Factory vs Trading Company vs Marketplace: Where to Make Custom Sportswear
- Est. 2005 · Sialkot, Pakistan
- MOQ 20–25 pcs per design · no limit for brands
- Free 24h digital mockup
- Sample 5–7 days, credited on bulk
- Bulk 15–25 business days · express 7–12
- DHL/FedEx/UPS 5–10 days
- 🛡️ Free remake within 3 days
Three routes to the same garment
A factory makes the garment. A trading company buys it from a factory and sells it on. A marketplace is a directory where either can list, so there you meet one of the other two without being told which. Six things change between routes, set out below without figures.
| Factor | Direct factory | Trading company | Marketplace listing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Control of the spec | You approve mockup, fabric, GSM and sample with the people who sew it | The trader re-briefs the factory; details can shift | Depends on who is behind the listing |
| MOQ | Set by cutting and print-run economics, per design | Often flexible; several buyers' orders can be pooled | One piece to thousands; the listed figure is a starting point |
| Communication | Direct with the production office | Technical questions are relayed | Platform messaging until you move off it |
| Transparency | Video tour of the floor making your order | Arranged tour of a partner factory | Seller-supplied photos and badges |
| Guarantees | The maker's own written terms | The trader's terms, backed by its factory | Platform dispute process plus seller's terms |
| Price formation | Fabric, decoration, labour, packing, freight | Factory price plus trader margin and services | Seller's price plus platform fees, sometimes a hidden trader margin too |
ZipaSports publishes this guide from its own factory in Sialkot, Pakistan, and wrote the table to be fair to all three.
Route 1: the direct factory
A direct factory owns or controls the cutting, sewing, decoration and packing of your garments on its own premises. The person who answers your brief is answerable to the production floor, and the mockup, fabric choice, sample and bulk run are handled by one organisation from start to finish. Nothing is lost between the person who understood the order and the person who makes it, which is the whole advantage.
The limits are real. A factory is organised around its own equipment, so it is strongest in the categories it actually runs; a sublimation and cut-and-sew factory makes jerseys, leggings, hoodies and gis well and is the wrong place for moulded boots. A factory also has a genuine minimum, because fabric is cut in lays and sublimation paper is printed in passes, so set-up has to be spread across enough pieces. An honest factory states that minimum once and holds to it.
ZipaSports has run as a direct factory in Sialkot since 2005, with sublimation, screen printing, embroidery, DTF, puff print and heat transfer in-house, and sets its minimum at 20–25 pieces per design, lower on request, with no MOQ limit for sportswear brands. How an order moves through the floor is described in the manufacturing process.
Route 2: the trading company or sourcing agent
A trading company holds no machines. It takes your order, places it with one or more factories it knows, manages the follow-up and ships the goods under its own invoice. A sourcing agent does the same on commission rather than resale. Both earn their margin by knowing which factory suits which product and by handling the conversation for you.
That is worth paying for in some situations. If you need six unrelated product types from six specialist factories, a trader consolidates them into one shipment. If you have no time to manage a supplier in another time zone, a trader in your own country does it for you. If your quantities are below any factory's minimum, a trader can sometimes pool your pieces with another buyer's run.
The cost is distance from the spec. Your fabric question is relayed, answered by someone you never meet, and relayed back, and any change in the relay is your problem at delivery. You are also unlikely to be told which factory made the goods, so a reorder can arrive from a different floor with a different shade. Many traders are competent and honest; the point is to know that you are talking to one. ZipaSports works with distributors and agents who declare themselves as such, on the terms described at for distributors.
Route 3: the marketplace listing
A B2B marketplace lists thousands of suppliers behind a search box, and the listing badges (verified, top-rated, years on platform) describe the seller's account, not its factory. Behind any listing there is a factory, a trader, or an individual who forwards enquiries to either. The platform gives you messaging, sometimes escrow-style payment protection and a dispute process; it does not give you a floor to look at.
