Top 10 China Hoodie Manufacturers for Custom & Private Label Brands

Why Chinese Hoodie Factories Lead on Heavyweight Fleece

A hoodie's cost is decided long before the first stitch. It is decided at the knitting machine, where the loop length sets the fabric's weight, and at the dyehouse, where the shade is locked to a lab dip the buyer may never see. Everything downstream — the cut, the rib, the wash, the embroidery — only adds to a number that was already fixed.

That is why sourcing a hoodie is not the same exercise as sourcing a t-shirt. A heavyweight hoodie is a fabric-led product. Get the fleece wrong and no amount of finishing will rescue it: a 320 gsm body delivered against a 600 gsm expectation will feel thin in the hand, sag at the shoulder, and pill after three washes.

Guangdong is where most of the world's heavyweight fleece is made, and the concentration is the point. Within roughly an hour's drive of Guangzhou you can reach mills that knit loop-back French terry, dyehouses set up for garment and acid wash, trim suppliers who make 1×1 and 2×2 rib to match, and finishing houses tooled for enzyme and stone wash. A hoodie factory inside that cluster can pull all five processes without a single long-haul shipment. A trading company outside it cannot.

The difference shows up in three places. First, fabric control — does the factory knit its own fleece, or buy greige from whoever is cheapest that month? Second, weight tolerance — is the quoted 400 gsm a measured figure with a stated tolerance, or a marketing number? Third, trim quality — the rib, drawcord and eyelets account for a small share of unit cost and a large share of whether the finished garment feels premium.

Above that cluster sit the industry's giants. Shenzhou International, based in Ningbo, is the world's largest vertically integrated knitwear manufacturer: more than 90,000 employees across China, Vietnam and Cambodia, roughly 500 million garments a year, and reported FY2024 revenue of RMB 28.7 billion. Its four largest customers — Nike, Adidas, Uniqlo and Puma — account for the large majority of that. Crystal International, listed in Hong Kong, turned over US$2.47 billion in 2024 with around 75,000 staff, and counts Uniqlo, H&M, Gap, Levi's and Target among its clients; its sweater category alone grew 20% that year. Both are extraordinary at what they do.

Two other names come up whenever Chinese apparel manufacturing is discussed: Esquel Group and Lu Thai Textile. Both are genuine giants, and neither belongs on a hoodie list. Esquel, founded in 1978 and headquartered in Hong Kong, makes more than 100 million woven cotton shirts a year for clients including Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss. Lu Thai, founded in 1987 in Zibo, Shandong, is the world's leading producer of high-end yarn-dyed fabric and makes around 30 million shirts a year for brands including Burberry, Hugo Boss and Uniqlo. For a hoodie programme they are context rather than options — a useful reminder that “giant Chinese apparel manufacturer” and “hoodie factory” are not the same thing.

Neither is built to take a 300-piece order from a brand that launched last quarter. Their lines are scheduled around programmes measured in millions of units, their quality systems exist to satisfy a global retailer's audit, and their commercial teams are organised around a handful of accounts. That is not a criticism — it is what makes them excellent. It is also the most useful fact in this guide, because it explains why the list below is not sorted by size.

Every factory here is ranked on two things: what it can actually produce, and whether it will produce it for a brand your size. On the first measure alone, the giants would top the list. On both together, the order changes — which is why Honfitwear ranks first, and why the biggest names in Chinese apparel appear further down, where their honest fit puts them. Where a factory does not publish a number, that is noted, because an unpublished minimum is a planning risk rather than a neutral fact.

Quick Comparison: 10 Hoodie Factories Side by Side

These ten are ranked on two things — what each factory can actually produce, and whether it will produce it for a brand your size. Size alone would reorder this table completely.

If your line depends on heavyweight fleece rather than a stock blank, the question that separates these ten is greige sourcing — whether the factory knits its own fabric or buys it in. That single answer determines how much control you have over weight, hand-feel and the shade you actually receive. You can see how we document it on our own custom hoodie manufacturer page, where stocked weights are listed with their tolerances.

