Booking Linen Production Capacity Before Chinese New Year 2027
Production Planning Guide
Booking Linen Production Capacity Before Chinese New Year 2027
Chinese New Year 2027 falls on 6 February. For a linen apparel programme, the holiday itself is not the main risk. The risk is the eight-week window around it, when fabric mills, dyehouses, trim suppliers, sample rooms, sewing lines and freight forwarders all compress their work into a shorter calendar and then stop at different times. A factory that closes for two weeks can still add four to six weeks to your effective lead time if the fabric was not booked, the sample was not approved, or the line slot was never reserved.
This guide is an execution plan, not a general explanation of lead times. It sets out the 2027 cut-off timetable, the difference between booking capacity and placing an order, what can still be inserted after the cut-off, and how to protect a Q1 2027 launch that cannot slip. The numbers used here are the factory standards Linenwind works to: MOQ 60 pieces per style and colour, sampling in 7-12 days, bulk production in 25-35 days, and 35-60 days for a first order end to end.
If you already have a tech pack and a target delivery date, the practical answer is simple: decide the styles and colours by the end of October, book fabric and trims in November, and convert capacity to a firm purchase order in the first week of December. If you are still developing, the plan changes: you are no longer buying pre-holiday production, you are buying a priority slot after the restart. Both are workable, but they are different purchases. For the underlying mechanics of sampling, bulk and shipping, see our guide to linen clothing lead times.
[IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER alt="Wide shot of a linen garment factory planning board in early winter, with a Chinese New Year countdown calendar, colour-coded production tickets for cutting, sewing and finishing, fabric rolls stacked behind, and a merchandiser marking a cut-off date with a red pen"]Why Chinese New Year 2027 Is a Capacity Event, Not a Holiday
Three things make the 2027 holiday more demanding than a normal year-end. First, the date is early. Chinese New Year moves with the lunar calendar, and 6 February sits at the front of the usual range, which compresses January instead of giving factories a long post-Christmas run. Second, the labour market moves before the official holiday. Many migrant workers in Guangdong leave one to two weeks before the factory closes and return gradually after the Lantern Festival, which falls on 20 February 2027. The official holiday is a date range; the effective labour availability is a longer curve.
Third, the upstream chain closes on a different schedule from the garment factory. Fabric mills and dyehouses often stop earlier because they need time to finish large dye lots and cool down equipment. Trim suppliers, embroidery units, print shops and packaging printers frequently run with smaller teams in the last ten days. A sewing line that is technically open in the first week of February may be waiting for buttons, labels or a late dye lot. That is why a buyer who plans only around the sewing factory's closure date usually loses another two weeks somewhere else in the chain.
The commercial consequence is that capacity in November and December is not unlimited, and it is not allocated on a first-come, first-served basis in the simple sense. Factories allocate lines to customers who have firm fabric, approved samples and a deposit. A purchase order without fabric allocation is a place in a queue, not a production slot. The earlier you convert intent into a named slot, the less you pay in expediting, air freight and margin erosion later.
There is also a retail calendar collision. European and North American spring floorsets usually land between late January and mid-March. If your linen programme is part of that set, the goods need to leave China in December or early January, not after the holiday. A March delivery sounds comfortable until you subtract 30-35 days of ocean transit, port dwell and inland delivery. Working backwards is the only reliable method.
The 2027 Cut-Off Timetable
The table below is the working calendar we recommend for programmes that must ship before the holiday. It is built around a 15 January ex-factory target, which leaves room for ocean transit and a buffer before a March floorset. Dates are planning cut-offs, not a substitute for the written schedule your factory issues in November. Confirm every date in writing, because individual mills, dyehouses and forwarders set their own last-accepted dates.
