You can launch a women’s tops and dresses brand with two styles, your own labels and 100 finished pieces. That is the short answer to how to start a dress brand without designing patterns from scratch: choose existing styles, brand them as yours, sample, and order small.
White label lets you put your name on a finished garment from our range. You choose the style, fabric and colour, and we add your label, tags, print or embroidery, and packaging. The design work you skip is time and money you can put into your brand, photos and selling. Here are the steps in order.
Plan the range
1. Decide who you are selling to
Before choosing a single garment, write one sentence about your shopper. Where does she wear your clothes: to the office, on weekends, on holiday? What does she pay for a dress now? Which sizes does she buy?
That sentence drives every later choice. A brand for working women leans towards shirts and blouses in cotton. A resort brand leans towards rayon dresses and linen blend skirts. A boutique serving a wide age range may favour tunics, which suit many body shapes.
2. Pick two styles to launch
Our white label women’s tops, shirts and dresses range has five styles: shirt, blouse, tunic, casual dress and skirt, all in sizes XS to 3XL. Starting with two keeps your first spend contained and your photos focused.
Pick two that do different jobs, such as a dress and a shirt, or a tunic and a blouse. That gives a shopper a reason to buy a second piece. Our post on which styles to stock compares all five.
3. Choose fabric and colour
Each style comes in a set of fabrics from cotton, rayon, viscose and linen blend. Cotton is crisp and holds a shape. Rayon and viscose are soft and drape. Linen blend looks relaxed and textured.
For colour, start with one neutral and one colour that gives the brand character. Printed fabric is available from our options for several styles. The colour split per style is confirmed at quotation, as it depends on fabric availability.
Brand, sample and order
4. Build the brand pieces
Your brand shows up in a few small places on the garment, and they all need artwork:
- Neck label: woven or printed, carrying your brand name and usually the size.
- Wash-care label: sewn into the side seam, with fibre content and care instructions.
- Hang tag: printed card attached at the neck or side, often carrying the price and barcode.
- Embroidery or screen print: optional, such as a small logo at the chest, cuff or hem.
- Packaging: a polybag with a size sticker, or a branded bag or box.
Labelling requirements vary by country, so tell us where the stock will be sold. They are confirmed at quotation.
5. Ask for a quotation and a sample
Send us the styles, fabrics, colours, sizes, quantities and branding. We quote per style, by fabric, quantity and branding. The quotation also confirms sample terms, lead time, shipping method, payment terms and documents.
Then order a sample in your chosen fabric and colour. Check the fit on a real person, the length, how the fabric moves and how your label looks. Small changes such as sleeve or hem length can often be made to an existing style.
6. Place the first order
Our minimum is 50 pieces per style, and sizes can be mixed within that. With two styles, your first order is 100 pieces. Weight it towards the middle sizes, M and L, unless you know your audience buys larger or smaller.
The order then runs through our usual steps:
- Advance payment to start production.
- Production: cutting, stitching, finishing.
- Our quality check for stitching and finish.
- Labelling, tagging and packing under your brand.
- Balance payment, then dispatch.
Sell and reorder
7. Prepare to sell while stock is made
Use the sample for product photos so your listings are ready when stock lands. Write down the fabric, garment measurements per size and care instructions for each style. If you sell online, decide your packing format early so we can pack to it.
A short checklist for this stage:
- Photos of each style on a person, front, back and side, plus a close-up of the fabric.
- A size chart with garment measurements, taken from the sample and our chart.
- Product names and colour names you will keep using on reorders.
- A plan for where the stock will be stored and how orders will be packed and posted.
- If you sell on a marketplace, the current listing and labelling requirements, confirmed with the marketplace itself.
Getting these ready while production runs means you can start selling the day the stock arrives.
8. Reorder from what you learn
After the first season, look at which style, colour and sizes sold out. Reorder the winners, adjust the size split and add a third style if the first two are moving. Each style is quoted on its own, so you can grow the range one piece at a time.
What to send us
Send your two chosen styles, fabric and colour for each, a rough size split, your logo and the market you will sell in. We take enquiries from buyers worldwide; shipping method, terms and documents are confirmed in the quotation.