Private Label Uniforms

Private label means the uniforms leave our factory carrying your brand, not ours. The woven label at the neck, the care label, the size label, the logo on the chest and the hang tag all follow your artwork. For a uniform brand, a distributor or a company with a strong identity, this is the difference between buying garments and owning a programme.

Most of the work happens before the first garment is cut. Once the brand assets, label stock and colour references are settled, every style in the programme draws on the same set, and a re-order two years later draws on it again.

One logo file, one thread colour, every garment type

The most common complaint we hear from buyers switching to us is that their polo logo and their jacket logo did not match. Two decorators, two digitised files, two thread shades. We avoid this by digitising the logo once, recording the thread colour code, and using that same file and thread on shirts, polos, jackets and caps. Where a fabric needs a different technique, such as a heat transfer on a lightweight poplin instead of embroidery, the ink is matched to the same reference so the colour reads the same across the set.

The same applies to labels. A single woven brand label design is ordered in the quantity the programme needs, then sewn into every style. Care labels are proofed per garment because fibre content and wash instructions differ, but the layout and brand mark stay constant.

Technique and placement standards are set out under logo embroidery and printing.

Building a programme that can be re-ordered

Uniform programmes are not one-off orders. Staff join, sizes change, a new site opens. We keep the graded patterns, digitised logo files, approved samples and label stock on file, so a re-order of 100 polos in the following year is cut from the same pattern and decorated from the same file as the original. Fabric colour continuity is handled by recording the dye lot and, where a stock colour has moved, sending a lab dip before cutting.

We recommend ordering label stock with headroom on the first run. Trim suppliers have their own minimums, and running out of woven labels mid-programme can delay a small top-up order more than the garments themselves.

Small re-orders are cut from the retained files as described under bulk production.

Private label by industry

Chefwear. Chefwear brands run the line as a product business: core styles — the coat and the check trouser — repeat against sealed samples season after season, while seasonal colours drop alongside them. Many also use decoration as a service, so a trade customer’s logo is applied here before dispatch while the line itself ships under the brand’s own labels only.

Corporate wear. Brands and distributors usually mix two routes: proven sellers manufactured to their tech pack, new styles developed from our blocks for their approval. The recurring ask is range coherence — shirts, trousers and knitwear dyed to a single standard per colour, so next season’s brochure photographs beside this season’s stock without a colour argument.

Housekeeping. Workwear brands adding a housekeeping category want the spec reviewed against the category’s wash reality before bulk — pocket loading, gussets, closures that survive a mangle. They also want to own the specification outright: graded size charts supplied for their own size guide, wash-test records behind every style, and a range file maintained so a repeat season is a production run, not a re-development.

Restaurant. Hospitality apparel brands ask for two things first: confidentiality confirmed in writing, and goods that arrive shelf-ready — hang tags, barcodes, polybags, per-client carton splits. Size curves are built from their return data rather than a generic chart, and seasonal colours repeat against retained lab dips so next year’s black matches this year’s.

Retail. Chains and store brands use private label for staff kit and, increasingly, for resale lines. The trim set does the heavy lifting — woven labels, hang tags, folding boards, care labels worded for the destination market — all approved as physical strike-offs rather than PDFs. One production run can split: part packed for staff issue per store, part packed retail-ready for the shop floor.

School. Uniform distributors replacing a third-party brand want proven children’s blocks rather than a blank page, because the expensive part of schoolwear is getting fit right across a dozen or more sizes. Most launch narrow with polos and sweatshirts, hold exclusive lab-dipped colourways, offer crest embroidery to their school customers, and extend the line once the re-orders prove it.

What we need from you

A vector logo, a list of garment types with quantities per size, and either a brand guide with Pantone references or a physical swatch we can match to. If you have no established placement standard, we will propose one based on the garment and confirm it on the sample. Minimum order typically starts at 100 pcs per style; exact MOQ is quoted per project, and label minimums are confirmed in the quotation alongside the garments.

Label formats and per-employee packing are covered under labels and packaging.