| Window | What happens | Buyer action | Output required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Now to 31 October 2026 | Development, fabric selection and sample approval for pre-holiday production | Lock the style, colour and fabric shortlist; request swatches and lab dips; confirm MOQ and target FOB | Approved or near-approved sample; fabric quality chosen |
| 1-13 November 2026 | Fabric and trim booking; dye-lot reservation; packaging specification | Place fabric and trim orders against the forecast; approve bulk fabric and trims | Fabric allocation confirmed; trim PO issued |
| 14-27 November 2026 | Pre-production samples, size sets and final comments | Consolidate fit comments into one round; approve PP sample; confirm labels and packing | Signed PP sample; final colour and trim approval |
| 28 November-11 December 2026 | Bulk purchase order, deposit and line-slot confirmation | Convert the forecast into a firm PO; pay deposit; get the line slot and weekly output plan in writing | Firm PO; deposit received; named production slot |
| 12 December 2026-15 January 2027 | Cutting, sewing, finishing, inline and final inspection | Approve weekly WIP reports; book inspection; prepare shipping documents | Goods packed and inspected; ex-factory date met |
| 16 January-4 February 2027 | Logistics peak; port cut-offs; pre-holiday cargo surge | Book ocean freight early; confirm container pick-up; avoid last-minute document changes | Container loaded; documents issued |
| 5-21 February 2027 | Holiday closure and slow restart (dates vary by factory) | Do not plan new development, approvals or inspections in this window | Post-holiday schedule confirmed |
| 22 February-8 March 2027 | Labour ramp-up; backlog clearing; post-holiday production | Confirm restart date and first-week output; prioritise repeat styles | Revised delivery schedule for post-CNY orders |
The 15 January ex-factory target is an example. If your retail date is later, move the whole chain, not only the shipping booking. For a broader view of how each production stage consumes calendar time, see the clothing production timeline.
What Actually Stops During the Holiday, and What Does Not
Buyers often assume that the only closed operation is the sewing floor. In practice, the supply chain stops in layers. Understanding those layers is what separates a realistic schedule from an optimistic one.
| Function | Typical status around the holiday | Practical consequence for buyers |
|---|---|---|
| Sewing and finishing lines | Stop for the holiday period; output falls before the closure and ramps slowly after | Bulk production must be completed before the stop or scheduled after the restart |
| Sample room | Usually stops earlier than bulk because pattern makers and technicians travel first | New fits, revisions and PP samples are effectively frozen from mid-December |
| Fabric mills | Close earlier than garment factories; reopen later because of maintenance and labour return | Fabric booked in January arrives after the holiday, not during it |
| Dyehouses | Longer closure; dye-lot scheduling tightens in December | New colours and late lab dips are the most common cause of missed ex-factory dates |
| Trims, labels and packaging | Smaller teams, reduced dispatch, often closed for the full period | A missing care label can hold a finished order for two weeks |
| Printing and embroidery | Often subcontracted, with independent closure dates | Decorative processes need their own cut-off, earlier than sewing |
| QC and inspection | Skeleton staff; third-party inspection slots fill up | Book final inspection before the production end date, not after |
| Ports and forwarders | Ports operate, but bookings, trucking and documentation slow down | Pre-holiday cargo surge and blank sailings can roll a container into the next month |
The lesson is to plan the whole chain, not the factory gate. A garment that is 95% complete when the sample room closes is not 95% delivered. It is a garment waiting for one operation that nobody can perform until the restart.
The effective lead time in December is not the standard 25-35 days of bulk production. It is the standard production time plus the queue in front of you, plus the closure, plus the restart curve. Capacity booking is how you remove the queue from that equation.
Build Your Timetable Backwards from the Retail Date
Start with the date the goods must be on the shelf, not the date you would like to order. Subtract inland delivery, port dwell, ocean transit, ex-factory to port, inspection and packing, bulk production, pre-production sampling and fabric booking. What remains is the latest date for a firm purchase order. The formula is simple, but the buffer is where most plans fail.
- Retail or warehouse receipt date.
- Minus inland delivery and distribution centre appointment, typically 3-10 days depending on the market.
- Minus port dwell and customs clearance, typically 5-10 days for ocean freight.
- Minus ocean transit, which varies by lane and should be taken from your forwarder's current schedule, not a generic table.
- Minus ex-factory to port and container loading, typically 2-5 days.
- Minus final inspection and packing, typically 2-4 days.
- Minus bulk production, 25-35 days for linen garments after fabric is available.
- Minus PP sample and approval, typically 7-14 days including shipping the sample.
- Minus fabric and trim booking, typically 10-20 days for stock qualities and longer for dyed-to-order.
A worked example makes the compression visible. Suppose a European retailer needs goods in its warehouse by 15 March 2027. Allow 7 days for inland delivery and DC booking, 7 days for port and clearance, 32 days of ocean transit, 3 days to port, 3 days for inspection and packing, 30 days of bulk production, 10 days for PP approval and 14 days for fabric booking. The latest firm PO date is around 15 December 2026, and the fabric decision has to be made in late November. If any one of those stages slips by a week, the retail date is at risk unless a faster shipping mode is used.
