Our FAQs

Our pricing plans are a monthly subscription. Get in touch to find out the rates and discuss which plan works for you.

You can sign up, get matched with a vetted manufacturer and receive initial costs completely free! Your subscription only starts when you start sampling.

An order is one live project with one manufacturer. It has one purchase order and one delivery date. A project cannot be split across more than one manufacturer, though it can contain an unlimited number of styles.

The subscription is a 6 month fixed term contract. You can decide to cancel or renew at 6 months.

If you do not wish to proceed after receiving costs, you can stop then without paying a thing. Remember – the subscription doesn’t start until you start requesting samples. We will also suggest ways to help you get inline with your target cost, such as choosing a different material or increasing your order quantity.

£10,000 is the minimum order value on first orders. Minumum order quantities vary depending on the manufacturer and supplier minimums.

These are services not included in our standard offering such as quality assurance, 3rd party testing and inspection, freight handling, and supply chain creative content

A cloud based software for design and production teams. On-demand vetted supply chains, design development and production management from design through to delivery – all from one platform.

A tech pack is a product specification and is central to effective product development and production management. We have reviewed thousands of different tech packs, and spoken to fashion and homeware businesses and manufacturers around the world to work out what the perfect tech pack would look like. We saw all too often the wrong programs or tools were being used – ones that are not suitable for building tech packs. Our tech packs are cloud based, providing a single source of truth, no outdated details on revisions and available for all to see and review, anytime, anywhere. Plus it’s intuitive and easy to use, so you can build tech packs in a matter of minutes.

No, you need to build tech packs in the platform. Try them out – we think you’ll like them 🙂

Please see our Privacy Policy.

It can take years to find the right partners, don’t worry, we’ve done this work for you so you get matched instantly. Once matched, you will need to input some deisgn details and approve intial cost estimate to start working together. Our goal is to match you with a partner with whom you can build a long term strategic relationship.

At SupplyCompass we don’t believe that price is the only factor for success. We want to make the perfect match between you and a manufacturer for a long-term relationship. So, we go far beyond just matching brands with whoever gives the cheapest initial quote. Supplycompass takes in multiple data points and then we make assessments to match you:

1. We identify the key values of your brand and the range of products you want to make for current and future collections

2. Sustainability goals and specific accreditation requirements

3. Geographic requirements and the proximity and supply chain strength between the right mills and potential manufacturers

4. The target price point and the quality of finish required

5. A factory’s strengths and in-house capacity and capabilities

6. Factory’s production quality rating for similar products

No. SupplyCompass doesn’t own any factories. Instead, we have spent years visiting factories around the world, handpicking the very best factories to be part of our network. We call these factories “manufacturing partners”.

We work with a variety of different manufacturers across fashion and homewares. See our manufacturer page for more details and to view our profiles.

The majority of our network is in India, and also Sri Lanka, Nepal, Portugal, China and Spain.

Unlike a directory that would have tens of thousands of factories, our network has only the very best handpicked factories. We have selected around 100 best in class manufacturers, mills and suppliers to be part of our network.

We are always adding to our manufacturer network. This expansion is happening across different countries and regions, driven by demand for innovation, expansion into new product categories, nearshoring and short lead times.

We do have some CMT (“Cut, Make, Trim”) partners in our network but we largely work with FPP (“Full Package Production”) manufacturers. Our clients generally use FPP rather than CMT because these fully factored manufacturers are tasked with producing the entirety of a product. This speeds up production, increases efficiency and provides assurances about responsibility.

Our team spent two years on the ground in India assessing hundreds of factories. Our partners have to pass a strict SupplyCompass selection criteria to get on our platform which includes the assessment of factory capabilities, certifications, AQL standards, code of conduct, and value alignment to name a few. See our manufacturers page to learn more.

Yes, we love businesses we work with to visit their manufacturers! We require enough time so we can plan the trip. You are able to visit the manufacturer any time after order placement.

We only work with highly certified factories that adhere to the highest social and environmental standards. Check out some of our manufacturer profiles to see what certifications they have and to learn more about them.

Supplycompass is committed to ethical and responsible business practices. To uphold these values, our Code of Conduct outlines required standards for labour, health and safety, the environment and business ethics. All our manufacturing partners who have signed-up to our Code of Conduct must declare that they either comply or surpass the requirements and agree to take responsibility for the execution of the code. The code covers substantial areas including labour rights, non-discrimination, occupational safety, environmental compliance, and intellectual property protection. Recognised management systems such as OHSAS 18001, ILO Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health, ISO 14001 and the Eco Management and Audit System (EMAS) were used as references in preparing the Code.

It really depends on how far along the design development process you are, how quickly the factory can source materials and components and the complexity of the collection. Lead times from order placement range from 8 – 16 weeks. First orders take longer.

No. Samples and courier charges relating to sampling are an additional cost.

Most of our manufacturers will source materials on your behalf. We also work direct with many mills so can offer additional materials sourcing support and advise when it comes to sustainable materials. Check out our Material Library to see what materials we work with.

If your project requires very specific fabrics or components, then we can accommodate. We can also present alternatives for comparison.

Every sample produced with SupplyCompass is quality checked by our team before being sent to you to ensure they match what was requested. If you are still not happy with the samples on receiving them then you must raise this with your project manager within 24h of receiving.

Sample lead times vary. Here is an indication of the average timelines:

• Samples in available materials: 2-3 weeks
• Swatches, lab dips, print strike offs: 2-3 weeks
• Samples in actual materials: 2-12 weeks [depending on material lead times]

Sampling is a time consuming and expensive process for manufacturers. So when factories offer “free samples”, they will incorporate these costs into the unit price. Plus, sampling is not without its environmental impact. At SupplyCompass, we believe that by paying for samples upfront can help make businesses more conscious of the number of samples they request.