Menstrual Pants MOQ
Almost every quote ends with a minimum order quantity, and almost every buyer reads it as a single number. It is not. The same supplier will give you different minimums depending on what you count, and that difference decides whether a first order is viable at all.
What the number covers
"MOQ 10,000" is ambiguous until you know the unit. Ask which of these the figure refers to:
- Per size. The most common reading, and the most expensive one. Five sizes at 10,000 each is a 50,000-piece order, not 10,000.
- Per colour or print design. If the film or the bag is printed, each design usually carries its own minimum, because each needs its own plates and its own run.
- Per pack configuration. Pieces per bag and bags per carton change how many packs an order contains, and some suppliers set the figure in packs rather than pieces.
- Per material combination. A different core weight or film grade can mean a different material set-up, which some suppliers treat as a separate minimum.
- Per shipment. A minimum for one delivery is not the same as a minimum annual volume delivered in several shipments.
Before comparing two quotes, write down which unit each supplier used. Comparing a per-size figure against a total figure is the most common way buyers misjudge whether a factory is competitive at all.
How the number is derived
Minimums are not arbitrary. They come from four physical constraints, and knowing which one binds tells you what you can actually negotiate:
- Line width and run length. A converting line runs a fixed number of rows across its width. A short run spends proportionally more machine time on set-up, so the minimum is often just the run length at which set-up stops dominating the unit price.
- Material minimums. Nonwoven, film, superabsorbent and elastic arrive in roll or bag quantities. If your order needs less than the smallest purchasable roll of a given grade, the supplier either buys the whole roll and charges you for the remainder, or declines the grade.
- Print plates and dies. Printed film and non-standard sizes need tooling. The tooling cost is one-off, but many suppliers only amortise it across a minimum run.
- Changeover time. Every size, colour and pack change stops the line. A supplier with a wide product range will price a fragmented order higher, or raise the minimum, to protect throughput.
This is why two buyers asking for "the same product" get different minimums: the constraint that binds is not the same one.
MOQ by variant
The minimum also tracks how hard the variant is to run. Roughly, from easiest to hardest to place in small volumes:
| Variant | What pushes the minimum up |
|---|---|
| Standard pull-up, unprinted film | Usually the lowest minimum: no plates, common materials, one die per size |
| Printed film or printed bag | Plates per colour per design, plus a separate run per design |
| Side-open | An extra converting step and a different fastening material; fewer lines can run it |
| Ultra-thin | A thinner core means tighter tolerance on the line: slower running and more start-up waste |
| Plus size and extended size curves | More dies, each with its own minimum, and a size curve that fragments the order |
| Postpartum or clinical positioning | Often a distinct SKU with its own packaging and, in some markets, its own documentation |
None of this is a rule with a number attached. Ask the supplier which constraint sets their figure for your specific variant — the answer is the thing worth negotiating.
Ordering below the minimum
If your first order sits below the figure, these are the levers that actually move it. They are not tricks; each one removes a constraint the supplier named:
- Cut the size curve, not the total. One or two sizes at the full minimum is usually accepted where five sizes at a fifth each is not.
- One design across several sizes. Sharing the printed film or bag across sizes means the plates are paid once.
- Plain film plus a printed label. Where the market allows it, an unprinted product with a label removes the plate cost entirely.
- Accept a stock grade. A material the supplier already runs removes the roll-minimum problem. You give up some control over specification.
- Stage the deliveries against an annual volume. The minimum is usually about run length, not about how fast you sell. One run shipped in several batches can satisfy both sides.
- Pay the set-up separately. Some suppliers will run below the minimum if the changeover and tooling are billed as explicit lines instead of being amortised.
- Take the pilot as a priced exception. A first order explicitly sold as a pilot, with the reorder volume written into the same agreement, is a normal commercial structure rather than a favour.
MOQ and price bands
Unit price is normally quoted in bands, and the band boundaries are where minimums come from. Two consequences are worth knowing:
- Never compare a price without its quantity band. A quote at the bottom of one band and a quote at the top of the next are commercially different products, even when the specification line reads identically.
- Ask where the next band starts. If a small increase in quantity crosses a boundary, the effective unit price can fall by more than the extra units cost. For a first-time buyer this is often the cheapest negotiation available.
A supplier who cannot tell you their band boundaries has not quoted from a costing model. Treat the figure as indicative until they do.
What to ask before accepting a minimum
- Is the figure per size, per colour, per pack or total? Put the answer into the quote.
- Does it include packaging, or is packaging a separate minimum?
- Is tooling included, amortised or billed separately — and who owns it afterwards?
- What is the over- and under-delivery tolerance on the run, and how is the difference invoiced?
- Does a reorder carry the same minimum, or a lower one now that the tooling exists?
- Which constraint sets the figure, so you know which lever to pull?
Write the answers into the RFQ document itself. A minimum that lives only in an email thread tends to reappear in a different form at the next quotation.
Frequently asked questions
- Is MOQ per size or per order?
Both readings exist. It is usually per size when the film is printed or each size needs its own die, and per order when the product is a stock grade. Confirm which one applies in writing before you build a cost model on it.
- Can I order samples below the minimum?
Samples normally sit outside the production minimum and are priced separately. Ask whether the sample cost is credited against the first order — that answer tells you how much the supplier wants the business.
- Does a higher unit price buy a lower minimum?
Often, yes. A supplier can absorb set-up cost inside a higher unit price, which is effectively you paying for the changeover. Ask for that version of the quote as a separate line so you can compare it against the minimum-order price.
- Why did two suppliers quote different minimums for the same product?
Because a different constraint binds each one: line width, a material roll minimum, a die, or changeover time. Ask each supplier which constraint produced their figure. That single question separates a real costing model from a copy-pasted number.
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