- Add five working days of buffer before the ex-factory date for finishing and inspection, not after it.
- Add one full week of buffer before the retail date for port dwell and inland delivery.
- Treat any custom colour, custom weave or new trim as a separate lead time, not as part of the garment lead time.
- Confirm every date with the party that controls it: the mill controls the fabric lot, the dyehouse controls the colour, the factory controls the line, and the forwarder controls the sailing.
| Shipping approach | Planning transit | Best use | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean FCL | Typically 4-6 weeks door to door depending on lane | Full programmes, repeat orders, cost-sensitive volume | Longest planning horizon; needs an early PO and early booking |
| Ocean LCL | Typically 5-7 weeks door to door | Smaller capsules and mixed SKU orders | Consolidation adds dwell time and handling risk |
| Air freight | Typically 5-10 days door to door | Top-up quantities, launch samples, a shortfall on a hero style | Usually several times the cost per kilogram of ocean freight |
| Rail or sea-air | Typically 3-5 weeks depending on routing | Inland European destinations where the lane fits | Limited capacity and less predictable than direct ocean |
Transit ranges are planning figures, not quotations. Lane, season, carrier and port congestion change the real number. Ask your forwarder for a dated schedule before you fix the retail date.
Fabric Is the Real Bottleneck
Linenwind keeps more than 50 fabric qualities in stock across the 100-260 gsm band, which removes the weave minimum for many programmes. Stock availability is not the same as unlimited availability. A stock quality in a natural or piece-dyed colour can be cut quickly; a custom colour, a special width, a yarn-dyed stripe or a new finish needs a dye lot and a production slot. In December, the difference between those two routes is often two to four weeks.
The fabric decision has three layers. The quality is the weave, weight and composition. The colour is the dye route and the lab dip. The lot is the actual batch of fabric reserved for your order. Buyers routinely approve the first two and leave the third until production starts, which is how two styles in the same colour end up with a visible shade difference. If the styles will be merchandised together, reserve the same dye lot for both, even if it means producing them in one block.
Shrinkage belongs in the same conversation. Untreated linen typically moves 3-7% on the first wash. A garment-washed or pre-shrunk finish can reduce that, but the finish itself consumes time and capacity. If your fit depends on a specific shrinkage result, test the actual bulk fabric, not a previous season's quality. Our explanation of linen fabric testing covers the tests to request before the fabric is cut.
| Fabric route | Main lead-time driver | Recommended booking point | Risk if left late |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock quality, stock colour | Warehouse picking and cutting approval | By 13 November 2026 | Low, but the colour can sell out across multiple buyers |
| Stock quality, custom piece-dye | Lab dip, dye-lot scheduling, finishing | By 6 November 2026 | Medium to high; December dyehouse queues are the bottleneck |
| Custom weave or yarn-dyed stripe | Weaving slot, minimum run, sampling | By 31 October 2026 | High; a missed weave slot moves the order past the holiday |
| Special finish or wash | Finishing line capacity and testing | By 13 November 2026 | Medium; the finish may be available but the line slot is not |
| Repeat colour from a previous order | Dye-lot continuity and fabric reservation | By 20 November 2026 | Low if the mill held the recipe; high if the lot was sold |
A fabric order is not a reservation until a lot number and a delivery date are attached. Ask for both, and check that the lot is allocated to your order rather than to a general stock position.
Capacity Locks: How to Reserve a Line Without Overcommitting
Capacity is measured in sewing minutes, not in pieces. A factory can hold a line for a customer, but only if it knows the style, the operation count, the fabric arrival date and the ship window. That is why a vague forecast does not reserve anything. A capacity lock is a short agreement that converts a forecast into a named slot, with a deadline for turning it into a firm order.
The structure that works for both sides has five parts. First, a rolling forecast by style, colour and month, updated every two weeks. Second, a reservation deposit or option fee that is credited against the bulk order if the forecast converts. Third, a conversion deadline: the date by which the PO, deposit and approved PP sample must be in place, after which the slot is released. Fourth, a named line allocation and a weekly output plan, so the buyer can see what the factory has actually reserved. Fifth, a substitution rule for colour or style changes, so that a late change does not silently consume another customer's capacity.