Top 10 China Hoodie Manufacturers for Custom & Private Label Brands

1. Honfitwear

Based in Guangzhou, Honfitwear is a factory-direct custom apparel manufacturer with more than 10 years of experience producing sportswear, streetwear and custom hoodies for brands worldwide. Production runs across multiple factories in Guangzhou, and the company offers OEM and ODM services with flexible minimums — in-stock fabric from 10 pieces, fully custom builds from 30 to 100 pieces per style.

Factory Snapshot

• MOQ: from 10 pcs for in-stock customisation; 30 to 100 pcs for fully custom OEM/ODM designs
• Lead Time: 20–25 days for bulk, once the sample is signed off
• Certifications: OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 (certificate 11-35800, valid to May 2027), CE Certificate of Conformity tested on hoodies, and an Alibaba Gold Plus supplier assessment carried out by SGS
• Location: Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
• Line Focus: Custom hoodies, heavyweight fleece and French terry, streetwear
• Best For: DTC streetwear and activewear brands that want to test a colourway and a fit before committing to a full run

Our Take

Honfitwear's case rests on two things a first order actually depends on: a minimum low enough to test before committing, and heavyweight fleece sourced and specified with the weight documented rather than estimated. Set against the rest of this list, the meaningful difference is the entry point — most factories below start at 50 to 100 pieces per colour, while Honfitwear runs in-stock customisation from 10. Read how we specify weights and tolerances on our hoodie manufacturer page.

What Works vs. What to Watch

2. Hucai Sportswear

Dongguan Humen Hucai Garment Co., Ltd. is one of the veterans on this list, manufacturing in Humen Town, Dongguan since the late 1990s. The operation has grown from a 200-square-metre workshop into a 5,000 to 6,000-square-metre facility with more than 100 skilled workers, 15 technical staff and four pattern makers, running computerised cutting, embroidery, heat press, screen printing and DTG in-house. Hoodies are a substantial category rather than an afterthought, spanning zip-up, cropped, oversized, dropped-shoulder, half-zip and kangaroo-pocket styles.

Factory Snapshot

• MOQ: 100 pcs per style (one page states 200 pcs per style for its activewear line)
• Lead Time: sampling 10–15 days; bulk 25–30 days
• Certifications: amfori BSCI (monitoring ID 24-0251933), OEKO-TEX® Standard 100, SGS fabric testing, Disney FAMA, GRS and WRAP named
• Location: Humen Town, Dongguan, Guangdong Province
• Line Focus: Hoodies and jackets in French terry, fleece and tech fleece, within a full sportswear range
• Best For: Brands that need documented compliance — audit certificates, fabric test reports and a factory authorisation on file

Our Take

The certification pack is the strongest argument here: amfori BSCI with a monitoring ID, OEKO-TEX Standard 100, SGS fabric test reports and a Disney FAMA authorisation are the kind of documents that survive a retail buyer's audit, and few factories at this size publish comparable detail. The fabric-selection page also does something most suppliers avoid — it names the actual blends and their weights, so you can specify fleece at 290 gsm or a cotton-poly at 325–370 gsm and know what you are asking for. Two cautions. The company says plainly that it is not the cheapest option and prices hoodies around $10–25, so if your model depends on a low unit cost, this is not the partner. And its published figures disagree with each other — founding year 1998 or 1999, monthly capacity 10,000 or 100,000 pieces, MOQ 100 or 200 — so pin every number to the page you were shown and confirm it in the quotation.

What Works vs. What to Watch

3. Shenzhou International

Shenzhou International Group Holdings (HKEX: 2313) is the largest vertically integrated knitwear manufacturer in the world, and the company behind a substantial share of the knitwear sold under the Nike, Adidas, Uniqlo and Puma labels. Headquartered in Ningbo, Zhejiang, it listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in November 2005 and reported FY2024 revenue of RMB 28.7 billion across three reported categories: knitted sportswear (69.1%), casual wear (25.1%) and lingerie. It runs fabric production in Ningbo and Tây Ninh, Vietnam, and garment plants in Ningbo, Anqing and Quzhou, Ho Chi Minh City, Tây Ninh and Phnom Penh — more than 90,000 employees in total, producing in the region of 500 million garments a year.

