Field notes · Supply chain
7 articles on this topic.
Made in Europe is a supply chain decision before it is a marketing one. What proximity to European factories changes, what it does not, and how to vet a partner properly.
Why brands are moving production back to the US, what domestic manufacturing costs in money and minimums, and how to run the process from tech pack to first bulk order.
Six kinds of company call themselves a clothing manufacturer and they do different jobs. How to tell them apart, where to actually look, and the warning signs worth walking away from.
What it actually takes to make merch: writing a spec, print-on-demand versus a real run, sampling, MOQs, quality control, landed cost and fulfillment.
A no-fluff guide to finding the right clothing manufacturer for a small DTC apparel brand, spec, sourcing channels, samples, MOQs, and the traps to avoid.
Batch inventory sync breaks the moment a brand sells anywhere except its own site. Here's how to architect an event-driven inventory system that scales.
Direct-to-consumer is no longer the moat, it's the baseline. Here's how the brands that are growing in 2026 are stacking advantages on top of it.
