Custom Sportswear Manufacturing for Mexican Brands

Mexican brands tend to arrive at sourcing with a route already in mind. Some keep a nearshore workshop for the fast repeats and place development work further away; others run it the other way round, with the nearshore partner carrying volume and the patterns developed elsewhere. Either arrangement leaves room for a knitwear factory in Asia to sit alongside it without displacing anyone.

This page covers how that two-route plan is worked in practice, what a hundred-piece first run buys, which size charts travel, how Spanish labelling is handled, and how cartons reach a Mexican warehouse.

Working inside a two-route sourcing plan

A dual-track plan usually splits by style rather than by season. The pieces that need a fast repeat stay close to home, and the pieces with a longer commercial life — a core polo, a programme legging, a hoodie that runs for two years — are developed where the fabric range and the tooling sit.

We work as one leg of that arrangement, and nothing about it asks you to move the other leg. The specification can stay in the format your nearshore partner already reads, so a style can pass between the two without being redrawn from scratch.

The practical question is where the pattern starts. Where the block is developed here, the graded pattern and the approved sample travel with the style afterwards, and a later local repeat has an exact reference to work from.

What a hundred pieces buys a first drop

100 pieces per style per colour, with the size curve set inside that hundred rather than added on top of it. A first drop in two colours is two hundred pieces. A bonded or seam-sealed build starts at two hundred per style and colour.

For a brand testing a category, a hundred is enough to place a style in a handful of doors or on a web store and read the sell-through. It is also enough to carry a proper size run instead of a single size, and the curve can be weighted towards medium and large where the demand sits there.

Sampling runs 3–7 days from a complete pack, and a wash test is carried out while the sample is still with us. Bulk takes 15–25 days once the pre-production sample is signed off, and that clock starts at approval rather than at the order date. Goods are released only after 100% inspection, in-line and final, on an AQL 2.5 acceptance level measured against the approved sample.

The 100-piece order page sets out how the count is built, and our answer on the minimum order quantity gives the short version.

Size charts: US and EU grading both travel

Mexican retail commonly works to a US chart, while a line sold into Europe needs an EU chart. Both are graded here, and one style can be graded twice where it sells into both markets: one pattern, two graded sets, with the size designation on the label matching the chart the garment was cut to.

The chart is the specification, so send the measurements you sell against rather than a size name. Increments are followed as written, and tall, petite, plus and kids’ blocks are available on the same style where a range calls for them.

Spanish labels, and the es storefront

Care and content labels are printed in Spanish from the artwork you supply, with the size designation, fibre content and care symbols set for the Mexican market. The wording is proofed against that artwork before the label order goes in, which keeps a translation slip from reaching a finished carton.

The site runs in Spanish as well, so whoever signs off the fit comments can read the specification pages in Spanish rather than working from a summary.

Yantian to a Mexican warehouse, and the terms

Quotes come on EXW, FOB Shenzhen Yantian or DDP. Where the brand has its own broker and warehouse, FOB is the usual choice; where the landed cost needs to be fixed before the drop is costed, DDP puts the port-to-door move inside the price.

The quote states the arrangement in one line: an opening payment wired by T/T, the outstanding amount due before the container is released to the carrier, and, on a full container, the option of an L/C at sight in place of that final payment. Documents are issued to match the trade term quoted, and the invoice follows the same term.

Questions Mexican brands ask before a first order

Can you work alongside our nearshore workshop?

Yes. Brands here often run two routes at once, with fast repeats kept close to home and longer-life styles developed here. The specification stays in one format, so a style can move between the two without being redrawn.

Do you print labels in Spanish?

Care and content labels are set in Spanish from the artwork you supply, including the size designation, fibre content and care symbols. The copy is proofed against that file before the labels are ordered.

Which size chart should a Mexican brand send?

Whichever chart the garment will be sold against. US grading suits domestic retail, EU grading suits a line sold into Europe, and a style that sells into both can be graded twice from one pattern, with the label matching the chart it was cut to.

Is a hundred pieces enough for a first order?

It is the floor, per style and per colour, with the size curve set inside it. A first drop in two colourways is two hundred pieces, and a bonded build starts at two hundred per style and colour.

Next step

Send the style, the chart you sell against and the colour count, and we will confirm whether the run sits at one hundred or two hundred pieces and return an itemised quote with a sampling date. Contact SLSPOLO to start. Brands building a North American plan usually read the US page next; our page for Canadian brands covers a market that grades to both charts, and the hoodie line lists the weights we run for fleece.