Factory Snapshot

• MOQ: no public minimum — the group sells on a contracted-programme basis to a small number of global accounts
• Lead Time: reported production cycle of around 45 days, with urgent orders completed in as little as 15
• Certifications: extensive listed-company ESG and audit disclosure; buyer-facing certificate names are not published
• Location: Ningbo, Zhejiang (headquarters); plants in China, Vietnam and Cambodia
• Line Focus: Knitted sportswear, casual wear and lingerie. Sweatshirts and hoodies sit inside the casual-wear category, which the group does not break out further.
• Best For: Global brands placing contracted seasonal programmes in the millions of units

Our Take

Shenzhou is the benchmark the rest of this industry is measured against, and its scale is precisely why it ranks here rather than first. Vertical integration from fabric through finishing, printing, embroidery, cutting and sewing lets it compress a production cycle to roughly 45 days — fast by global standards — and because the group makes its own fabric, the fleece in a Shenzhou garment is developed rather than bought in. For a brand placing a contracted programme in the hundreds of thousands or millions of units, few factories on earth are a better answer. The mismatch is structural rather than a matter of quality: the business is calibrated around four accounts that drive the large majority of revenue, and it publishes no minimum order quantity, no sampling terms and no route for an independent brand to open an account. If your first order is 300 pieces, this is not a factory you can buy from — and knowing that is worth more than a speculative enquiry.

What Works vs. What to Watch

4. GROOVECOLOR

GROOVECOLOR is a streetwear-focused manufacturer in Humen Town, Dongguan, describing itself as 16 years in the trade. It is the heaviest-staffed streetwear operation on this list: more than 250 production staff and upwards of 20 in-house designers, with a stated monthly capacity above 300,000 garments and an annual output of 3.6 million pieces shipped to more than 100 countries. Its hoodie range covers vintage, graphic, oversized and sweatshirt constructions, with hoodies supported up to 600 gsm.

Factory Snapshot

• MOQ: 50–100 pcs per colour
• Lead Time: not published
• Certifications: ISO 9001; OEKO-TEX certified cotton; GOTS referenced for sourced fabrics
• Location: Humen Town, Dongguan, Guangdong Province
• Line Focus: Streetwear — hoodies, sweatshirts, tees, tracksuits, jackets and cut-and-sew menswear
• Best For: Streetwear labels that want design co-development alongside manufacturing

Our Take

The scale here is real — 250-plus production staff and 3.6 million pieces a year is a factory, not a trading desk — and the 20-plus designer headcount is unusual for a Chinese cut-and-sew operation. That combination suits a brand that arrives with an aesthetic and wants help turning it into a range. Hoodie capability is documented as supporting 300 to 600 gsm, which puts genuine heavyweight work in reach. The gap is scheduling: no sampling window and no bulk lead time is published anywhere on the site, only a reference to fast development cycles. For a brand planning a seasonal drop, lead time is a first-order number, so request it with the quotation rather than assuming the capacity translates into speed.

What Works vs. What to Watch

5. Goldenpalm Apparel

Goldenpalm Apparel Inc. is a Shenzhen-based volume manufacturer whose core lines are t-shirts, polos, hoodies, polar fleece and sportswear. The company states a factory of over 15,000 square metres, 350 staff including 30 dedicated QC personnel, and 300 production machines, with stated monthly output of 100,000 hoodies and 480,000 t-shirts. Its client stories reference Australia, Canada, Angola, Brazil and the US Magic Show trade fair.

