The honest version of low MOQ is a number and a counting rule, not an adjective. Ours is 1,000 pairs per style, counted per style rather than per order — which makes a six-style range six runs, and makes the first order of a startup a real minimum rather than a hopeful one.
This page exists because “low MOQ” is the most elastic phrase in the trade. It says what our floor actually holds at the low end, what a lower number does when it arrives as a question, and which of the costs in a small run do not shrink with it.
Low is relative to the floor that has to run it. These four are the ones that set where our low end sits, and all four are published elsewhere on the site in the same form.
The 1,000-pair figure is described across the site as a starting point for negotiation rather than a fixed floor. That is a real distinction: the number can move for a construction the floor already runs, and it does not move for a new one.
A first order of 1,000 pairs carries costs that a 10,000-pair run spreads and costs that stay exactly where they are. Knowing which is which is what makes a small order plannable instead of surprising.
| Line | At the low end | Does it shrink with volume? | Where it is published |
|---|---|---|---|
| PublishedYarn booking | A 1,000-pair run still books yarn in the colour it needs. | Partly. The minimum cone booking is a floor of its own, so five colourways at 200 pairs each cost more per pair than one colourway at 1,000. | Yarn options. |
| PublishedMachine setup | The machine is set for your style whether the run is 1,000 or 5,000. | Yes, and it is the largest single thing volume spreads. This is why 1,000 and 5,000 do not share a cost structure. | Negotiating sock pricing. |
| PublishedSampling | One sample round, typically 3–5 days after brief and artwork. | No. It is charged per style and credited against the first bulk order, at every order size. | Sample policy. |
| QuotedColour count | At 1,000 pairs, three colours is about 333 pairs each and five is 200. | No — more colours at a fixed total means smaller lots per colour, and the split is yours to set. | Retail chains. |
| QuotedCase pack | 100 pairs to a carton is the figure our own arithmetic uses; your DC may want another. | No. The packing line is confirmed per style at any size. | Packaging options. |
| PublishedFreight | 1,000 pairs at 100 a carton is ten cartons, well under a cubic metre. | No, and the mode changes: a small run is air or express territory long before it is a container. | Shipping volume. |
| PublishedProduction slot | Bulk is typically 20–30 days after deposit and approved sample. | No. A smaller run waits in the same queue behind the same four lines. | About the factory. |
The two lines that dominate a small order are machine setup and freight — which is why the cheapest way to test a style is usually one colourway, not four, and why the mode matters more than the rate.
Most small orders get expensive at the decision stage rather than at the knitting stage. These are the six decisions that set the cost of a first run, each with the page that already answers it.
The minimum is per style, so the first real decision is not quantity but breadth. One style at 1,000 pairs and four styles at 1,000 each are different businesses, not different order sizes.
Evidence: Restated on quote.
Colour is the cheapest place to take cost out of a first run and the most expensive place to add it back. At 1,000 pairs a four-colour split is 250 pairs a colour.
Evidence: The split arithmetic is on retail chains.
A custom construction needs a sample round first; a construction the floor already runs gets to bulk faster. That difference is a few weeks, and it is a real difference on a launch date.
Evidence: Custom socks vs stock socks.
The brief is not usable until the artwork is. Sampling is counted from the day brief and artwork are both confirmed, which is why a logo that arrives in week three moves the whole plan.
Evidence: Design process.
Ten cartons is a parcel decision, not a container decision. On a first run, sea is often the false economy and express is often the right one, because the stock is what the launch runs on.
Evidence: Shipping volume.
The second run is shorter because nothing has to be re-sampled, and it is the moment a “low MOQ” question becomes a plan rather than a risk.
Evidence: Reorder lead time.
If a supplier’s low-MOQ page does not name a number, the number is decided in the email after you send the brief. These three are named here instead.
A first run lives or dies on four documents: a written minimum, a sample policy, a packing line and a freight number. Each has its own page.
| Page | What it settles | Why it matters at 1,000 pairs |
|---|---|---|
| Wholesale sock FAQ | The route from brief to bulk. | Shows what happens between the deposit and the run, and what the sample fee becomes. |
| Sample policy | Timing, the fee and the credit. | The single largest avoidable cost in a first order is a second sample round. |
| E-commerce sellers | A worked small-run case. | The floor described from the point of view of someone selling one listing at a time. |
| Shipping volume | What ten cartons actually is. | Under a cubic metre, which is why the mode matters more than the rate. |
If the number you have in mind sits below 1,000 pairs per style, send it anyway with the construction you want. The reply says whether this floor can run it, what the sample would need to prove, and what the smallest honest order is for that knit.
Michelle Zhang, Export sales manager, answers enquiries within one working day — sales@sockwholesalers.com, +86-13761030160 (WhatsApp same number).
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