Short answer: create the brand first — name, legal entity, trademark plan, assortment and how you will label the goods — then hand a written tech pack to a China OEM. The factory can sample, source, cut, sew and pack; it cannot invent a brand for you. This page is the brand-setup plus OEM-handoff sequence, not a manufacturer directory and not a walk-through of factory floor stages.
For the production stages themselves (BOM, sampling ladder, cut-and-sew or knit-cut-sew, approval gates), see how clothing manufacturing works with an OEM supplier. For how to verify a custom factory, see how to find custom clothing manufacturers in China. A founder-facing plan (unit economics, channels, cash) is covered in how to create a clothing line business plan; private-label mode is covered in how to start a private label clothing brand. Nearby “create a brand with China OEM” titles on this site overlap and are flagged rather than merged.
Brand setup before you brief an OEM
- Identity and customer: who the brand is for, what you will not make in season one, and which product family you are actually asking a factory to sew (tees are not jeans; underwear is not outerwear).
- Legal entity and sales path: who will import, invoice and stand behind returns. The OEM is a supplier, not your company.
- Name and trademark: search and, if you will sell in the U.S., consider filing with the USPTO before you print the name on labels. See the USPTO’s trademark basics. A factory cannot register your mark for you as a substitute for that work.
- Assortment and cost band: styles, colours and sizes you can fund at MOQ, plus a target landed-cost band (FOB or another Incoterms® 2020 rule, plus freight and duty).
- Label plan: fibre content, identity, care and country of origin — decide this before sampling so hangtags and sewn-in labels are not an afterthought. See custom clothing labels and hangtags.
OEM handoff: tech pack, sampling and labels
Once the brand decisions above are written down, the OEM needs artefacts, not a mood board alone:
- Tech pack: points of measure, construction, stitches, fabric and trim bills, artwork placements and packing. For a basic tee starting point see what a basic tee tech pack must include and custom apparel design artefacts.
- Sampling ladder: proto or fit → corrected fit or size set → pre-production (PP) in bulk fabric and trims → written sealed approval before cutting. Fees and revision rounds should be quoted, not assumed — see sample development services and sealed sample approval record.
- Fibre and care labels (U.S.): 16 CFR Part 303 (Textile Fiber Products Identification Act rules) and 16 CFR Part 423 (care labeling). FTC guidance in “Threading Your Way Through the Labeling Requirements” and “Clothes Captioning” explains the practical requirements. The label must be truthful about fibre and care; a marketing story is not a substitute.
- RN numbers: an RN (Registered Identification Number) is a U.S. FTC identifier that a business marketing textile products in the U.S. may use instead of its name. A China OEM typically will not have — and does not need — its own RN. The U.S. brand or importer usually appears on the label by name or RN. See the FTC RN database and RN FAQ.
- Country of origin: imported apparel into the U.S. must be marked in line with CBP rules and 16 CFR 303.33 (where the product was processed or manufactured).
IP: what you can protect, and what you should not assume
- Trademark (recommendation + official path): brand names and logos are the usual protectable identifiers. The USPTO explains how U.S. trademark applications work; this is not legal advice.
- Useful articles (fact): clothing is generally a useful article. The U.S. Copyright Office explains that useful articles have limited copyright protection; pictorial, graphic or sculptural features may be protectable if they are separable, a distinction discussed in Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc. Do not assume a jean silhouette or a basic tee block is protected as a copyrighted “design” just because you drew it.
- Design patents: some ornamental designs can be pursued as design patents through the USPTO; that is a separate path from copyright and from trademark, and it is not automatic.
- Commercial practice (recommendation): use a written NDA and a clause on who owns patterns, markers and graded nests before you send a complete tech pack. An NDA is a contract tool, not a substitute for trademark filing, and it does not create copyright in a useful article.
This page does not tell you that “registering in China” or watermarking a file is enough to stop copying. Treat IP as a set of named tools (trademark, contract, limited copyright, possible design patent), each with its own scope.
First production calendar
Work backward from the first customer ship date: tech-pack freeze → sampling ladder → fabric → bulk cut/sew → inspection → ship. Map weeks explicitly (see where production weeks actually go) and put the cash for deposit, balance, samples and freight in the same calendar (see clothing manufacturing MOQ explained). OEM vs ODM vs private label changes who designs the base style — confirm the mode in OEM vs ODM clothing manufacturing and what private label apparel is.
Decision rule
You are ready to brief a China OEM when you can hand over a name you are prepared to put on a label, a funded assortment, a tech pack, a sampling budget and a label/IP plan. If those are missing, you are shopping for a factory before you have a brand. Use the OEM process page for production stages, and the finding/verification page to shortlist partners.
Where Knitwear Base fits
Knitwear Base is a China knitwear manufacturer (tees, hoodies, underwear, loungewear). We manufacture knit programs from a tech pack with written MOQ, lead time and sampling; we do not register your trademark or write your brand plan. Start from the contact page or private label.
Sources and further reading
- USPTO, Trademark basics
- U.S. Copyright Office, Useful Articles
- Supreme Court of the United States, Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc., 580 U.S. 405 (2017)
- USPTO, Design patent application guide
- eCFR, 16 CFR Part 303, Rules under the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act
- eCFR, 16 CFR Part 423, Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel
- FTC, Threading Your Way Through the Labeling Requirements Under the Textile and Wool Acts
- FTC, Clothes Captioning: Complying with the Care Labeling Rule
- FTC, Registered Identification Number (RN) database
- FTC, Registered Identification Number: Frequently Asked Questions
- eCFR, 16 CFR 303.33, Country where textile fiber products are processed or manufactured
- CBP, Marking of Country of Origin on U.S. Imports
- ICC, Incoterms® 2020 rules
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
Rules and standards are summarised from their official pages for general guidance; this is not legal advice. Check the current version and the requirements of your own market before you rely on them.