Factory Snapshot

• MOQ: not published
• Lead Time: not published
• Certifications: certificate entries labelled STL and ISO, with no further detail published
• Location: Futian District, Shenzhen
• Line Focus: Hoodies and polar fleece among t-shirts, polos and sportswear
• Best For: Programs measured in tens of thousands of pieces, where unit cost dominates the decision

Our Take

Goldenpalm is the clearest volume play on this list. A hundred thousand hoodies a month and 15,000 square metres is infrastructure built for large programmes and large accounts, and if your forecast runs to container quantities, that capacity is the point. Polar fleece named as a core line is also a good sign for a heavyweight hoodie programme, since the same machines and finishing handle both. The trade-off is disclosure: no minimum order quantity, no lead time, no fabric weights and no certification detail are published. On the same site the company claims to have been established in 2005 while elsewhere claiming over 28, 27 and 24 years — the tenure figures cannot all be right. Ask for the business licence, the MOQ and the sampling window before you send a tech pack.

What Works vs. What to Watch

6. Crystal International

Crystal International Group (HKEX: 2232) is a Hong Kong-headquartered apparel manufacturer that marked its 55th anniversary in 2024. It reported record revenue of US$2.47 billion that year, split across five categories: casual and lifestyle wear (28.1%), sportswear and outdoor apparel (22.5%), denim (21.0%), intimate apparel (17.6%) and sweaters (10.8%). Around 75,000 employees work across its operations. Sweaters were the fastest-growing part of the group, up 20% in revenue and 30.3% in segment profit.

Factory Snapshot

• MOQ: no public minimum published
• Lead Time: not published
• Certifications: listed-company ESG and audit reporting; facility-level certificates are not published for buyers
• Location: Hong Kong (headquarters); manufacturing across Asia
• Line Focus: Sweaters and knitwear within a five-category range covering casual/lifestyle, sportswear and outdoor, denim, intimate apparel and sweaters
• Best For: Global brands and retailers placing contracted programmes at scale

Our Take

Crystal is the more knitwear-relevant of the two giants if your product is a sweater or a knit hoodie. Sweaters are a named reporting category rather than an incidental line, they grew fastest of the five segments in 2024, and the group states vertical integration in knits with self-supplied fabric for its knit and sportswear products. The client list — Uniqlo, H&M, Gap, Levi's, Target, Marks & Spencer, The North Face — describes the account profile it is built around. As with Shenzhou, the constraint is aperture rather than capability: no minimum order quantity is published, no sampling terms, and no published channel for a brand outside its existing retailer relationships. Read Crystal as the ceiling of what this industry can do, not as a supplier for your first run.

What Works vs. What to Watch

7. UNIT-100

UNIT-100 is the house brand of Guangzhou Vision and Will Clothing Co., based in Liwan District and trading since 2001. The company specialises in knitwear — t-shirts, hoodies and related cut-and-sew — and runs what it describes as 100% in-house cut, sew, print and pack. Its hoodie range covers oversize, printed, zip-up, half-zip, acid wash, fleece and French terry, with heavyweight French terry given as 300 to 400 gsm. It states a cumulative output of 50 million garments and more than 100,000 pieces held as blank stock.

Factory Snapshot

• MOQ: 50 pcs per style on stock fabric; 100 pcs per style for full custom
• Lead Time: sampling 3–7 days; bulk around 7–20 working days after sample approval
• Certifications: ISO 9001, OEKO-TEX, SGS, GOTS, BSCI
• Location: Liwan District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
• Line Focus: Knitwear — hoodies in fleece and French terry, t-shirts, blanks
• Best For: Brands that want fast turnaround on decorated knitwear, or blanks with their own print on top

Our Take

The lead time here is the standout: a 3 to 7 day sample window and bulk in as little as 7 to 20 working days is the fastest claimed turnaround on this list, and holding over 100,000 blank pieces in stock is what makes it credible. The French terry specification of 300 to 400 gsm is stated rather than implied, which is more than several larger factories manage. The certification set — ISO 9001, OEKO-TEX, SGS, GOTS and BSCI — is broad for a knitwear operation of this kind. The caveats are scale and depth: the company publishes no factory size, headcount, line count or capacity at all, so you cannot judge from the outside whether it knits its own fabric or buys it, and a knitwear specialist of this shape may be a weaker fit for heavy 500 gsm-plus fleece than for mid-weight hoodies.

