Most buyers meet the MOQ as a single number on a quote and either accept it or argue with it. That is the wrong fight. Behind it sit three separate minimums, and only one of them is really about the factory. Once you can see all three, a 100-piece order stops looking like a barrier and starts looking like a design constraint you can plan around.
For FW27, cashmere knitwear splits into three currents: a Pantone-anchored palette of oatmeal, sage, blush and cloud grey lifted by pomegranate and smoky grape accents; seven sellable silhouettes led by funnel necks, cropped half-zips and softly oversized, elongated fits; and a texture-first design language where knit construction replaces printed pattern.
A knitwear tech pack in its working form: flats, yarn and gauge, colourways and a graded measurement chart, in that order.
Eight things: 1) yarn composition and count, 2) colour, 3) gauge and knit structure, 4) silhouette, 5) size range and grading, 6) logo technique, 7) trims and hardware, 8) labels and packaging.
From tech pack approval to delivery at your warehouse, plan for 6–9 weeks using stock yarn colours and 10–14 weeks when the yarn is dyed to your own shade. Published industry benchmarks for a new program run 14–20 weeks — 2–4 weeks sampling, 2–4 weeks pre-production, 8–12 weeks bulk, 2–4 weeks shipping. What decides your date is rarely knitting: it is yarn dyeing, sample approval and freight.
GG stands for gauge — the number of knitting needles arranged within one inch of a flat-knitting machine's needle bed. 3GG = three needles per inch (chunky knits, large visible stitches). 12GG = twelve needles per inch (fine, smooth knits). Higher gauge = finer fabric; lower gauge = chunkier construction. Gauge is a physical machine specification, not a quality score — the right gauge depends on the product brief.
In a cashmere spec, 2/26nm means two individual yarn strands (the "2"), each spun to a metric count of 26 (the "Nm" = metres per gram of single yarn), plied together. Higher Nm = finer singles. Pair count with gauge — 2/26Nm at 7–9GG makes mid-weight pullovers; 2/28Nm at 12–14GG makes year-round refined knitwear; 2/48Nm at 14–16GG makes ultra-fine travel-weight layers.
Grade A averages 14–15.5 microns in fiber diameter with fibers 34 mm or longer. Grade B runs 15.5–19 microns with 28–34 mm fibers. Grade A feels softer, resists pilling far better — because long fibers anchor securely inside the yarn — and costs roughly 1.5–2× more per kilogram.
Verify the factory is real before you discuss price: factory or trading company, machine gauges, traceable yarn source, verifiable certifications (BSCI, OEKO-TEX — checked by certificate number, not logo). Then nail down the commercial terms in writing: MOQ per style and per color, sampling process, QC standard (AQL 2.5), lead time start point, price breakdown, and payment terms (T/T 30/70 is standard — never 100% upfront).
