,000 pieces, with a flexible CNC cutting table, reducing the time required for design changes from two hours to 20 minutes. We also signed “small-batch supply agreements” with 15 local fabric suppliers in Guangdong. Even orders as small as 200 meters of fabric can be delivered at the same wholesale price as large-scale orders, eliminating the “material surcharge” for customers. We even adjusted our staff schedules, establishing three dedicated “small order teams,” each responsible for orders of 300 to 500 pieces. This avoids delays caused by small orders competing with larger orders for production capacity. Last year, an Australian client who produces niche women’s fashion was particularly hesitant when they first contacted us. “I only dare to order 300 dresses. If they sell well, I can restock. Can you really do that? Isn’t it much more expensive than a large order?” We quoted her the same price as for 500 dresses, with delivery within 20 days. Her dress went viral on Xiaohongshu, selling 180 in three days. She immediately restocked for 300 more. Now she places two or three small orders with us every month, reducing inventory pressure and stabilizing her cash flow.
We never consider accepting small orders a compromise. Instead, we believe it reflects the inherent flexibility of women’s clothing manufacturing. After all, not every brand can order thousands of products at once. Helping them reduce the cost of trial and error is key to our long-term partnership.
Australian and American Design Teams: Translating Global Trends into Styles Chinese Women Love
Design is the lifeblood of women’s fashion. Many small brands either lack design experience or employ local studios that simply copy designs. The resulting garments are either out of touch with current trends or ill-suited to the Chinese female figure. Three years ago, we partnered with two independent design teams in Australia and the United States to help clients transform “global trends” into “sellable and practical pieces.”
The Australian team is particularly adept at “casual” styles—they specialize in linen suits and cotton and linen dresses, and they understand how to adapt Australian “resort” styles to everyday wear suitable for Chinese women. For example, they shortened the overly long hem by 5 cm and narrowed the wide shoulders, maintaining a relaxed feel without appearing bulky. Last summer, they designed an “Australian Linen Shirt Dress” for a client in Zhejiang. The client initially worried that the dress would be too baggy and difficult to sell. However, after adjusting the waistline, the dress sold over 2,000 pieces on Pinduoduo, with many buyers commenting that it was “suitable for both work and dates.” The US team excels at creating an “urban look.” They closely monitor trends from New York Fashion Week and create blazers and slip dresses that blend the sharpness of European and American styles with the adaptability of Chinese women. For example, the blazers feature invisible waistlines, while the slip dresses have removable bra pads. This spring, a client on the Douyin e-commerce platform commissioned our US team to design an “American retro commuter dress.” We delivered a trial order of 500 pieces in 20 days. After the client uploaded a short video, the order sold out within three days. The client then placed an additional order for 800 pieces, saying, “Many fans asked if it was imported. It turns out it’s made at your Chenghai Fashion Women’s Wear Factory. The quality is even better than the foreign trade stock I was using.”
We now hold weekly “trend matching” meetings with both teams: the Australian team posts local street style photos, while the US team shares e-commerce platform hot-selling data. We then tailor the designs to Chinese seasonal trends and body types. For clients, collaborating with us means they can achieve a “global + local” design without the high costs of hiring design studios in two countries. This is far more valuable than simple OEM.
Fast delivery: 20 days for regular styles, 15 days for expedited orders, ensuring you never miss your deadline.
Timeliness is crucial for women’s clothing—spring collections can’t be delivered in the summer, and pre-sale stock can’t be delayed until the event. With our years of experience in women’s clothing manufacturing, we understand the severe impact delivery delays have on our customers. Therefore, “fast delivery” isn’t just talk; it’s a reality built on our supply chain and processes. First, we have a tight supply chain. We have 15 fabric suppliers in Guangdong and surrounding cities like Shantou and Jieyang. Standard fabrics (such as cotton, linen, and regular chiffon) can be shipped the same day, while specialty fabrics (such as stretch lace and acetate) can arrive at our factory in as little as two days, eliminating the need to wait for logistics to ship out. Second, we have a fast process. We utilize an intelligent production scheduling system. Once the customer confirms the design, the system automatically allocates time for cutting, sewing, and quality inspection, eliminating backlogs while other orders wait. Finally, we have a contingency plan. We reserve 10% of our production capacity for urgent orders. If a customer has an urgent order for a promotion or trade show, we can deliver within seven days, as long as the design isn’t particularly complex.
On the eve of this year’s 618 shopping festival, a British customer approached us with a request for 300 “French floral dresses,” saying, “If I can’t deliver within 15 days, my promotion will be ruined.” We checked our fabric inventory and found the exact floral chiffon fabric the customer requested. We immediately launched emergency production: fabric cutting began that same day, and our sewing team worked in two shifts, while also conducting quality inspections. Ultimately, we shipped the dress within 15 days. The customer later told us that on June 18th alone, over 150 of the dresses had already been sold, accounting for 30% of her store’s total sales.
In reality, “speed” isn’t simply about rushing production; it’s about improving efficiency while ensuring quality. Our quality inspection process remains unchanged until the deadline, with each garment still undergoing three major checks: fabric defects, stitch density, and dimensional errors. We simply switched from “quality inspection after all steps are completed” to “quality inspection during production,” achieving both speed and zero defects. Rooted in women’s apparel manufacturing: We aspire to be a women’s apparel manufacturer that understands women’s apparel, especially small brands.
For us, “women’s apparel manufacturer” is more than just a title; it’s a responsibility: helping startups reduce the cost of trial and error, helping niche brands keep up with trends, and helping e-commerce sellers seize sales opportunities. If you’re also in the women’s apparel industry, whether you’re looking to order 200 pieces for a trial, need design work from our Australian or US teams, or are pressed for time, we’re happy to discuss your needs. We operate a 10,000-square-meter factory in Chenghai. We welcome you to visit our production line, have a cup of tea, and collaborate with us to create high-quality women’s apparel.
Over the past 12 years, we’ve evolved from OEM to operating our own design collaboration team, driven by the principle of “not deceiving our customers and resolving their problems.” Our goal going forward is to further enhance women’s apparel manufacturing in Chenghai, including adding a dedicated plus-size production line and collaborating with more international design teams. Ultimately, our factory thrives only when our customers succeed.
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