What Works vs. What to Watch

8. DEC Garment (DeCheng)

DEC Garment describes itself as a manufacturing partner for streetwear, activewear and private label, running hoodies, tees, baseball jackets, shorts, polos and swimwear across eight categories. Its footprint is the widest on this list: two Chinese facilities in Dongguan and Jiangxi, ten active production lines, and a 300-worker plant in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The company states it produces over ten million garments a year for more than 500 brands and has been manufacturing since 2005.

Factory Snapshot

• MOQ: 50 pcs per style, per colour
• Lead Time: sampling about one week; bulk 3–4 weeks from sample sign-off, 5–6 weeks for complex items
• Certifications: none published
• Location: Dongguan and Jiangxi, China; Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• Line Focus: Hoodies in French terry, fleece and heavyweight cotton, alongside activewear and private label
• Best For: Brands scaling toward tens of thousands of units, and buyers who need a production base outside China

Our Take

The scoping is genuinely large for a 50-piece minimum, and the Cambodia facility is a real option for brands exposed to tariffs or seeking a second country of origin. The company also frames its offer around 50-piece test runs that scale into 50,000-piece seasonal drops, which is an honest description of how a young brand's volume actually behaves. The gap is compliance documentation: despite presenting sustainability as a service, the site names no recognised certification — no OEKO-TEX, BSCI, WRAP or ISO. For a brand selling into the EU, or into retail accounts that audit their suppliers, that is the first thing to resolve, and it needs resolving before the tech pack is issued. The wide category spread also suggests hoodies may not be the deepest specialism here.

What Works vs. What to Watch

9. Qianshiwear

Guangzhou Qianshi Apparel Co., Ltd., trading as Qianshiwear, is a streetwear-focused OEM and ODM manufacturer in Baiyun District, Guangzhou. The range is wide — hoodies, tracksuits, joggers, tees, denim, outerwear, jerseys — and the company runs its own hoodie line with published fabric weights, listing heavyweight hoodies from 360 gsm and describing 400–460 gsm as the premium tier. Decoration spans embroidery, digital and sublimation printing, and acid wash.

Factory Snapshot

• MOQ: 50 pcs per colour, per design
• Lead Time: samples within 7 days; bulk quoted per order and design complexity
• Certifications: OEKO-TEX Standard 100, GOTS, ISO, BSCI, GRS and SGS inspection
• Location: Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
• Line Focus: Streetwear — hoodies, tracksuits, joggers, tees, denim, outerwear, jerseys
• Best For: Streetwear brands that need a certified supplier and can work with a 50-piece colourway minimum

Our Take

Qianshiwear is one of the better-documented suppliers on this list. Its hoodie page states the fabric weights it works in, names the certification bodies, and commits to a sample turnaround — all of which makes it easier to write a tech pack against. The certification set is unusually broad for a factory at this size, covering organic and recycled fibre alongside quality management. The gap is bulk timing: the company quotes sampling at seven days but deliberately does not publish a bulk lead time, offering instead to quote per order. For a seasonal drop that is the number you need before committing, so ask for it in writing at quotation stage. Factory size and headcount are also undisclosed, which makes capacity hard to gauge.

What Works vs. What to Watch

10. MHQ Hoodies

MHQ Hoodies is the hoodie-led brand of Shining Garment Co., Ltd., based in Humen, Dongguan. The range is genuinely specialised: hoodies, sweatshirts, sweatpants, joggers, tees and polos, with product listings spanning 380, 400, 420, 450 and 600 gsm — including a 600 gsm thickened heavyweight blank and a 420 gsm oversized washed hoodie. The company operates a 3,500-square-metre factory with more than 100 staff.

Factory Snapshot

• MOQ: stated only as "low MOQ" — no figure published
• Lead Time: not published
• Certifications: none published
• Location: Humen Town, Dongguan, Guangdong Province
• Line Focus: Hoodie-led — heavyweight fleece and French terry from 380 to 600 gsm
• Best For: Heavyweight specialists whose core product is a 400 gsm-plus hoodie

Our Take

If you need a 600 gsm hoodie, MHQ is one of the few suppliers on this list whose own listings show they actually make one, and the range is deep rather than incidental. That is real capability. What is missing is everything a buyer needs to plan around it: no MOQ figure, no lead time, no certifications and no founding date — the About page offers only a general claim of production experience, and a linked product page returned a 404 when reviewed. The company may well quote all of this on request, but a hoodie specialist selling to brands should be publishing minimums and timelines, because those are precisely what heavyweight buyers are checking. Treat MHQ as a capability-led enquiry rather than a pre-qualified supplier.

