What Does MOQ Mean in Cashmere Manufacturing? Why 100 Pieces, and How to Work With It？
MOQ means Minimum Order Quantity - the smallest run a factory will produce for one style and one colour. In cashmere it is usually 100 pieces per style per colour, with sizes mixed freely inside that figure. The number is not a negotiating tactic: it is the point at which a yarn dye lot, a machine programme, trim minimums and quality control all stop losing money at the same time.
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.
What does MOQ actually mean in knitwear?
MOQ is the minimum number of finished garments a manufacturer will make for a given style and colourway. Three details in that definition matter more than the number itself:
- It is per style, not per purchase order. Two styles at 100 pieces each is a 200-piece order that satisfies a 100-piece MOQ.
- It is usually also per colour. Each colour is a separate dye lot and a separate run, so three colours means 300 pieces, not 100 split three ways.
- Sizes are mixed inside it. 20 S / 30 M / 30 L / 20 XL is a perfectly normal way to fill a 100-piece minimum - size splits cost nothing extra.
Every factory states this slightly differently, so the first question to ask is not "what is your MOQ" but "is that per style, per colour, or per order - and can sizes be mixed?" The answer tells you what the real commitment is.
Why cashmere has a higher MOQ than other knitwear
Cotton and acrylic knitwear can be run in much smaller batches. Cashmere cannot, for four structural reasons - and none of them is the knitting machine alone.
| Cost floor | What it means in practice | Why it does not shrink with quantity |
|---|---|---|
| Machine programming and set-up | Each style needs its programme, tension and gauge calibration, yarn feeder adjustment and trial panels | Hours to days of technician time - identical whether you knit 10 pieces or 300 |
| Yarn dye lot | Dye houses set a minimum dyeing weight per colour, typically 10-20 kg for natural fibres | Set by the mill, not the factory; a small run still consumes a full lot or pays a surcharge |
| Trims and labels | Custom woven labels, engraved buttons and printed packaging carry their own supplier minimums, often in the thousands of units | Trim suppliers run automated high-speed equipment; they will not stop it for 100 labels |
| Quality control and finishing | Linking, washing, pressing, measuring, inspection and packing are scheduled per run | The QC gate takes the same number of hours per run regardless of run size |
Factory note: this is why a 200-piece order can take the same calendar time as a 1,000-piece order. Set-up is a fixed cost in time as well as money, so low MOQ buys you flexibility, not speed.
There is also a quality argument that surprises buyers. Very small runs often show more variation, not less: the technicians spend the first part of the run finding the right tension, and if the run ends at that point, most garments are made while the machine is still settling. A 300-piece run has a bad first fifty and 250 consistent ones. A 40-piece run is mostly the learning curve.
The arithmetic that produces the number 100
Here is the calculation that most explains a 100-piece minimum. Take a mid-weight 12GG crew neck at roughly 180-250 g of yarn per piece. A 100-piece run therefore needs 18-25 kg of yarn - which lands almost exactly on a standard cashmere dye-lot minimum of 10-20 kg per colour.
| Garment | Yarn per piece | Yarn for 100 pcs | Fit against a 10-20 kg dye lot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fine-gauge 14GG crew neck | ~150 g | ~15 kg | Inside the lot, with little waste |
| Classic 12GG crew neck | ~180-220 g | ~18-22 kg | At the top of a standard lot |
| 7GG relaxed sweater | ~350 g | ~35 kg | Two lots - which is why heavier styles often carry a lower piece minimum |
| 5GG chunky cable cardigan | ~600-700 g | ~60-70 kg | Well above the lot; weight, not piece count, becomes the constraint |
Two conclusions follow. First, the minimum is a yarn-weight minimum wearing a piece-count costume - the factory converts kilograms into garments for your style. Second, it explains why MOQ is not uniform across a collection: a 650 g chunky cardigan reaches the dye minimum at around 25-30 pieces, while a 150 g fine-gauge crew needs closer to 100. Any factory quoting one flat number for every gauge is simplifying, not lying - but it is worth knowing which styles are actually cheap to test.
MOQ is three numbers, not one
This is the part that causes most of the friction in sourcing conversations. When a factory says "100", it is usually the garment tier. The other two tiers sit above and below it:
| Tier | Who sets it | Typical figure | What it controls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yarn / dye lot minimum | The spinner or dye house | 10-20 kg per colour (higher for specialty blends) | Whether your colour can exist at all, and how much leftover yarn you may have to absorb |
| Garment style minimum | The knitting factory | 100 pcs per style per colour | Programme, set-up, sampling and QC economics |
| Colourway and size minimum | Factory, driven by the dye lot | Full garment minimum per colour; sizes mixed freely | How many colourways you can afford in the first order |
A worked example makes it concrete. You want a crew neck in oat, sage and charcoal, 100 pieces each: that is 300 pieces, three dye lots and one machine programme. If you instead run oat only, 100 pieces, you can still order sage later - but it will be a new dye lot, and the shade may sit a fraction off the first batch. That is not a defect; it is what "dye lot" means. Brands that care about exact continuity reorder from the same lot or accept a documented tolerance.