For a small brand, the minimum commitment is usually expressed in pieces rather than line time. At 60 pieces per style and colour, a four-style capsule is 240 pieces before any size grading or repeat colour. That is a manageable lock if the styles share a fabric quality and a colour story, because the factory can cut them in one block. It becomes expensive if every style needs a different quality, a different trim and a different dye lot. Consolidation is the cheapest form of capacity planning.
Ask for the lock in writing, and make it specific. “We will try to fit you in” is not a reservation. “Line 3, week 49, 1,200 pieces of style A in natural and oatmeal, fabric lot allocated by 20 November, PO by 4 December” is a reservation. The second version can be managed; the first cannot.
A purchase order reserves money, not capacity. Capacity is reserved when a line, a week, a fabric lot and a conversion deadline are all named.
Insertion Orders: What Can Still Be Added After the Cut-Off
Not every buyer will be ready in November. Some will approve a sample in December, discover a bestseller that needs replenishment in January, or decide to add a colour after seeing the first production. The question is not whether late orders are possible, but what they cost and what has to be simplified.
| Insertion option | What it requires | Typical timing | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repeat style in a stock fabric | Existing pattern, approved fit, fabric in stock | Can be inserted until the line is full | Limited to colours already in the warehouse |
| Colour swap within an approved quality | Lab dip or stock colour approval; same fabric lot if possible | Early December at the latest | Shade continuity risk if the lot changes |
| Reduced trim or packaging specification | Simplified labels, buttons or polybag | Mid-December for pre-holiday finishing | Lower perceived value; not suitable for gifting |
| Split shipment | Partial quantity ready before the holiday, balance after | Decision by early January | Two sets of documents and two freight bookings |
| Air-freight top-up | Small quantity, light weight, priority finishing | January, while the line is still running | Freight cost can erase the margin on the top-up |
| Post-holiday priority slot | Capacity reservation for the restart | Book by mid-January | Delivery moves to March or later |
What cannot be inserted after mid-December is a new silhouette, a new fabric quality, a new print or a new packaging structure. Each of those needs a development cycle that the sample room cannot complete during the closure. If the design is not approved by the first week of December, the realistic plan is a post-holiday delivery, not a pre-holiday rush.
MOQ still applies to insertion orders. A late top-up of 60 pieces per style and colour is possible; a late top-up of 15 pieces in three colours is not, because the cutting and sewing set-up costs do not change. Our guide to linen clothing MOQ explains how the minimum is built and where it can be shared across styles.
Sampling and Approvals Before the Freeze
Sampling is the stage most often underestimated in a Chinese New Year plan, because it looks short on paper. A made-up sample takes 7-12 days, with a 7-14 day window depending on fabric availability. That is only the first sample. Fit approval, revisions, a second sample and PP approval can add another two to three weeks. If the first sample arrives in mid-December, the programme is already past the practical cut-off for pre-holiday bulk.
The approval sequence should be compressed deliberately, not accidentally. Consolidate fit comments into one round instead of sending three emails with overlapping changes. Approve the fabric and the trim at the same time as the fit, not after it. Ask for the PP sample before the bulk fabric is cut, and make sure the PP sample uses the actual production fabric and the actual trims. A PP sample made from a different dye lot is not a PP sample; it is a second fit sample.
Plan the calendar backwards from the sample room's last working day. If the factory stops sampling around 18 December, the last realistic date for a first sample request is the end of November. If the style is new and the fabric is not yet chosen, the end of October is the real deadline. The same logic applies to lab dips: a new colour requested in December will be processed after the restart, not before the holiday.
The sample room is the first part of the factory to feel the holiday and the last part to recover. Treat sampling as a November task, not a December one.
Shipping and Documents Before and After the Holiday
Ocean freight is a capacity market in the weeks before Chinese New Year. Space fills, rates firm, and blank sailings around the holiday reduce the number of departures. The mistake is to wait until the goods are ready before booking. By then, the earliest available sailing may be two or three weeks later, and the container may miss the retail window even though production finished on time.
Book the sailing when the production schedule is confirmed, not when the goods are packed. Confirm the container pick-up date with the factory, the cut-off at the port, and the documentation deadline. If the order is FOB, the forwarder is appointed by the buyer and the factory needs the booking number early enough to plan loading. If the order is EXW, the buyer owns the whole logistics chain and should be even more conservative with the dates.
