How to find an OEM manufacturer, made simple: if you couldn't find a clothing manufacturer in English, try searching in the other country's language

Introduction: is your search for an OEM manufacturer stuck like this?

When you decide to make clothes under your own brand, the first question most people face is who will make them.

• “How do I find a factory that will make T-shirts and hoodies in small runs?”
• “A factory abroad might suit me better. But where do I even start?”
• “All the factories on directory sites look the same to me.”

We have seen how hard this “factory hunt” can be, many times. When you search, you mostly find a few large factories that publish in English, or the same directory sites again and again. There may be a factory that fits you, but you can't find it. This tool was born from that frustration.

What is OEM? And how is it different from ODM?

Before we start, let's agree on a few words.

• OEM (contract manufacturing) — another company's factory makes products for your brand. As a rule, you decide the design and specifications.
• ODM — the factory proposes and creates things for you, from the design to the patterns.
• Contract manufacturer — a factory that takes on OEM or ODM work. For clothing, it is also called a garment factory.

Whichever you are looking for, the first step is the same: collect a list of factories you could work with.

An example: Emma wants to launch her own clothing brand

Let's think it through with one example.

Emma wants to launch her own clothing brand with organic cotton T-shirts and hoodies. She wants to start small, with a few hundred pieces per design. She contacted several garment factories in her own country, but the minimum order quantity (MOQ) and the prices didn't work, so she decided to look at factories abroad too.

Searching in English…

First, Emma searched in English for “organic cotton t-shirt manufacturer small MOQ”. Most of what came up were large factories with English websites, and B2B directory sites. They weren't bad, but they all had similar terms, and she couldn't find one that would take a small order.

Local factories call themselves something else

In fact, many contract factories in each country publish their information in their own language, under a completely different name. For example:

• China — 代工厂・贴牌加工
• Vietnam — gia công
• Turkey — fason üretim
• Italy — conto terzi
• Portugal — terceirização de produção
• Mexico — maquila
• South Korea — 위탁생산

If you type “clothing manufacturer” in English, it is hard to reach factories whose own websites are written with words like these.

If you couldn't find a factory in English, maybe it wasn't because there were none. Maybe the words were different.

What Factdock's OEM & Manufacturing Sourcing can do

1. Just write in your everyday words. We search with the local names

It is simple to use. Emma only needs to type something like: “I'm looking for a garment factory that can make organic cotton T-shirts as OEM, in small runs of a few hundred pieces per design.”

We read what you want to make from your text. Then we search in the language of the country you chose, combining that country's name for contract manufacturing with words for “clothing” or “apparel”. You can also choose from 12 categories, such as apparel, food, cosmetics and industrial parts.

2. 88 countries and regions, one at a time, in the local language

You can search 88 countries and regions. For each country, such as China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Turkey, Portugal and Mexico, we have prepared the local names.

Emma could start with “Vietnam first”, then “China with the same conditions”, then “in Europe, let's also look at Portugal and Turkey”, changing the country to compare.

3. Results in your language, always with sources

The factories found are listed in your language. For each one, you see:

• What kind of manufacturing it handles (as written on the factory's public pages)
• Minimum order quantity (MOQ) — we show only the number written on the page, as it is. If there is none, the field stays empty
• A link to the original page (the source)

We never fill in missing numbers with guesses, and we never score factories. If a factory catches your eye, open the original page from the source link and check it with your own eyes. You can export the results as CSV or PDF, so they work directly as a contact list. The factory names and URLs in the screenshot are fictional examples.

One more check before you contact a factory

Once you have candidates, you will want to contact them right away. But if you are going to work with a factory abroad, it is reassuring to check one more thing first.

Check the company's background, also in Factdock

“Can I really trust this factory?” With a first overseas partner, everyone wonders. With Factdock's Corporate Intelligence, you can look into the factory as a company before you do business. Just enter the factory's company name and country.

• Does it really exist? — We check public registration and disclosure records in about 50 countries, in that country's language and in English. To avoid mixing it up with another company of the same name, you can compare the address and representative before the research starts.
• Any trouble? — We look from 5 angles, including lawsuits, sanctions lists, scandals and quality problems, and local reputation.
• A verdict at a glance — Results are organised into three grades, Safe, Caution and High, and every piece of information comes with a source link.
• What's inside the company — You can see the officers and shareholders, so you get a sense of who actually runs it.

Know a little about the other side before you send your first email to the factory. That alone makes your inquiry feel much safer.

What are the rules for importing those clothes?

When you make clothes abroad and import them, there are rules in each country besides customs duties, such as labelling of materials and country of origin. With Trade & Compliance, you can look up import and export regulations.

“Find a factory → check the company → check the rules.” You can do all three in Factdock, in your own language.

Who we made this for

People launching their own brand, and startups

The first step is finding a factory that will take small runs. You can collect candidates across countries that you would never meet on directory sites alone.

Apparel product planners and production managers

When you want one more option besides your current garment factory, or when you are researching new production countries.

Trading companies and importers

You can look for makers of new products in the local language. Because every result has a source, it should also be easy to explain inside your company.

Anyone who wants to search in a language other than English

Let's stop assuming that a factory search has to be done in English. You can write your request and read the results in your own language.

Before you use it

Factdock's OEM & Manufacturing Sourcing is a search tool that looks through published web information and lists factories that appear to offer contract manufacturing. Whether a factory is the right partner, and the terms of any contract, must always be confirmed directly with the factory.

We use AI to convert search keywords and to translate the results. Translations may contain errors, so please check important details on the original page. Each search has a flat price, and the amount is shown before the search starts. Plans start from $9 a month.

In closing

“I want to make clothes for my own brand, but I can't find a good factory.” Maybe the problem was how you were searching. When you search in the other country's language, factories you never saw before can suddenly appear.

Once you know what you want to make, why not start by searching in the other country's language with Factdock?

Factdock in 2 minutes 30 seconds

The video is in English. You can choose subtitles in your language from the player settings.

Frequently asked questions