Private label

Your brand on the factory's product.

What it changes for you

Usually the lowest-friction way to start; tooling stays with the factory.

In practice

Private label means your brand goes on the factory's product. It is usually the lowest-friction way to start selling because there is no design or tooling spend, and the factory already knows how to make it. The trade-off is the same as ODM: you do not own the design, so exclusivity has to be bought separately if it matters.

Questions about Private

What is the difference between private label and OEM?

Private label puts your brand on an existing product and the tooling stays with the factory. OEM means the product is built to your specification, and you normally own the tooling and the design.

What should a private-label order specify?

The packaging and marking as precisely as the product: artwork, barcodes, carton marks and the retail format. Most private-label failures are packaging failures, not product failures.

Other terms

• FOB (Free On Board)Seller delivers the goods on board the vessel at the named port; cost and risk transfer there.
• EXW (Ex Works)Buyer collects at the factory gate.
• MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity)The smallest quantity a factory will run for one specification.
• Tooling costThe one-off cost of the injection mould, die or print plate.
• colorway toleranceThe measured range a factory will hold between sample and repeat production.
• AQL (Acceptable Quality Limit)The sampling standard (ISO 2859-1) defining allowed defects per inspected lot.

Send a specificationAll 14 terms