Marketplaces are useful for discovery. You can find that Sialkot makes sublimated teamwear, that other countries specialise in other garment types, and that a particular garment exists at all. They are weaker for execution, because the listing that looks cheapest is often a trader quoting a factory price it has not yet secured, and because the specification on the listing (fabric, GSM, stitch type) is frequently copied from another listing.
Treat a marketplace as a way to meet suppliers, then apply the factory-or-trader test to each one before you order. The full test is in how to choose a sportswear manufacturer. ZipaSports does not sell through marketplaces; buyers reach the production office in Sialkot directly by WhatsApp or email, and the reply comes from the people who will make the order.
How to tell which one you are talking to
Nobody will tell you they are a trader if you do not ask, and some will say factory when they mean partner factory. Seven signals separate the routes within one conversation, and none of them needs a visit.
| Signal | Direct factory | Trading company | Marketplace listing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live video call from the floor | Now, on request | Arranged for later, at a partner site | Rarely offered; photos instead |
| Fabric and GSM question | Answered from memory, per garment | Answered after checking | Answered with the listing's text |
| Address | Industrial unit or estate | Office, often in your own country or a city centre | Whatever the profile says |
| Product range | Deep in a few categories | Anything you ask for | Anything, with identical photos to other listings |
| MOQ | One figure per design, repeated everywhere | Negotiable, order by order | A headline figure that changes on enquiry |
| Sample | Made on the same line as bulk | Sourced from the partner factory | Sometimes a stock garment, not your design |
| Who signs the guarantee | The maker | The trader | The seller, within platform rules |
Two of the signals settle most cases: ask for the live call and ask the GSM question. A factory in Sialkot, Pakistan such as ZipaSports can answer both inside the same message.
When each route makes sense
The right route follows from what you are ordering and how much of the process you want to own. A direct factory suits buyers whose garments sit inside one category family and who want the spec, the sample and the guarantee to come from the same people. A trader suits buyers who need consolidation or who cannot manage an overseas supplier. A marketplace suits the first stage of any search.
| Your situation | Route that fits | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Club or academy ordering kit for one or more squads | Direct factory | One design family, names and numbers, reorders that must match |
| Startup brand launching a first collection | Direct factory | Own labels, GSM control, 20–25 pieces per design at ZipaSports |
| Distributor or kit supplier reselling to many clubs | Direct factory, or trader for mixed categories | Consistency across reorders; consolidation if products span unrelated factories |
| Corporate buyer needing apparel plus unrelated promotional items | Trading company | One invoice across several specialist suppliers |
| Buyer who has not yet chosen a country or product | Marketplace, then verify | Discovery first, then the factory-or-trader test |
Persona guidance for each of the first three rows is at for clubs, for startups and for distributors.
How the unit price is formed on each route
No figures here, because they depend on fabric, quantity and decoration, but the structure of the price is the same on every order and it is worth seeing where each route adds to it.
At a factory the unit price is built from five things: fabric (composition and GSM), decoration (sublimation, embroidery, screen print or DTF, and how much of the garment it covers), labour (cutting, sewing, finishing, in-line and final QC), packing (labels, tags, polybags, boxes) and freight to your door. Quantity changes the labour and set-up share per piece, which is why the same jersey costs less per unit at 100 pieces than at 25.
A trading company starts from that factory price and adds its margin, its handling and sometimes its own inspection and consolidation. A marketplace seller adds platform fees on top of whichever of the first two it is, and if the seller is a trader the buyer pays two margins without seeing either.
None of this makes a trader wrong; it makes the direct-factory price the floor from which the others are built. ZipaSports quotes each order from its own five components within 24 hours of a free mockup, and payment terms are confirmed with the quotation rather than published. What drives the numbers is explained in how much a custom jersey costs.
How a direct factory like ZipaSports works
Ordering direct from ZipaSports in Sialkot, Pakistan follows the same sequence for a Sunday-league club, a startup brand or a distributor; only the quantities and the labels change.
- Send a brief: garment type, quantity per design with sizes, logo or idea, colours or Pantone references, destination country and deadline.
- Receive a free digital mockup within 24 hours from the in-house design studio, with unlimited revisions before approval.
