How to choose a garment manufacturer in Nepal

Most brands arrive at Nepal for one of two reasons: they want craft techniques that are genuinely rooted somewhere, or they want a supply base that is not a single country. Both are good reasons. Neither tells you how to pick the workshop you actually send your patterns to.

This is the checklist we would use if we were in your position, including the parts that are awkward for a manufacturer to write down.

1. Ask how patterns are made, not whether they have machines

Every factory will tell you it has modern equipment. The more revealing question is what happens before anything is cut. Patterns drafted and graded digitally produce exact, repeatable sizing, which matters most on your second order, when you need this season's medium to match last season's. Hand-graded patterns can be excellent, but they are much harder to reproduce a year later.

Ask how markers are laid out, too. Computerised marker printing optimises the cutting layout, which means better accuracy and less wasted fabric. Fabric is usually the largest line in your cost sheet.

2. Ask where quality is checked, not whether it is

"We do QC" means nothing on its own. The useful question is at which stages, because a check that happens only at the end is really just an expensive sorting exercise. For reference, our own production has a dedicated check at six points:

1. 01Design: specs and patterns verified
2. 02Sampling: fit and finish approved
3. 03Cutting: every panel measured
4. 04Stitching: seams and construction checked
5. 05Post-processing: dyeing and washing inspected
6. 06Finishing: final check before packing

Whatever the number, the principle is what counts: problems caught at cutting cost fabric, problems caught at finishing cost a production run, and problems caught in your warehouse cost a customer.

3. Treat the sample as the real interview

Photographs of a factory floor tell you very little. A sample tells you almost everything: seam consistency, how the fabric was handled, whether the measurements match the spec you sent, and how carefully your instructions were read. It also tells you how a manufacturer communicates when something in your spec is unclear, which is the single best predictor of how a bulk order will go.

4. Verify ethical claims rather than accepting them

Ethical sourcing is now a standard claim, which makes it a weak signal. Ask what membership or audit sits behind it, who conducted it and when, and ask for the documentation. Be specific about the difference between an organisation being assessed and a product being certified. They are not the same, and the distinction matters for what you can print. We wrote about what Fair Trade membership actually covers separately.

5. Ask about the things that are not garments

Lead times, minimum order quantities, how shipping and duties are handled, who pays for reworks, what happens if fabric arrives short. None of these are glamorous, and all of them decide whether a season goes smoothly. Get the answers in writing before the first order, not during it.

6. Weigh continuity heavily

Ask how long the business has been running and how long the people on the floor have been there. A workshop that has made clothing through three decades of changing demand has solved problems that a newer operation has not met yet. Sujha has been making garments in Kathmandu since 1997, and the clients who come back season after season are the reason we can say anything useful about the long run.

If you are working through this list with a collection in mind, tell us what you would like to make, or request a sample and judge the work directly. That is the only test on this page that cannot be faked.