Does gauge change the MOQ?
Yes, though less than most buyers assume. Published industry ranges for cashmere knitwear move with gauge because finer machines need more calibration and longer knitting time per piece:
| Category | Gauge | Indicative MOQ per style/colour | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chunky / oversized | 3GG - 5GG | 100 - 150 pcs | Higher yarn weight per piece; fewer pieces needed to consume a dye lot |
| Mid-gauge classic | 7GG - 12GG | 150 - 200 pcs | The most common category; balanced set-up and yarn economics |
| Fine-gauge luxury | 14GG - 15GG | 200 - 250 pcs | Longer knitting time, tighter tension control |
| Ultra fine-gauge | 16GG - 18GG | 200 - 300 pcs | Precision set-up on specialty machines |
| Certified organic cashmere | Any gauge | +20-30% vs. standard | Segregated production line and documentation |
These are market ranges, not universal law - a factory with spare capacity on a mid-gauge bed can often do better on a simple silhouette in a stock colour. What the table should tell you is where to spend your first-order budget: a 5GG chunky piece is the cheapest item in the collection to test, and a 16GG ultra-fine piece is the most expensive, even at the same unit price.
How to make a 100-piece order go further
Six levers, roughly in order of impact:
- Use stock-service yarn for the first order. A factory holding cashmere in oat, camel, grey, navy and black can start without a dye lot at all. You give up an exact Pantone match; you gain weeks and a lower minimum. Ask specifically: "What is your MOQ on your stock yarn colours?" - the answer reveals whether the factory is set up for small brands.
- Share one dye lot across styles. If two or three styles run in the same custom colour, they consume one lot together. This is the single most useful trick for a signature colour: a crew, a cardigan and a scarf in the same shade can all sit inside one dye batch.
- Launch one colourway, not five. Five colours at 100 pieces is 500 pieces of inventory before you have sold one. One colour at 100 is a test with a real answer at the end of it.
- Mix sizes inside the colour. It costs nothing and lets you serve a full size run from a small order - just be realistic about the split. A 20/30/30/20 curve is more useful than 25 of each if your customers cluster in the middle.
- Build a capsule, not a single hero. Three styles at 100 pieces each gives you a collection, one machine set-up window and better freight economics than three separate orders placed months apart.
- Plan the reorder with the first order. Reordering a proven style from the same yarn lot is far faster and cheaper than starting again - patterns, programmes and trims are still live. Ask at PO stage how much notice the factory needs to reserve refill capacity.
What a 100-piece order actually costs you
MOQ is an inventory decision disguised as a production rule, so run the business math before you argue about the unit price. At a $45-55 FOB for a Grade A mid-gauge crew neck (our 2026 cost breakdown shows the build-up), 100 pieces ties up roughly $4,500-5,500 in goods, plus freight and duty.
At a $130 retail price and a 2.4× markup, selling 45-50 pieces covers the goods cost. The remaining 50 are the actual experiment: they tell you the sell-through rate, the return rate and the size curve for a reorder that can be three to five times larger. Framed that way, the 15-25% small-batch premium is not a penalty - it is the price of buying information before you buy inventory.
Factory note: the most common first-order mistake we see is not ordering too little. It is ordering 100 pieces in five colours and learning nothing, because no single colourway had enough depth to produce a readable sell-through number.
Red flags when a factory quotes you an MOQ
| What you hear | What it may mean | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| "We can do 20 pieces." | They intend to use stock blanks or a stock blend rather than your specified fibre | "Which yarn, which mill, and can I see the lot certificate?" |
| "MOQ 100" - with no mention of colour | They are quoting per order, then discovering the dye-lot cost later | "Is that per style, per colour? What happens with three colours?" |
| "MOQ is negotiable." | Often true, but usually by raising the unit price or accepting leftover yarn | "What changes - the price, the yarn lot, or the delivery date?" |
| A very low MOQ with a very low price | The two together usually mean a different fibre grade or a stock garment | "Is this Grade A? What is the micron and fibre length?" |
| "Sample fee is not refundable." | Common at genuinely small quantities, but worth knowing before you commit | "Is the sample fee credited against the bulk order?" |
How Ewsca structures a 100-piece order
Our published minimum is 100 pieces per style per colour, sizes mixed, on 100% cashmere and cashmere-wool blends from Inner Mongolian yarn. In practice that means:
- 3GG-14GG across 100+ computerised flat-bed machines, so a chunky test piece and a fine-gauge layering piece can run in the same development cycle.
