Sweatshirt Manufacturer
Crewneck sweatshirts in French terry and brushed fleece from 50 pieces per style. No hood, no cord, no eyelets — which makes this the cheapest garment on the fleece floor and the easiest one to decorate well.
- 50
- Piece MOQ per style (knitwear)
- 240–500
- GSM French terry and brushed fleece
- 12–15
- Day production, up to 2,000 pcs
A crewneck sweatshirt is a hoodie with the complicated parts removed, and that turns out to matter commercially far more than it sounds. No hood, no drawcord, no eyelets and usually no pocket means fewer operations, lower cost, and an uninterrupted front panel that decorates better than anything else we make. It is the workhorse of uniform, corporate, school and merchandise programmes for exactly those reasons.
What removing the hood actually changes
A pullover hoodie is around a dozen panels once you count the hood, the pocket, the cuffs and the waistband, plus drawcord insertion and eyelet setting. Each of those is a separate operation, and cut-make-trim is priced by operations. A crewneck removes several of them at once.
The result is that a crewneck in the same fabric is consistently the cheapest garment on our fleece floor. If a programme has a price target it cannot hit as a hoodie, moving to a crewneck usually closes more of the gap than any negotiation will — and it does it without touching the fabric quality, which is where most cost-cutting does damage.
It also simplifies sizing. Without a hood there is no hood height and width to specify, no cord length, and no question about how the hood sits when down. There is less to get wrong on a first order, which is why we often suggest a crewneck as a first production run for a brand that has never made anything before.
The decoration advantage
A crewneck has the best front panel in fleece: a large, flat, uninterrupted area with no pocket edge and no hood strings crossing it. Print sits flat, embroidery hoops easily, and there is no seam or component to design around.
This is why crewnecks dominate uniform, school, corporate and event merchandise. A crested chest logo, a large back print, or a full front graphic all behave predictably, and the same artwork can be produced consistently across a size run without the placement drifting to accommodate a pocket.
It is also the friendliest fleece garment for embroidery. The pile and thickness still need cut-away backing and a water-soluble topping to stop stitches sinking into the nap, but without the pocket and cord to hoop around, more placements are available and more of them can be embroidered after assembly rather than requiring panel-stage work.
Weights, and where a crewneck sits differently from a hoodie
The full range is the same as our hoodie line: 240–280 GSM French terry, 320 GSM brushed fleece as the volume standard, 380–400 GSM heavy brushed fleece, and 450–500+ GSM super-heavy loopback for flagship pieces.
Where crewnecks differ is in which end of that range makes sense. A crewneck has no hood to add warmth or bulk, so lighter weights work far better than they do as a hoodie — a 240–280 GSM French terry crewneck is a genuinely good transitional garment and a strong layering piece, where the same weight as a hoodie can feel insubstantial.
At the other end, a 450 GSM crewneck is a striking garment precisely because the weight has nowhere to hide: with no hood drawing the eye, the boxy shape and the fabric are the entire product. It is a purer piece of design than a heavyweight hoodie, and it is the harder of the two to make well.
Raglan and set-in, and why crewnecks make you choose
On a hoodie the shoulder construction is partly hidden by the hood. On a crewneck it is the most visible structural line on the garment, so the choice is a real design decision rather than a technical footnote.
A set-in sleeve joins at a seam running around the armhole, giving a defined shoulder line that reads structured and more formal — the right answer for corporate and uniform programmes. A raglan runs in one piece from underarm to neckline with no shoulder seam, giving a softer, more athletic look, and it is the classic vintage sweatshirt construction.
Raglan also creates two large diagonal panels, which is excellent for colour-blocking and awkward for a large chest print that would have to cross a seam. If the sweatshirt is decoration-led, set-in is usually the safer choice; if it is a fabric-and-silhouette piece, raglan is often the better one.
Matched sets
Most crewneck programmes we run end up as sets, because the same fleece that makes a good sweatshirt makes a good jogger or sweat short. Running them together is genuinely more efficient than running them separately: one fabric, one dye lot, one inspection and one freight consignment.
The dye lot is the part worth planning deliberately. A sweatshirt and jogger cut from the same batch will match; the same two pieces ordered months apart will be close but not identical, because fabric is dyed in lots. If a set has to look like a set, order it as one.
Each style still carries its own 50-piece minimum — a sweatshirt and a jogger are two styles, not one. What a set buys you is efficiency and consistency, not a shared minimum, and we would rather be clear about that up front.
Services that support it
The capabilities behind this programme — or see everything we do in-house.