Documents deserve the same attention. Commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, certificate of origin and any product test reports should be drafted before the holiday, not after. A missing certificate or a mismatch between the invoice and the packing list can hold a container at destination for longer than the production savings were worth. Our guide to importing linen clothing from China covers the document set and Incoterms in more detail.
For urgent top-ups, air freight is a legitimate tool, but it should be used for a defined shortfall, not as a rescue plan for a late start. The cost per kilogram is usually several times the ocean rate, and the chargeable weight of a linen garment order adds up quickly because linen is not a light fabric. Decide the air budget before the season, and reserve it for the styles where a stock-out would cost more than the freight. If short lead time is the core requirement rather than a one-off recovery, the production model behind fast production linen loungewear is a useful reference for how capacity, fabric and trims have to be pre-positioned.
Risk Register for a Pre-Holiday Linen Programme
The risks below are the ones that most often turn a workable plan into a missed date. Each has an early signal that can be seen weeks before the failure, which is what makes it manageable.
| Risk | Early signal | Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fabric lot not allocated | Supplier gives a delivery week but no lot number | Cutting cannot start; the whole schedule moves | Require a lot number and a written allocation date |
| Dye lot mismatch across styles | Two styles approved from different lab dips | Visible shade difference at retail | Reserve one lot for the colour story; produce in one block |
| Sample rejection in December | Fit comments arrive in more than one round | No time for a second sample before the freeze | Consolidate comments; approve fabric and trim with the fit |
| Trim or label shortage | Supplier confirms a date after the sewing start | Finished garments held for a low-cost component | Order trims with the fabric; keep a small safety stock |
| Port rollover or blank sailing | Forwarder cannot confirm a vessel or cut-off | Two to three weeks of delay at the worst moment | Book early; hold a backup sailing; consider sea-air |
| Factory closure extends | Restart date is described as “after the holiday” | Post-holiday orders slip further | Get a written restart date and a first-week output plan |
| Quality failure at final inspection | Inline defect rate rises in the last week | Rework or rejection with no time to replace | Inline QC from the first output; AQL 2.5 checkpoints |
| Document error | Invoice and packing list differ on quantity or value | Customs hold at destination | Draft and cross-check documents before the holiday |
A Twelve-Week Action Plan
The plan below starts in the third week of October and runs to the middle of January. It assumes a pre-holiday ex-factory date and a first order rather than a repeat. Compress it only if the fabric is already in stock and the sample is already approved.
| Week starting | Action | Owner | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 October 2026 | Confirm styles, colours and fabric shortlist; request swatches and lab dips | Brand and sourcing | Fabric decision shortlist |
| 26 October 2026 | Approve first samples; confirm MOQ, FOB and packaging direction | Brand | Approved or revised sample comments |
| 2 November 2026 | Place fabric and trim orders; confirm dye-lot availability | Sourcing and factory | Fabric allocation and trim PO |
| 9 November 2026 | Approve bulk fabric and trims; finalise size grading | Brand and technical | Bulk fabric approval |
| 16 November 2026 | PP sample review; consolidate fit and workmanship comments | Brand | Single comment round |
| 23 November 2026 | Approve PP sample; confirm labels, hangtags and packing | Brand | Signed PP sample |
| 30 November 2026 | Issue firm PO and deposit; confirm line slot and weekly output | Brand and factory | Capacity lock converted to order |
| 7 December 2026 | Cutting starts; inline QC begins at first output | Factory | First cutting report |
| 14 December 2026 | Book ocean freight and confirm port cut-off | Buyer or forwarder | Booking confirmation |
| 21 December 2026 | Monitor WIP; resolve trim or quality issues immediately | Factory and buyer | Weekly WIP report |
| 28 December 2026 | Pre-final inspection; correct any outstanding defects | Factory and QC | Inspection report |
| 4 January 2027 | Final inspection and packing; prepare documents | QC and shipping | Passed inspection; document set |
| 11 January 2027 | Ex-factory and container loading | Factory and forwarder | Goods departed |
Two details make the plan work. First, the fabric order in week three of November is not a formality; it is the point at which the schedule becomes real. Second, the freight booking in mid-December is not early. It is the last comfortable window before the pre-holiday surge. If either slips, the ex-factory date is still possible, but the retail date is not.
The Cost of Waiting
Late decisions do not always appear as a higher FOB. They appear as air freight, expediting fees, split shipments, markdowns on a late launch, and management time spent chasing a schedule that has already been lost. The visible unit price can look identical while the landed cost rises.
