Knitwear Manufacturing for Dutch Brands with EU Fulfilment

A Dutch brand often runs a split operation: stock held and picked inside the EU, production placed in Asia, and a planning sheet that has to keep both sides in step. That split changes what a supplier is asked to deliver. Not simply garments, but garments packed and marked so a fulfilment centre can receive them without reworking the delivery on the dock.

This page sets out how production in Guangdong fits that model: the port your forwarder probably already uses, what DDP changes, EU grading and Dutch label copy, and the replenishment rhythm a stocked range depends on.

Production in Guangdong, inventory kept in Europe

The arrangement is familiar. A Dutch label holds its stock with a logistics partner in the EU and places production runs with us against a forecast. None of that needs a warehouse on our side. What it does need is a shipment that arrives ready to be booked in: carton marks that match the reference, a size and colour ratio that matches the pick faces, and a packing list that agrees with both.

For a replenishment shipment, a run can be built to a ratio rather than a flat spread, so the sizes that are actually selling arrive in the quantity that is actually short. That ratio is set at order stage and printed on the mark.

Rotterdam, and the forwarder already on your account

Most Dutch importers have a forwarder relationship built around Rotterdam, and the shortest route for a first order is usually to leave it exactly where it is. We quote FOB Shenzhen Yantian so your forwarder can take the container from the terminal, or EXW if you would rather collect.

Where no such relationship exists yet, DDP puts the whole movement on our side and delivers to the address on the order. Both are quoted on the same enquiry, so the comparison sits on paper rather than in an assumption about who is paying for what.

What DDP takes off a Dutch buyer’s desk

DDP removes the import side from your team: the goods arrive at the door with the formalities handled, which suits a brand with no customs clerk and no wish to appoint one for a hundred pieces.

It is not right for everyone. A brand with its own broker, or one consolidating shipments from several factories into a single entry, usually prefers FOB and keeps control of the routing. We will quote whichever fits the way you already buy, and say so plainly when the other term looks simpler.

EU grading, Dutch label copy and carton-level detail

Dutch size tickets follow the EU chart and the pattern is graded to it. The spread inside a minimum is your call, including plus, petite, tall or maternity blocks where a range carries them. Where the same style sells outside the EU, US and Asian grading sit on the same floor.

Label copy arrives in Dutch and is printed as supplied: fibre percentages, care symbols, size and the origin line. Carton marks are printed to your specification, including a retailer reference or a barcode label where the fulfilment centre asks for one.

Nothing exotic is needed on the file side: artwork in AI, EPS or high-resolution PDF, and a tech pack in PDF or Excel. Our categories are T-shirt, hoodie, polo, yoga and gym, golf, seamless and maternity, in nylon-spandex, polyester-spandex, recycled polyester-spandex and cotton blends. Leather, footwear and accessories sit outside the range.

A replenishment rhythm: sample, bulk, inspect

Counted the way we quote it, the minimum is 100 pieces per style per colour, and a bonded or seam-sealed build starts at 200. Sizes can be mixed inside a style; colours cannot.

Two payments cover it: a T/T deposit at confirmation, then the balance before the goods leave, with a sight L/C only where a container is filled. The sample charge works the same way on every run: quoted per style, confirmed in writing before sampling, and credited against your first order at 300 pieces per style, settled before any fabric is booked.

Sampling runs 3–7 days and includes a wash test. Bulk takes 15–25 days from pre-production approval, and the run closes with 100% inspection to AQL 2.5 before the cartons are sealed. Production happens in Dongguan, in a plant of 18,000 square metres with 180 staff, ISO 9001 certified, at 150,000 to 200,000 pieces a month and running since 2009. The factory address and floor are published if your team needs them for a supplier file.

For a stocked range the useful date is the one the cartons arrive, not the one they leave. Working backwards from that date, with the sampling window and the sea leg both placed on the line, is the conversation we have most often with Dutch buyers.

Questions Dutch buyers put to us early

Can you deliver DDP to an address in the Netherlands?

Yes. DDP is quoted on most Dutch enquiries and delivers to the address on the order, with the import formalities handled on our side. EXW and FOB Shenzhen Yantian are quoted alongside it for buyers who would rather keep control of the routing.

Do you hold finished stock in Europe?

No. We manufacture to order and ship against a confirmed run; no finished goods are held on your behalf in the EU. A brand that needs buffer stock keeps it with its own logistics partner and places production runs against a forecast, which is the pattern most of our Dutch clients already work to.

How should cartons be packed for a fulfilment centre?

To the ratio you specify, with carton marks printed to your reference and a packing list that matches them. Give us the pick-face sizes and the units per carton and the pack is built that way before the cartons close, so the receiving team books the delivery rather than repacking it.

Which grading do Dutch brands normally order?

EU grading, on the 34–46 or 36–48 ticket. The size spread inside a minimum is yours to set, and US or Asian grading are available where a style also sells outside the EU. None of these changes the piece count.

Next step

Send the forecast, the pick-face sizes and the delivery address, and the quote comes back with DDP and FOB quoted side by side and a sampling date on it. Talk to the factory, or see what a 100-piece run includes before you commit to a forecast. Buyers running the same model in Germany and France usually compare the two quotes together.