T-Shirt & Apparel Manufacturer for Australian Brands

Two reasons stack up cleanly: world-class heavyweight cotton knits at lower cost, and a sea lane of only 3–4 weeks. A third gets oversold across this industry, so here it is with the caveat attached — Bangladeshi garments qualify for zero duty under Australia's LDC preferences, but claiming it needs an origin declaration we are not registered to issue, so budget the standard rate. For tee-and-fleece brands the first two are enough on their own.

First order: 4–8 weeks of development and production, then ~3 days (courier) to ~4 weeks (sea) in transit. Many clients air the launch quantity and put the rest on the water the same week.

Clearance is handled by you or your forwarder. Our unit price includes freight to your door, but Australian GST and any duty are settled by you at import — we do not offer DDP. We supply the commercial invoice, packing list, and certificate of origin your broker needs.

For a commercial consignment over A$1,000, effectively yes. Above that threshold the goods need a full import declaration, GST is assessed at the border rather than collected by the seller, and an ABN registered for GST is what lets you claim the input tax credit back rather than wearing the 10% as a cost. A broker is not legally compulsory but is worth the fee on a first entry — a misdeclared fibre content on an apparel line is the most common reason a container sits. Sample shipments under the threshold clear far more simply, which is part of why we suggest running the first round as samples.

It moves every deadline six months against the industry's default advice. Your winter fleece has to be in production while northern brands are cutting summer, and your summer tees while they are cutting outerwear — which is genuinely an advantage, because you are booking capacity in our quieter window rather than competing for it. The practical version: work backward from your on-shelf date by roughly 20–30 days of sea transit plus 12–15 days production plus 7–10 days sampling, and add a fortnight of slack for a first order. Our sourcing calendar computes these dates per hemisphere so you are not doing that arithmetic yourself.

For tees, combed ring-spun cotton at 240–280 GSM holds a boxy shape without the weight becoming uncomfortable, and garment-dyed or enzyme-washed finishes suit the worn-in look most Australian streetwear runs on. For anything with real sun exposure, tighter knit construction and darker or more saturated shades give meaningfully better UV protection than a loose light-coloured jersey — we can specify fabric to a UPF target and have the mill test to it, though the rating belongs to the tested fabric and we will not print a UPF claim on a garment we have not had tested. Fleece for southern winters runs 350–450 GSM brushed back.