- Order a physical sample, 5–7 days, charged at sample cost and adjusted against the bulk order; it becomes the reference standard for the run.
- Approve the sample and size spec. Bulk production runs 15–25 business days from approval, or 7–12 days on express at additional cost.
- Pieces pass in-line and final QC, measurement checks against the approved spec and, for sublimation, wash- and colour-fastness checks; pre-shipment photos on request.
- Goods ship by DHL, FedEx or UPS in 5–10 days to the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Europe, or by sea in 3–6 weeks for bulk, with commercial invoice, packing list and certificate of origin.
Quality Guarantee: if any garment arrives with a manufacturing defect, we remake it free of charge — the remake goes into production within 3 days of your report. Terms are on the quality guarantee page; the full order sequence is on how it works.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a trading company the same as a manufacturer?
A trading company is not a manufacturer: a manufacturer owns the cutting, sewing and decoration that make the garment, while a trading company buys that capacity from a factory and resells it under its own invoice. Both can deliver a good order, but only the manufacturer controls the spec directly, and only the manufacturer's guarantee is signed by the people who made the pieces.
How can I tell if a marketplace supplier is a factory or a trader?
Ask for a live video call from the sewing floor now, and ask which fabric and GSM they would use for your garment. A factory does both in the same conversation. A trader arranges the call for later at a partner site and checks the GSM before replying. Platform badges describe the account, not the factory.
Is it cheaper to buy custom sportswear directly from a factory?
Buying direct from a factory is usually cheaper, because the factory price is the floor from which a trader's margin and a marketplace's fees are added. The saving is not guaranteed on every order; a trader pooling several buyers can sometimes beat a factory's minimum-run price. Direct also gives you the spec, sample and guarantee from one source.
Why do trading companies sometimes offer lower minimums than factories?
Trading companies can offer lower minimums because they combine several buyers' pieces into one factory run, or buy from stock, so the set-up cost is spread across orders you never see. The trade-off is that your pieces are made alongside someone else's, on a floor you cannot name, which affects reorder consistency. ZipaSports' own minimum is 20–25 pieces per design.
Can I video-call the factory before ordering?
A direct factory can normally show you its floor on a live video call before you order, and you should insist on it. ZipaSports gives live video tours of its cutting, sublimation, embroidery and sewing lines in Sialkot on request, and pre-shipment photos of your order before it leaves. A trader can usually arrange a tour of a partner factory, which is useful but not the same.
Who is responsible if the order arrives faulty on each route?
Responsibility for a faulty order sits with whoever you bought from: the factory on the direct route, the trader on the trading route, and the seller within the platform's rules on a marketplace. ZipaSports remakes defective pieces free of charge, with the remake in production within 3 days of your report. Get the guarantee in writing before paying on any route.
Does ZipaSports work with sourcing agents and trading companies?
ZipaSports works with sourcing agents and trading companies as declared trade buyers. Distributors, kit suppliers, sourcing agents and teamwear resellers order on the same terms, with approved specs and patterns kept on record so reorders match. The relationship is disclosed rather than hidden.
Do I need a tech pack to work directly with a factory?
A tech pack is not required to work directly with a factory. A logo, a reference photo and a sentence about the garment are enough for ZipaSports' design studio to produce a free digital mockup within 24 hours, and the mockup and the approved sample then become the specification. ZipaSports also publishes a tech pack guide on this site.
Which route suits a small club ordering one squad's kit?
A direct factory suits a small club ordering one squad's kit, because a single squad usually reaches the 20–25 pieces per design that a factory needs, and because names, numbers, sponsors and the crest are printed into sublimated kit at the same time. The club deals with the people who will make the shirts and can reorder to the same approved file next season.
What is the minimum order when I go direct to ZipaSports?
MOQ 20–25 pieces per design, lower on request for sample runs and small teams, and no MOQ limit for sportswear brands and companies. Mixed sizes are allowed within one design. The figure is the same on every page of this site and on the quotation, which is how a stated minimum should behave.