What Works vs. What to Watch

How to Vet a Hoodie Factory Before You Send a Tech Pack

Most sourcing guides describe the ideal partner in adjectives. What actually protects your money is a short list of questions whose answers are checkable.

1. Ask for the greige specification, not the finished weight

"400 gsm" means nothing on its own. Fleece is knitted as greige fabric, then dyed, washed and compacted — and compaction moves the number. A mill that quotes a finished weight should be able to tell you the greige weight it started from and the tolerance it holds across a dye lot. Ask what happens if the delivered fabric measures 5% light. A factory that knits its own fleece will answer with a range; one that buys on the spot market will answer with a promise.

2. Get the rib and the neckline right, because that is where cheap hoodies fail

The rib on cuffs and hem is usually a separate knit, and it is the first place cost gets cut. Ask for the rib's composition and weight, and ask whether it is dyed to match the body or pulled from stock in a near shade. On the neckline, ask how the hood is attached and whether the drawcord channel is double-layered. These are small manufacturing decisions that decide whether a hoodie still looks structured after a season.

3. Find out where the wash happens

Acid wash, enzyme wash, vintage wash and garment dye are separate capabilities from cut-and-sew, and many factories subcontract them. That is not automatically bad — but it adds a handoff, a lead time and a set of freight movements your schedule has to absorb. Ask whether washing is in-house, and if not, how far the goods travel to get it.

4. Test the sample against the specification you wrote

Order a sample and measure it: fabric weight, rib weight, fit against your size chart, and stitch density at the shoulder and armhole. A factory that welcomes this is confident in its line. A factory that pushes you toward a bulk order off a photo is telling you something useful.

For the fibre and blend decisions behind those measurements, see our guide to common apparel fabric compositions. For decoration methods — puff print, embroidery, appliqué — see our breakdown of apparel printing techniques.

What Actually Drives Hoodie Cost: Fabric Weight, Trim and Wash

Cut-and-sew labour is remarkably consistent across Guangdong. The variation in quoted unit cost comes from three inputs.

1. Fabric weight is the largest single lever

Heavyweight fleece costs more per yard and yields fewer garments per roll. As a working guide to the weights brands should be specifying:

• 280–350 gsm — standard loop-back French terry. The mainstream retail hoodie weight.
• 400–500 gsm — heavyweight brushed-back fleece or dense French terry. Where most streetwear lines sit.
• 500–650 gsm — ultra-heavy. A specialist product; expect longer knitting cycles and higher minimums.

Be explicit about whether you want loop-back French terry or brushed-back fleece. They are different fabrics with different hand-feel, different costs and different pilling behaviour, and the two terms are used interchangeably by sellers who should know better.

2. Trim and hardware quietly add up

Matched rib, a double-layer hood, metal eyelets and cord tips, woven labels, custom size tags and a branded polybag each cost a little. Together they routinely account for more per unit than the difference between one factory's labour rate and another's. This is also where a low quote gets recovered: trim substitution is the easiest cost to hide, because buyers check the fabric and rarely check the drawcord.

3. Washing and finishing carry labour and risk

Garment dye and wash are priced per unit and scale poorly at low volume — the machine load is the same whether you run 30 pieces or 300. That is why custom colour typically requires a far higher minimum than stock colour, and why hand-finished effects such as distressing and whiskering are quoted individually rather than by weight.

Getting Your Hoodies From the Factory to Your Warehouse

Heavyweight fleece is dense, and density is weight, and weight is freight. A 500 gsm hoodie is roughly twice the shipping burden of a 250 gsm t-shirt at the same carton count. Budget accordingly.

