Before Reading My Article, Don’t Create Private Label Products at will

Creating private label products is an effective strategy to avoid competition.

Especially on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, brands can prevent others from selling exactly the same products as you, allowing users to have a deeper impression of your products. From a certain perspective, a brand is a promise and guarantee to customers.

But for sellers, branded products also mean more complex sourcing processes and higher purchasing costs.

Most sellers know the importance of branding, but few people understand the “solution” or “cost” when importing private label products from China.

So SoucingArts wants to use this article to let buyers know more about how to customize product private labels, how much it will cost, and the problems they face when customizing private labels.

What products can I private label?

In theory, you can provide a private label for any product. It’s just that for products of different materials, the applicable processes are different. Below we will introduce private labeling schemes applicable to products of various materials.

In addition, there is a very important question, is the manufacturer willing to provide you with customized label service?

When your order quantity is too small, such as 50units, 100units, suppliers will often refuse to provide private label solutions. So if you want to have a private label for your products, the first problem you have to solve is MOQ.

Suppliers’ MOQ requirements for OEM orders are usually higher than 500 units, you can refer to How to get low MOQ for tips on reducing MOQ.

But please be mentally prepared, it is possible to reduce MOQ from 500units to 300units, but it is basically impossible to persuade suppliers to accept custom orders for 50units.

What is a private label? Why is it important for new businesses?

The private label is the logo or design on the product. It represents the seller and helps to increase brand awareness and build customer loyalty.

If you want to start a business that imports from China and sells on Amazon and other online markets, this is the easiest and best way: find quality products, find the best supplier of the product and place an order, add your own brand to the product and start selling products under your brand name.

Private label is the best way to distinguish your product from others. Buyers are more likely to buy branded products, even if the two are exactly the same.

And the brand will increase the value of your products, you can sell your products at higher prices, and your profits will be more substantial.

How much does it cost to private label a product?

For most categories of products, you can provide a private label (your logo) to the body or packaging of the product.

However, suppliers usually only tell you if they can provide a private label to your products. You don’t know what are the ways to make a private label, and their cost, process, time, and MOQ.

SourcingArts have summarized 14 major private label solutions for the various products we deal with for our customers. Below we will detail the price and MOQ of these solutions.

Private labels on products body

Silkscreen printing

Screen printing refers to the logo through a special mesh to print ink on the substrate.

Screen printing is the most common and widely used method for adding your own logo to product bodies and packaging.

It can be applied to almost all products made of materials, such as plastic toys, glass bottles, stainless steel cups, rubber dumbbells and so on.

Silk screen printing has many advantages and is widely used in gift logo printing.

Advantages

1. Not limited by the size and shape of the substrate. The general printing method can only be done on a flat surface. Screen printing can not only print on flat surfaces, but also print on special shapes such as spherical surfaces.
2. The plate is soft with small impression. The silk screen is soft and elastic.
3. Strong anti-rotation performance. Make the gloss of printed matter not affected by temperature and sunlight. Suitable for long-term display, making outdoor advertisements expressive
4. Plate making is convenient, cheap and easy to master

Disadvantages

1. Silkscreen can only print one color at a time.

For multi-color printing, it is necessary to carry out complex and tedious colour processes. The color process has relatively high technical requirements, and there are relatively few technical personnel in this area.

If you need to print four or five colors at a time, it is prone to badly aligned, muddy illustrations. This increases the scrap rate of products, and the cost increases accordingly.

Silkscreen is not suitable for patterns with more than four colors or with gradient colors.

1. Not suitable for small batch order. A set of silk screen printing process cannot be saved. If the order volume is small, then these costs are quite high.

This is also one of the reasons why many suppliers have higher MOQ for custom orders.

1. Not suitable for products with uneven surfaces

4. After printing, many customers want to maintain the texture of textiles, which is difficult to achieve with silk screen printing.

Charge standard

The cost of silkscreen printing is depends on the size of the pattern. The cost is divided into 4 parts:

1. Film mold

Cost: general 20-30 CNY. (If there is a ready-made film, this is not required)

Time needed: 1 day

2. Mesh plate production

Cost: 60-80 CNY for a logo of 5*8CM.

