Custom Activewear Manufacturing for French Labels, Run by Run

French labels tend to order in small blocks and come back often. A first run of a hundred pieces tests a colour, a cut or a price point in one or two doors; the repeat three months later is where a style proves itself. A factory organised around single large programmes finds that rhythm awkward. Ours is arranged the other way round: small minimums, short set-ups, and a pattern that stays on file between orders.

What follows covers the language the site and the working file can run in, how a small run repeats, the grading French size tickets use, label copy, and the terms and checks that surround a shipment out of Shenzhen.

The site reads in French, and so can the order file

This site runs in seven languages, French among them, so a first look at fabric ranges, minimums and construction notes does not depend on reading English. The same applies to the working file: spec sheets, comments on a sample and packing instructions can be kept in French where that is easier for the team reviewing them. Invoices and shipping documents are issued in English, as they are for most EU importers.

It sounds like a small thing until a sample is being discussed by a studio in Paris and a pattern room in Dongguan on the same afternoon. Shared vocabulary shortens that exchange more than another round of photographs does.

One hundred pieces, then a repeat that skips the pattern work

The entry point is 100 pieces per style per colour; the sizes are yours to divide inside that count, and the count only grows when a second colourway is added. A brand testing three colourways of one polo is therefore looking at 300 pieces rather than 100, which is worth knowing before the range is signed off rather than afterwards.

On a repeat, the pattern, the grading and the approved sample already exist. The fabric lot and the shade are what change. A colour extension is the usual second order — same style, one new tone, one new minimum — and it moves through the pattern room far faster than the first run did. Bulk for any of these takes 15–25 days from pre-production approval.

Grading to the size tickets French retail uses

French size tickets read 34–46 or 36–48, and the pattern behind them is graded on an EU chart. That is our default for a French order, with the ticket text following your instruction. Where a range also sells beyond the EU, the same block can be graded to US or Asian charts.

Inside a minimum the spread is yours: a flat run, a curve weighted to 38–42, or a set that adds plus, petite, tall or maternity blocks. Mixed sizes never change the count, and a run weighted towards the middle of the curve is cut as one order rather than two.

Label copy in French, set from your final text

Care and composition copy reaches us in French and goes to print as written: wash-care text, the fibre percentages, the size and the country of origin. Woven labels, printed neck labels and heat transfers are all placed to the tech pack, on the seam or at the position marked.

What the pattern room can open directly is artwork in AI, EPS or high-resolution PDF and a tech pack in PDF or Excel. A label supplied only as a flat image is the one item that reliably delays a run: it has to be redrawn as vector artwork before it can go to print.

Terms, freight and the inspection step

A quotation names one of three terms: EXW, FOB Shenzhen Yantian or DDP. DDP suits a label without an import entity; FOB suits one whose forwarder already moves goods out of Yantian. Payment follows the pattern most EU orders here use: a T/T deposit, with the balance settled before shipment, and L/C at sight where a whole container is booked.

The first sample takes 3–7 days and includes a wash test. Sampling is billed at a figure quoted per style, confirmed in writing before sampling, and credited against your first order at 300 pieces per style, so a second colourway is not charged twice for pattern work that already exists. Every order closes with 100% inspection accepted to AQL 2.5, checked against the graded spec, before the cartons are packed rather than after. Behind it sits one plant in Dongguan: 180 staff across 18,000 square metres, ISO 9001, in operation since 2009, with monthly output between 150,000 and 200,000 pieces.

Construction is worth naming at enquiry. A seamless polo or a bonded seam carries a higher minimum: the film and the fabric are validated as a pair before a run, and that is a different conversation from a cut-and-sew jersey. Four fabric families cover the whole range — nylon-spandex, polyester-spandex, recycled polyester-spandex and cotton blends — and the styles run from polo and hoodie through yoga, golf, seamless and maternity.

What French brands ask before the first run

Can I repeat an approved style without sampling again?

A repeat in the same fabric and colour goes back to the approved sample as its reference, with a pre-production sample confirmed before bulk. A new colour or a new fabric is a new sampling round, since the shade and the hand have to be seen before the run is cut. Either way the pattern stays on file between orders.

Do you print French care labels?

Yes. The wording is yours and the print is ours: the French text goes onto the label exactly as written, in whichever format the pack names — woven, printed or transfer — carrying the fibre breakdown, care marks and size. Nothing is translated on this side.

Which grading is used for a French size range?

The chart is EU, with the ticket set 34–46 or 36–48 to suit your label convention. The curve inside a hundred is set from your own sell-through rather than a standard ratio, so the spread you choose is what gets cut.

Is there a French version of the site?

There is. The site runs in seven languages including French, and the working file for an order can stay in French through sampling and packing. Invoices, packing lists and bills of lading are issued in English.

Next step

Send the style, the colours and the size curve, and the quote comes back with a sampling date attached and the terms quoted side by side. Start the conversation, or see how a 100-piece order is costed when it is the first of several. Labels also buying for the German and Dutch markets usually place the three runs together.