OEM / ODM Knitwear Manufacturing

Capability Overview

Choosing a knitwear factory is four decisions, not one: which construction you want, which yarn supports it, how many pieces you can commit to per colour, and how long you can wait. This page answers those four with figures we publish rather than adjectives.

Licheng Knitwear runs OEM, ODM and private label knitwear from Dongguan, China. Minimum order is 30 pieces per colour and style, with sizes mixable inside the 30. Samples run 15 to 25 days from a confirmed tech pack and yarn; bulk runs 30 to 45 days.

If those three numbers do not fit your project, the rest of this page will not change that, and it is better that you know now.

Technical Details

462 styles are published with their gauge, fibre and construction visible before you write to us, so you can check whether we already make something close to your idea before spending an email on it.

Decision 1 is gauge, and everything else follows from it. Gauge sets weight, drape, price and season at the same time. Our published shelf sits mostly in two bands: 276 styles at 7GG and 234 at 12GG, with 32 at 3GG, 71 at 5GG and 2 at 18GG for the chunky and the fine ends. A sweater knitted at 5GG reads as outerwear; the same design at 12GG reads as a shirt replacement. If you are unsure, send a photo of a garment whose weight you like, which tells us more than a colour reference does.

Decision 2 is construction, and it decides how many sampling rounds you will pay for. Every pattern technique carries its own round. Across the published shelf there are 90 cardigans, 80 full-zip styles, 48 knit jackets, 41 cable, 37 cashmere, 35 knit polos, 32 merino, 31 organic cotton, 18 jacquard, 16 mohair, 15 recycled-yarn and 10 sweater vest styles. Combining three techniques in one first style is the commonest reason a simple development takes two months.

Decision 3 is yarn, and specifically stock colour versus lab dip. A stock yarn colour starts knitting immediately. A lab dip adds 7 to 15 days before knitting can start, every time. On a first order this is usually the single largest lever on your delivery date.

Decision 4 is what you send us. A review moves fastest when it arrives with reference photos, target quantity per colour, a target price level, yarn or fibre direction, gauge preference, and trim and label requirements. Missing any of these does not stop the quotation; it moves the missing decision to a later and more expensive point in the process.

Suitable Products

This capability covers men's sweaters, cardigans, knit jackets, knit polos, sweater vests and jacquard knitwear, plus ready-sample adaptation and private label capsule collections. Women's, children's, maternity and pet lines run through the same process.

What suitable means in practice: if a style close to yours already exists on our shelf, development is an adaptation rather than a build from zero. That is shorter, cheaper, and gives you a sample to look at before committing. If nothing close exists, say so in the first email and we will tell you honestly whether it is a development we should take on.

Two things this capability is not suited to. Single prototypes below the 30-piece minimum treated as a production order: we do make prototypes, but they are priced as sampling. And cut-and-sew woven garments, which are a different factory entirely.

Most buyers arrive looking for a technique rather than a product type, so the shelf below is browsable by construction as well as by category.

Recommended Markets

Most of our development work goes to North America, the UK, Germany, the Nordics and Canada, and the emphasis differs by market in ways worth knowing before you write.

North America: buyers usually arrive with commercial styling and a target landed price, and want quantity, timeline and duty treatment answered early.

UK and Germany: the questions come earlier and are more technical. Handfeel, restrained styling, quality consistency and documentation. Our OEM/ODM and private label programmes are EU market ready, with an appointed EU Authorized Representative under the GPSR and German packaging EPR registration (LUCID DE5805057631 38), so goods can be placed on the EU market compliantly.

Nordics and Canada: cold-weather layering, heavier gauges and wool-led directions dominate.

Certifications held: OEKO-TEX Standard 100, ISO 9001, GRS and GOTS.

Production Notes

The sequence. Product direction and target price, then a feasibility review before any sampling, then yarn and gauge confirmed, then the sample, then your written comments, then bulk planning, QC checkpoints and export packing. We confirm feasibility before sampling deliberately: it is cheaper for both sides to kill an unworkable idea at the quotation stage than at the shipping mark.

A realistic timeline for a first order. Tech pack confirmed, sample in 15 to 25 days, your comments, then bulk in 30 to 45 days. Add 7 to 15 days if a lab dip is needed. A 40-piece order confirmed at the end of September is ex-factory in the first half of November; a container programme for the same shelf date needed to start in July.

Tell us early if any of the following is true. Each one changes the answer, and finding out late is what wrecks delivery dates.

Your artwork is not final.

You need a colour matched to a physical swatch rather than a stock yarn.

Your delivery date is fixed and external, such as a trade show, a campaign or a retail drop.

Your first order is below 30 pieces per colour.

The garment combines knit with a woven or other non-knit panel.

What we will tell you plainly. If your date is not achievable you will hear it at the quotation rather than at the shipping mark. If your target price cannot carry the fibre you want, we will say which of the two has to move. A January delivery developed without the rush produces a better garment and a lower price than a December delivery chased through three revisions.