Buyer guide 05 · 8 min read · Published
How to start a sportswear brand: a private label checklist
If you want to know how to start a sportswear brand, start with the small things, because that is where a new line fails: a missing RN, a barcode prefix nobody bought, a size curve copied from someone else. This checklist walks through every decision in the order a factory needs it, so your first run ships with labels, packaging and a reorder plan in place.
- Sells to
- Trade buyers only
- Makes
- 299 styles, 12 sports
- Factory
- Sialkot, Pakistan
- Minimum
- 12 pcs per style
- Prices
- Blank, decoration quoted
- Production
- About 2 weeks
01How to start a clothing brand in sportswear: the short version
Starting a clothing brand in sportswear follows the same path as any apparel brand, with two differences. Teamwear buyers care about performance specs such as fabric weight, stretch and wash life, and they buy in sets: a jersey, a short and a jacket in matching colors. Plan the range as a kit, not as single pieces.
Private label clothing lets you skip building your own factory. You choose or develop the garment, and the factory makes it under your brand with your labels, tags and packaging. Our private label sportswear program works this way from 12 pieces per style.
- Pick a niche you can describe in one line: a sport, a customer type and a price point.
- Build a short range of core styles and count every colorway.
- Write a spec for each style, or send a sample to copy.
- Approve a sample before you buy bulk.
- Get labels, barcodes and packaging right for each market.
- Plan reorders before the first run lands.
021. Lock the range before you lock the factory
Start with a short range. Many house brands launch with 4 to 8 styles: a jersey, a short, a quarter-zip or hoodie, a training tee and maybe a jacket. Every extra style adds a sample, a pattern, a label set and a barcode block, so a tight range gets you to market faster and keeps cash out of slow sellers.
Count colorways carefully. At our factory each colorway is its own style with a 12-piece minimum, while sizes mix freely inside that 12. A jersey in navy, red and black is three styles and 36 pieces at minimum, not 12.
- Name each style with a code you will keep forever (for example HB-JER-01).
- Decide which styles are core (always in stock) and which are seasonal.
- Write down the target wholesale and retail price per style before sampling.
032. Choose fabrics by end use, not by name
Fabric names like performance poly or interlock mean different things at different mills. Specify composition, weight in GSM and construction instead: 100% polyester birdseye mesh at 140 GSM for a sublimated jersey, 80/20 cotton-poly fleece at 300 GSM for a hoodie. Our guide on what GSM means in fabric explains the numbers. Ask for a swatch book so your product team can feel and test the options in hand.
If you plan full sublimation, the fabric must be high polyester and light-based. If you want a soft cotton hand with screen print, that changes the fabric and the decoration price. Decide this now, because it drives everything downstream.
043. Set your fit and size spec once
Your fit is your brand. Send a garment you like, a measurement chart, or a full tech pack with points of measure and tolerances; our guide on how to make a tech pack shows what to include. We build the pattern and grade it across your size run, including youth, women's and extended sizes if you need them.
Keep one approved size spec sheet per style and treat it as the master. Every reorder is cut from that sheet, so changes later should be deliberate and versioned, not made in an email thread.
054. Labels, RN and content rules
A private label garment carries your brand, not ours. That means a main label, a size label and a care and content label that meet the rules of the market you sell into. In the US that covers fiber content, country of origin, your RN number and care instructions. An RN is issued free by the FTC to US businesses; non-US brands use their company name instead.
Selling into Canada adds bilingual English and French text and a CA number. Youth sizes sold in the US need permanent CPSIA tracking labels. Send us the market list early and we send a proof of the label text for your approval. The full rules by country are in our guide to care label requirements.
- Main label: woven, printed satin or heat-transfer tagless.
- Care and content label: fiber %, origin (Made in Pakistan), RN or CA number, care symbols.
- Size label or size printed in the neck.
065. Hang tags, barcodes and packaging
Retail buyers will ask for a barcode on every unit. Each style, color and size combination needs its own GTIN, issued from your company prefix with GS1 in your country. Do not borrow or buy cheap resold codes; major retailers check them against the GS1 registry. Send us a spreadsheet of GTINs per SKU and we print them on custom hang tags and labels or polybag stickers.
Decide packaging per channel. Wholesale to dealers usually means individual polybags, folded, with a size sticker. Online fulfillment may need thicker bags, warning text and a carton label format your warehouse specifies. We can ship straight to your customer with your labels and packaging, so the cartons never show our name; that is how our white label sportswear service works.
07Sell it: line sheets, pricing and your first customers
A brand needs a way to show the range to buyers before stock exists. A line sheet does that: one page per group of styles with photos or flats, style codes, colors, sizes, wholesale price and order dates. Our guide on what a line sheet is covers the layout.
Price from the bottom up. Start with the blank garment price at the tier you will actually order, add decoration as quoted, freight and your own receiving and handling costs, then your margin. Check the result against the retail price you wrote down in step 1. If the numbers only work at 500 pieces, the range or the fabric needs another look before you sample.
086. Sample, approve, then size the first run
Order one sample per style before bulk. Our sample is billed at the 12–50 tier price plus decoration, and that charge is credited against your bulk order. We send a proof of the design and label placement for your approval before a sample is cut.
For the first run, buy a size curve that matches your customer, not a flat spread. A typical adult teamwear curve leans heavily on M, L and XL with fewer S and 2XL, but your sales history beats any rule of thumb. Production takes about 2 weeks after approval, plus transit.
097. Write the reorder plan before you launch
Reorders have no minimum at our factory, billed at the 12–50 price when under 12, so you do not need to overbuy on day one. Keep your order numbers, approved samples and artwork files in one folder per style. A reorder that quotes the previous order number skips sampling and goes straight to production.
Set a reorder trigger for each core style, such as weeks of stock left, and plan around factory closures for Eid holidays.
Honest caveat: a no-minimum reorder of 5 pieces is possible, but it costs more per piece than your first run, and a dye lot from a partner mill can shift slightly between orders. For core colors, keep an approved shade standard on file and ask us to match against it.
Q&AQuestions buyers ask
How much does it cost to start a sportswear brand?
It depends on the range, but you can work it out before you commit. Multiply each style's blank price at your tier by the quantity, add decoration as quoted, samples, labels and packaging, and freight. At 12 pieces per style, a short range of four to six styles keeps the first order small. Reorders have no minimum, so you do not need to stock deep on day one.
What is private label clothing?
Private label clothing is made by a factory and sold under your brand, with your labels, tags and packaging. You control the design, fit and branding, and the factory handles production. It differs from white label, where you sell a ready-made factory style under your name with fewer changes to the garment itself.
Do I need an RN number to sell private label teamwear?
In the US, a garment must identify the company responsible for it, either by registered name or by RN. An RN is free from the FTC for US businesses and is the cleaner option on a small label. Brands outside the US use their company name. Canada uses a CA number. Send us your number and we print it on the care and content label.
What is the minimum order for a private label launch?
The minimum is 12 pieces per style, and each colorway counts as its own style. Sizes mix freely within those 12. Your labels, hang tags and packaging are made to suit the order, and custom branded trims also start at 12 pieces. Reorders of an existing style have no minimum and are billed at the 12–50 tier price.
Can you ship directly to my customers under my brand?
Yes. We ship white label, with your labels, hang tags, polybags and carton marks, directly to your customer or warehouse. Shipping is arranged by Express Air, Cargo Air or Sea on request and quoted separately. Agree with your customer who acts as importer before the first shipment.