Time needed: 2-3 days.

3. Proofing: divided into 2 situations-spot color and ordinary color

Ordinary color: 60-80 CNY

Spot color: 60-80 CNY+50 CNY per color.

The total proofing cost is 160-180 CNY.

Proofing time: 5-7 days

4. Print LOGO

Cost: 0.2-0.5 CNY/logo within a size of 10CM length/3CM width (one color one position).

Smaller than A4 size: 1 CNY/logo (one color and one position)

A3 size: 2 CNY/color (one color, one position)

Take 5K order quantity, one color and one position as an example: it takes 3 days to print logo, 2 days for printing, 1 day for ink to dry. The total printing time is 6 days.

Thermal transfer printing

Thermal transfer printing is a more complex process than screen printing and requires a temperature range of 140°C to 180°C.

As a result, it is a little more expensive than screen printing, and there are some limitations on materials. Applicable to ABS, PE, PP, EVA, leather, stainless steel, wood and glass.

If you need to print fine patterns with a gradient, then the thermal transfer is your best choice.

Advantages

1. It can not only be printed in the texture of tough crystal, stone, metal, glass and other materials but also can be printed in the texture of soft leather, cloth, cotton and other materials.
2. Picture printing. Traditional printing methods, such as screen printing, cannot make all color transitions according to the picture, so the effect of screen printing will be clear color boundaries, between the two colors, it is difficult to reflect the color transition according to the picture itself. Thermal transfer printing can fully reflect the color transition, is very suitable for printing gradient patterns.

Disadvantages

1. The pattern feels a little hard and has poor air permeability. After washing, it will become softer, but its air permeability is still relatively poor.
2. There will be small cracks in the fabric fibers when the heat transfer pattern is pulled laterally. This is caused by the characteristics of heat transfer itself, can not be avoided.
3. Thermal transfer printing using thermal sublimation ink to first print the picture on the transfer paper, and then transfer to the surface of the medium, there are several difficult problems: color deviation and positioning deviation, the finished picture is also easier to scrape off, poor fastness, generally need to spray a layer of protective film.

Charge standard

Thermal transfer printing is divided into 2 technology, digital heat transfer and 2D/3D heat trandfer.

MOQ: 1000PCS/ pattern

1. Digital heat transfer, that is, heat sublimation. Generally speaking, the cost is calculated in accordance with the square. The region is not the same as the price is not the same, the color and quantity will also affect the cost.

The average price is 8-15 CNY/㎡

Time needed: 7-12 days

2. 2D/3D heatl transfer printing ( take mobile phone case for example)

MOQ is less, usually 50PCS/pattern

The cost of different sizes of clamps is different, and the general clamps of mobile phone shell are 50-80 CNY.

• Cooling mold: 120-150 CNY
• Processing cost:

4.7 inches below: material 4.5 CNY, processing pattern 1.5 CNY

5.5 inches above: material 5.5 CNY, processing pattern 2 CNY

Time needed: 5-10 days

Laser engraving

Laser engraving processing is based on numerical control technology, laser as the processing media.

The physical denaturation of instantaneous melting and gasification of processed materials under laser engraving irradiation can make laser engraving achieve the purpose of processing.

Laser engraving is the use of laser technology to write words on the object, this technology carved words without scratches, the surface of the object is still smooth, the writing does not wear.

The printed logo pattern is realistic, the pattern is detailed, the level is clear, the three-dimensional sense is strong, mainly applies the high-grade gift precise pattern printing.

The process of laser engraving is as simple as printing on paper using a computer and printer; Can be in the Win98/Win2000/WinXP environment using a variety of graphics processing software, such as CorelDraw design, scanning graphics, vectorized graphics and a variety of CAD files can be easily “printed” to the engraving machine.

Advantages

1. The minimum order quantity is low because it does not require plate making. And the production speed is fast

2. Low cost: not limited by the number of processing, for small batch processing services, laser processing is cheaper

3. Safe and reliable: using non-contact processing, no mechanical extrusion or mechanical stress to the material. No “knife mark”, do not harm the surface of the workpiece.