- Stock yarn colours for the fastest start; custom Pantone shades matched through a lab dip, with the dye-lot minimum discussed openly before you commit.
- Sampling in 7-14 days, bulk knitting around two weeks once the pre-production sample is approved - the full sequence is in our production timeline.
- SFA, OEKO-TEX, BSCI, INTERTEK and Organic EU certification, with the test reports travelling with the goods.
If your number is 100 and your colour is not on a stock card, tell us at the quoting stage rather than after sampling. It is a solvable problem - share the lot across two styles, or pick the nearest stock shade for the first run - but only if it is on the table early.
Testing a cashmere collection at 100 pieces?
Send us the styles, the colourways and the size split. We will tell you honestly which of them fit inside a 100-piece minimum, which need a stock yarn, and which will trigger a dye-lot conversation - before you spend anything on sampling. MOQ from 100 pcs per style and colour, sizes mixed.
WhatsApp us or request a quote. Swatches and a priced brief come back first; nothing is committed until you approve the sample.
About the author: The Ewsca editorial team draws on two decades of manufacturing custom cashmere knitwear for independent brands and private-label programmes. We publish factory-side guides to fibres, gauges, costing and production planning - the answers we give buyers every day, written down. More about our factory →
Sources & further reading:
- WFS Cashmere - Cashmere Knitwear MOQ Explained: yarn dye-house minimums of 10-15 kg per colourway, 10 kg of 2/28Nm yarn yielding roughly 80-120 garments, and indicative MOQ ranges by gauge (3-5GG 100-150 pcs through 16-18GG 200-300 pcs)
- NewWay Apparel - Knitwear Manufacturing in China Statistics 2026: natural-fibre dye-lot minimums of 10-20 kg per colour, 450 g cardigan consuming 0.45 kg of yarn, stock-yarn MOQ 100-300 pcs vs. custom-dyed 300+ pcs
- CH Cashmere - MOQ Explained: Why Minimum Orders Matter in Knitwear Manufacturing: set-up time and cost constant across run sizes, quality consistency improving with volume
- JM Sweater - Low MOQ Custom Sweater Manufacturing: dye-house minimums of 100-300 kg at some mills, stock-service vs. custom dyeing trade-offs
- Lesstell Clothing - What Is MOQ in Clothing Manufacturing?: MOQ counted per style per colour, sizes mixed within colour, tiered minimum structure
- New Asia Garment - What Is MOQ in Clothing Manufacturing: three-tier MOQ structure (fabric mill, garment factory, colourway/size ratio)
- CN Sweaters - Knitwear Lead Time Planning: custom-dyed yarn adding three to six weeks, small runs not being faster than large ones
- Ewsca factory data - MOQ, gauge range, capacity and certifications as published on our brand page
Frequently asked questions
What does MOQ mean in cashmere manufacturing?
MOQ stands for Minimum Order Quantity: the smallest number of pieces a factory will produce for one style and one colour. In cashmere it is usually counted per style per colour, not per purchase order, and sizes can normally be mixed inside that quantity. The number reflects the point at which machine programming, a yarn dye lot, trim minimums and quality control stop losing money.
Why is the MOQ for cashmere sweaters usually 100 pieces?
Because a dye house will not dye less than about 10-20 kg of cashmere yarn per colour, and 100 mid-weight sweaters consume 18-25 kg - roughly one full dye lot. Below that, the factory either absorbs leftover yarn or pays a small-batch dye surcharge. 100 pieces is the smallest run where colour, machine programme and trims all make economic sense together.
Is MOQ counted per style or per order?
Per style and, at most cashmere factories, per colour. Three colourways of one sweater mean three times the minimum - 100 pieces each, 300 in total. Assuming 100 pieces can be split across five colours at 20 pieces each is the most expensive misunderstanding in first-order sourcing.
Can I mix sizes within the MOQ?
Yes. Sizes are normally mixed freely inside the minimum for a style and colour - for example 20 S, 30 M, 30 L and 20 XL. Size splits create no extra set-up cost. Colours are different: each is a separate dye lot and is counted separately.
How can I lower the MOQ for a cashmere sweater order?
Use stock-service yarn instead of a custom Pantone shade, run one colourway for the first order, share a single dye lot across two or three styles, and order early enough to fit the factory's existing yarn programme. A custom colour in a small quantity is the combination that raises minimums fastest, because the dye-lot minimum belongs to the mill.
What happens if I order below the MOQ?
Most factories will decline, apply a below-MOQ surcharge of roughly 15-25% per unit, or ask you to absorb the leftover yarn. The surcharge reflects fixed hours that do not shrink with the run. If a factory accepts a very low MOQ with no surcharge and no conditions, ask which yarn they intend to use - it is often a stock blend rather than the fibre you specified.