Three costs are worth modelling before you decide to wait. The first is freight mode. If a two-week production delay forces a switch from ocean to air for even part of the order, the freight delta can be larger than the entire margin on those units. The second is retail timing. A spring linen programme that arrives after the floorset loses full-price selling weeks, and those weeks are usually the most profitable. The third is rework. A late order that is rushed through finishing and inspection has a higher chance of a quality failure, which creates its own replacement and freight cost.
There is also a hidden cost in the factory relationship. A customer who reserves capacity, confirms fabric and converts on time is easier to prioritise than a customer who holds an option and then changes the colour in December. That reliability has value in the next season, when capacity is tight again. Capacity planning is a repeated game, not a one-off negotiation, and the same discipline carries into scaling a linen brand from first order to repeat production.
The cheapest order is not the one with the lowest quoted FOB. It is the one that lands on the planned date, in the planned quantity, without a second freight booking.
[IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER alt="Factory loading bay in January with packed linen garment cartons on pallets, a container being loaded, a shipping document folder on a table, and a wall calendar showing the Chinese New Year date circled in red"]Common Questions
When is Chinese New Year 2027, and how long do linen factories close?
Chinese New Year 2027 falls on 6 February. Factory closures typically run from two to four weeks, but the effective disruption is longer: workers leave before the official holiday and return gradually after the Lantern Festival on 20 February. Fabric mills and dyehouses often close earlier and reopen later than garment factories, so plan for a four-to-six-week productivity dip rather than a single holiday week.
What is the latest date to place a linen order for pre-holiday shipment?
For a programme that must leave the factory by mid-January, the firm purchase order should be in place by the first week of December, with fabric and trims booked in November and the PP sample approved before the PO. If the style is new or the fabric is custom, move those dates two to four weeks earlier. A late-December PO is usually a post-holiday delivery, even if the factory accepts it.
Does the whole supply chain stop during Chinese New Year?
Not at the same time, which is the problem. Sewing lines stop for the holiday, the sample room often stops earlier, fabric mills and dyehouses close on their own schedules, and trims, printing and packaging suppliers may run with reduced teams. Ports keep operating, but bookings and trucking slow down. A factory that is open can still be waiting for a button, a label or a dye lot.
Can I reserve capacity before the design is final?
Yes, but the reservation has to be specific enough to schedule. A useful capacity lock names the style family, the expected quantity, the fabric quality, the colour direction and the ship window, with a conversion deadline and a deposit or option fee. A vague forecast does not hold a line. The reservation becomes a firm order when the PO, deposit and approved PP sample are in place.
What happens if my sample is rejected in December?
There is usually no time for a second sample before the sample room closes. The practical options are to approve with a minor correction that can be handled in production, to simplify the style so it can be cut from an existing pattern, or to move the delivery to after the holiday. A new silhouette or a new fabric quality rejected in December cannot be rescued by pressure on the factory.
Is air freight worth it for a small linen order?
It can be, for a defined shortfall on a hero style where a stock-out would cost more than the freight. It is rarely sensible for a full programme, because linen is relatively heavy and the chargeable weight adds up. Decide the air budget before the season and reserve it for the few styles where speed protects revenue.
How much extra does a post-holiday delivery cost?
The FOB may not change, but the landed cost can. A later delivery may miss the first floorset, reduce full-price selling weeks, or force a split shipment and a second freight booking. The exact delta depends on the retail calendar and the freight market, so model it per order rather than applying a fixed percentage.
What should I confirm in writing with my factory?
Confirm the fabric lot and allocation date, the PP sample approval date, the line slot and weekly output, the ex-factory date, the factory closure and restart dates, the inspection date, and the document deadline. Ask for the name of the person responsible for each date. A schedule without owners is a wish list.
Next Step
If your Q1 2027 linen programme has a fixed retail date, the next decision is not the price. It is whether the fabric and the line slot are real. Send the style list, the target quantity and the delivery date, and we will map them against the pre-holiday calendar, confirm the fabric route and tell you which dates are still achievable. If the pre-holiday window has already closed, we will say so and propose a post-holiday slot rather than promise a date the supply chain cannot hold.
We reply to a complete brief within 48 hours and issue a formal quotation in 3-7 working days. Sampling runs 7-12 days, bulk production 25-35 days, and a first order typically takes 35-60 days end to end. Start with the contact form and put your target ex-factory date in the first message.