Other ways brands work with us
- Workwear & UniformsDurable uniforms and workwear for teams — corporate shirts and polos, hospitality and healthcare wear, hi-vis, aprons, and coveralls — branded and engineered for daily industrial washing.
- School Uniform ProgrammesUniform programmes for international schools buying direct from the factory — crested polos, sweatshirts, PE kit and house colours, graded across a full size run and timed to land before the intake, not during it.
- Capsule CollectionsBuild a three-piece drop — tee, hoodie, jogger — instead of one lonely style. Each style carries its own 50-piece minimum, and they develop, ship and get inspected as one order.
These are the closest fits to sweatshirt manufacturer. Compare all twenty manufacturing programmes if you are still deciding which one describes your order.
Sweatshirt Manufacturer — What We Produce
Examples from our production floor. Every piece is made to your specification — these show the fabrics, fits, and finishes available.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is your minimum order for custom sweatshirts?
50 pieces per style, rising to 100 in peak season — the same knitwear floor as the rest of our jersey and fleece range. Your size curve sits inside that: a 50-piece run split across S to XXL is one style, not five. Colours can usually be split within a single design, and we confirm the exact split when we quote.
Is a crewneck cheaper than a hoodie?
Consistently, yes, in the same fabric. A crewneck removes the hood, the drawcord, the eyelets and usually the pocket, and cut-make-trim is priced by operations. If a programme cannot hit its price target as a hoodie, switching to a crewneck normally closes more of the gap than negotiating would — without touching fabric quality.
What fabric weight should a sweatshirt be?
320 GSM brushed fleece is the default and the safest first choice. Go lighter to 240–280 GSM French terry for transitional and layering pieces, which work better as crewnecks than as hoodies because there is no hood adding warmth. Go to 380–450 GSM for premium pieces, where the weight and silhouette are the whole product.
Should I choose raglan or set-in sleeves?
Set-in gives a defined shoulder line that reads structured — better for corporate and uniform work, and better if a large chest print has to sit on an uninterrupted panel. Raglan has no shoulder seam, looks softer and more athletic, and is the classic vintage sweatshirt construction. On a crewneck this seam is highly visible, so it is worth deciding deliberately.
Can you produce matching sweatshirt and jogger sets?
Yes, and it is the most common way these programmes run. Ordering both together means one fabric, one dye lot, one inspection and one freight consignment — and the pieces will match, which two orders placed months apart will not, because fabric is dyed in lots. Each style still carries its own 50-piece minimum.
Do you make hooded sweatshirts as well as crewnecks?
Yes — a hooded sweatshirt is a hoodie, and it runs on the same fleece floor and the same 50-piece minimum. This page covers crewnecks because the absence of a hood changes the cost, the decoration and the sizing. If you want the hooded version, our low MOQ hoodie and heavyweight hoodie pages cover it in the same detail.
Related guides
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Read article →FabricsFrench Terry vs Fleece: Which Hoodie Fabric to Choose
They are the same knit until the last step. What happens in that step decides warmth, drape, pilling and how the garment looks after twenty washes — here is how to pick.
Read article →Product DevelopmentHoodie Anatomy: Every Part and What to Specify
You cannot specify what you cannot name. A plain-language tour of every component on a hoodie, what each one does, and the detail that separates a well-made garment from a cheap one.
Read article →SourcingBlank Hoodies vs Custom Manufacturing
Printing on blanks is the right way to start almost every hoodie brand. It is also the thing that caps you. Here is what each route actually gives you, and the point at which the maths changes.
Read article →Specifications at a glance
| Specification | What we commit to |
|---|---|
| Minimum order | From 50 pieces per style for knitwear, rising to 100 in peak season — woven from 300 pieces per style, 25 pieces per colour for garment dyeing |
| Lead time | 25–35 days from order to shipment — 12–15 days on the line for orders up to 2,000 pcs |
| Sampling | USD 60 blank / USD 85 branded, + USD 45 shipping — credited against bulk |
| Payment terms | 50% before production, 50% before shipment |
| Decoration | Screen printing in-house; embroidery via partner factory |
| Certification | BSCI certified facility |
| Shipping | Door-to-door delivery, freight included in unit price |
Ready to talk it through?
Send a tech pack, a sketch, or just a reference photo and we'll come back with itemised pricing within 24 hours. Minimum order is from 50 pieces per style.
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Get an itemized, factory-direct quote within 24 hours — fabric options, decoration costs, timelines, and shipping, all priced out.
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