Disadvantages

1. For metallic materials only, not for non-metallic materials

Charge standard

MOQ: Does not need to open the plate, the minimum order quantity is low, 50-100PCS.

Cost: 0.2 CNY/piece（logo size within 5CM）

Time needed: Very fast, 5000-10000pcs only need 1 to 2 days to complete.

Molding

This means making a custom logo in the product mold, which means the logo will appear when the product comes out of the machine.

The solution can be applied to any product made of plastic, rubber or metal.

Advantages

1. Because it’s on the mold, the LOGO will never wear off
2. The private label will looks more natural and higher quality than printing

Disadvantages

1. Generally, mold products belong to private mold. So you must pay for your mold, and the mold cost is high. So if you’re only buying in small quantities, it’s not cost-effective.
2. You can’t change the supplier casually, otherwise, you need to develop a mold and pay for the mold again.
3. Developing molds needs 15 to 20 days, which means it takes a much longer time than other solutions.

Charge standard

The LOGO fixed on the mold. The cost of the mold of different materials and sizes is different. The cost of the mold of general plastic products is 15,000-20,000 CNY.

Activity inlay LOGO, mold cost 1000-3000 CNY

Time needed: 15-20 days

The embroidery

Embroidery is mainly used for items made from cloth, such as clothing, hats and handbags.

Compared to the logo printed on silk, it is more durable and looks more advanced, and this solution has no fading issues.

However, it costs more than screen printing.

Advantages

1. Don’t rub off.
2. It’s embedded in the fabric so it won’t wash off

Disadvantages

1. Applicable to cloth and leather only, not plastic and metal materials

Charge standard

MOQ: 1000pcs

No plate fee, direct machine embroidery

Cost: 0.4CNY (within a size of 3*4cm, 1 color)

If the color is more than one, 0.1 CNY/color

Time needed: only need 1 hour to produce 1000pcs

Woven label

Woven label is a manufacturing process of finishing the logo pattern and color by weaving and embroidering on the processed fabric products with needles and threads in accordance with the logo design requirements.

Woven labels are usually sewn on the edges of items made of fabric, such as shoes, jeans, hats, and bags.

Labels look better than printed logos. There are many traditional embroidery techniques, and color embroidery is usually used for gift logo embroidery.

This kind of embroidery technique has the characteristics of embroidered plain clothes, rich stitches, fine stitches and bright colors, and is most widely used in clothing and jewelry gifts.

Advantages

1. Firm, bright lines, feel soft.
2. The design is exquisite and has a certain concave and convex feeling.

Disadvantages

1. The production efficiency is low, can use only five kinds of color below.

Charge standard

Price components are: the width of the cloth label, the length of the cloth label and the length of each color along the warp direction.

MOQ: 2000 PCS/patten

Time needed: 7-10 days

Epoxy sticker

Epoxy is a kind of two-component AB glue. The main components are epoxy resin, benzyl alcohol, polyether amine, with low viscosity, high transparency, yellowing resistance, good bending resistance and other characteristics.

After the signage and other printed parts are made, a layer of high tension coating is poured on the surface of the coating. The coating is raised to a height of 1.3mm, so that its appearance is camber.

Applicable to household appliances, TV, audio, MP3 / MP4, refrigerator, furniture, kitchen utensils, kitchen cabinets, bathroom, sanitary ware, plumbing, automobile and motorcycle accessories, mechanical equipment, electronic appliances, instruments, computers, communication equipment, refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, freezers, hardware home appliances, sports and leisure equipment, leather bags, business gifts and other industries.

Advantages

1. Resistance to yellowing
2. Waterproof, moisture-proof, chemical corrosion-resistant, with excellent color stability

Disadvantages

1. If it drops in other places, it is not easy to clean, and it smells pungent when the drops are liquid.
2. The stickiness is not good, it will fall off after a long time

Charge standard

MOQ: 500-1000PCS

Can be made in any size and shape, the specific quotation depends on the LOGO size, quantity, color, and printing requirements.