Courier: samples and small drops

Express door-to-door is the right choice for samples and for a first order of 50 to 100 pieces. It is expensive per kilogram, but it takes customs handling off your plate and arrives in days rather than weeks. For a first order whose real purpose is to check quality, speed is worth the premium.

Air freight: the middle path

Air freight becomes cheaper than courier once you are moving a few hundred pieces, and still lands in under two weeks door-to-door in most markets. It is the usual choice for a seasonal drop where the factory timeline has already eaten the buffer.

Sea freight: where the margin is

For replenishment runs of thousands of pieces, ocean freight is the only method that preserves streetwear margins. The trade-off is planning: you are booking a sailing roughly a month out, and the goods need to be consolidated, palletised and documented well before that. Factories that ship regularly will have a forwarder they work with and can quote landed cost rather than just FOB.

FAQ: Ordering Custom Hoodies From China

1. What is the typical MOQ for custom hoodies from a China manufacturer?

It depends almost entirely on whether you accept stock fabric and stock colour. The custom-order factories on this list cluster around 50 to 100 pieces per style per colour as a published minimum, and several go lower on in-stock fabric. The two giants here publish no minimum at all, because an order in that range is not a business they are set up to take. Fully custom work — your own knit, your own dye lot — generally starts at several hundred pieces, because the mill has to run a minimum batch of yarn and the dyehouse a minimum vat. If your first run is under 50 pieces, look specifically for a factory that stocks the fleece you want rather than one that will knit it for you; our custom hoodie manufacturing terms set out how stock colour and custom colour differ.

2. What fabric weight should I specify for a hoodie?

For a mainstream retail hoodie, 280–350 gsm loop-back French terry is the standard. For streetwear, 400–500 gsm brushed-back fleece is the norm. Above 500 gsm you are making a statement piece, and you should expect higher minimums and slower knitting. Specify whether you mean loop-back or brushed-back, and ask for the greige weight behind the finished figure.

3. How do I verify a hoodie manufacturer before placing an order?

Four checks: request the business licence and confirm the registered address matches the factory address; ask for the greige specification and its tolerance; order a paid sample and measure it against your own specification; and ask for two references from brands in your market that have reordered. A factory with genuine repeat customers will produce them, and a reorder is the only reference that matters. If a supplier cannot resolve its own published figures — founding year, monthly capacity, MOQ — treat that as a prompt to verify everything on paper.

4. How long does hoodie production take in China?

Sampling typically runs one to two weeks from an approved tech pack. Bulk production on established, in-stock fabric commonly runs 20 to 35 days, depending on decoration and washing. Honfitwear quotes 20–25 days for bulk once the sample is signed off, which assumes stock fabric and no bespoke dye lot. Add two to three weeks if you are commissioning a custom knit or a garment-dye programme.

5. What is the difference between OEM and private label for hoodies?

Private label means the factory makes a product to a specification you choose, then applies your label, tags and packaging — you own the design intent. OEM is broader: the factory may also develop the pattern, source or engineer the fabric, and carry the full technical package to your brief. Most factories on this list offer both, and the distinction matters mainly for who owns the pattern and who funds development. Our guide to finding custom clothing manufacturers for private label walks through how to frame that brief.

Ready to Launch or Scale Your Hoodie Brand?

Heavyweight fleece is a specification game, and it rewards brands that arrive with numbers rather than adjectives. Bring a tech pack, a target weight and a tolerance, and the quoting conversation takes a day instead of a month.

Honfitwear is a Guangzhou-based manufacturer producing custom hoodies, heavyweight fleece and French terry for brands worldwide. We run OEM and ODM across multiple factories in Guangzhou, with flexible minimums starting at 10 pieces for in-stock customisation — enough to test a colourway and a fit before you commit to a full run. Start your hoodie project with a specification review and a cost estimate.

About Honfit

Honfit is a Guangzhou-based custom apparel manufacturer with more than 10 years of experience producing sportswear, streetwear and custom hoodies for brands worldwide. We offer OEM and ODM services with flexible minimums, production across multiple factories in Guangzhou, and factory-direct pricing with no third-party markup. Learn more at Honfitwear.