Knit Fabric Wholesale: Buying Direct From the Mill

Buying knit fabric wholesale direct from the mill changes three numbers that matter to a brand: the price per kilogram or meter, the minimum you must commit to, and the control you have over what arrives. Direct programs trade convenience for structure, so the buyers who win with direct sourcing are the ones who bring specifications instead of swatch photos, and who understand where knit pricing actually moves.

Fursone runs direct wholesale programs on knit and woven lines from Wenzhou, where 300 looms have run since 2020, alongside a ready stock base of roughly 100,000 meters for buyers who are not ready for custom minimums. This article covers how direct knit wholesale is priced, what to put in an RFQ, and when the stock program beats the custom program.

How knit wholesale pricing actually moves

buying boucle direct from the mill

Knit fabric is priced from four inputs, in order of impact: fibre cost, weight per square meter, construction complexity and finishing. Fibre is the biggest lever, because a wool-rich blend and an acrylic equivalent can differ several times over at the yarn stage. Weight scales almost linearly within a construction: more kilograms of yarn per meter of cloth, more cost. Construction complexity covers jacquards, cables and double-faces that run slower on the machines. Finishing adds washing, brushing, anti-pilling or heat setting, and each treatment has a price and a lead time consequence. When a quote looks out of line, one of these four is the reason, so ask which one changed.

The RFQ lines that get an accurate quote

Direct mills quote from specifications, so the RFQ should carry five lines: fibre percentages, target weight in GSM with tolerance, construction reference or photo, finishing recipe and the quantity per colourway. A spec-accurate RFQ gets a costed answer in days; a swatch photo gets a guess that gets revised after sampling. Quantity structure matters too: our custom loom programs start at 300 meters per colourway because the machines must be set and the yarns programmed, and the price per meter improves stepwise as volume climbs. Buyers planning the full cost picture, including freight and duty, can work through our fabric cost and logistics guides alongside the quote.

When the stock program beats going custom

Custom wins on margin once volumes justify minimums, but stock wins on speed and risk. From a 1,000,000-meter ready base, buyers order by the meter, test on real garments and reorder the winners; sampling and dispatch take about 7 days from stock, while custom cycles add production lead time on top. The honest sequence for a new brand is often stock first, custom second: prove sell-through on stock qualities, then move the repeat winners into custom programs where colourways and blends are locked to the brand. Our knit side is mapped on the performance knit program page, and the minimums question is broken down further in our knit MOQ guide, with the sampling steps covered in how to source custom knits.

Video: from fabric to garment on the wholesale line

Import paperwork basics for direct orders

Direct wholesale usually means the buyer imports, so the paperwork belongs in the plan: fibre composition certificates for customs, HS classification per quality and a packing list that separates qualities and colours per carton. Classification follows construction and composition, and buyers can verify headings against the official Harmonized Tariff Schedule before the commercial invoice is cut. Mills that ship direct provide the composition documents; the buyer’s broker does the rest.

Frequently asked questions

See also our single jersey vs interlock guide. See also our tweed mill lead time guide.