What is an MOQ?

Anyone looking to source fabrics effectively should be familiar with the terminology commonly used by mills and buyers.

MOQ stands for Minimum Order Quantity, which is the minimum amount of fabric a mill requires you to order. This can be measured in metres, yards, or kilograms, depending on the supplier. MOQ requirements typically range from 5–300 metres for sampling and 200–5,000 metres for production.

From my experience, mills in Italy and Portugal often offer sampling MOQs of 25–50 metres and production MOQs of 200–300 metres. In contrast, suppliers in Asia generally work with sampling MOQs of around 300 yards and production MOQs of approximately 3,000 yards.

These minimums are usually determined by production capabilities. While sampling and production looms may differ in size, MOQs are often influenced by dyeing limitations. For example, it is not cost-effective for a mill to run a large dye vat for a small sample order. Equally, partially filling a dye vat is inefficient and increases production costs.

One way to overcome this is to ask whether the mill can produce a smaller quantity for a surcharge. A surcharge is an additional fee, either applied as a percentage increase to the fabric price or charged as a one-off cost.

For example, if a fabric costs €15 per metre with a sampling MOQ of 50 metres, a mill may agree to produce 25 metres with a 50% surcharge. In this case, the revised price would be €22.50 per metre.