Cost:

Generally, for 4-color printed PVC Epoxy logo, if the size is within 3CM, the unit price of 1000pcs is about 0.3 CNY/pc

Proofing time: 5 days

Production time: 5-7 days.

Embossed logo

Under the action of the mold, the thickness of the sheet material changes, and the process of pressing the undulating pattern or words on the surface of the parts is called embossing.

It uses the concave and convex die, under certain pressure, so that the printed matter plastic deformation, embossing a variety of convex graphics and patterns, showing different shades of patterns.

Embossed LOGO is generally used in packaging boxes, trademarks, calendars, leather, cloth above the most. There are two kinds of embossed LOGO, one is convex, the other is concave.

Advantages

1. Clear hierarchy

2. Three-dimensional image concentration

3. Accurate perspective Angle

Disadvantages

1. The printed surface can only be flat.

Charge standard

Embossed LOGO requires a copper mold/steel mold. Mold cost (depending on the size of the LOGO), the mold cost of a logo within 5CM is 600CNY

MOQ: 1000PCS

LOGO processing fee: 0.3CNY/LOGO within 5CM

Time needed: 5 days

Offset printing

Offset printing is a kind of lithography, offset printing is the use of rubber (blanket) plate on the way of graphic print is passed on to the substrates.

It is also called screen printing silica gel in the industry. Screen printing silica gel is a kind of special silica gel that can be firmly adhered to the surface of textiles, spinning cloth, imitation leather and other materials by screen printing.

Silk-screen silica gel is widely used for textile clothing signs, decorative patterns, sports gloves, anti-slip socks and handbags, travel bags, etc.

Advantages

1. Fine text, rich layers, suitable for mass printing
2. Can make up for the substrate surface is not smooth

Disadvantages

1. Not wearable
2. The printing surface is not resistant to high temperature and easy to crack

Charge standard

The cost of offset printing LOGO generally has 4 categories:

1. Screen cost: including screen frame, stretched plate and net cloth, etc.

2. Film cost: 100 CNY/㎡/color

3. Ink cost: general ink manufacturers will indicate how many square meters are printed per kilogram of ink, as well as thinners, etc.

4. Printing labor cost: Generally speaking, it is half-material and half-work, that is, 100CNY of the material cost will add 100CNY labor cost.

Private labels on the packaging

Sticker

Stickers are definitely the simplest, cheapest and most widely used of all solutions. I really can’t think of anything that can’t be labeled.

In the orders we have contacted, it is mainly used on the standard of cartons to mark the product or to mark some warning words.

Advantages

1. Needless to say, the biggest advantage of stickers is cheap. It’s the least expensive of all the options. But usually, you don’t go to the sticker supplier yourself. Your supplier will find a sticker factory, but they will not tell you the price is so low.

Disadvantages

1. Easy to drop. Self-adhesive stickers are not usually used alone, they are usually used in conjunction with plastic bags or cardboard or cartons.

Charge standard

MOQ: mold fee 80-120CNY (1000-3000 PCS, 3*4cm, 2 colors)

Meaning you only need to pay 120CNY for 3000 stickers. And then over 3,000pcs, 0.1/CNY.

Time needed: 3-5 days

Cardboard

If your packaging budget is limited, and you don’t want to use too cheap plastic bags. You can consider using a cardboard custom logo.

Print the logo and all other information on the cardboard, and then pack the goods in a cardboard box.

Generally, retailers prefer to use cardboard for tool or kitchen product categories because it allows customers to easily see and touch products.

Advantages

1. Diversified shapes, suitable for hanging on shelves
2. Cheaper than color boxes

Disadvantages

1. Paper gets dirty easily
2. The machine start-up cost is high, so the MOQ is high
3. Not waterproof, and easily deformed during transportation

Charge standard

MOQ: 3000pcs

Cost: Affected by the type, size and quantity of paper

Start-up fee: minimum consumption of 600-800 CNY

For socks: 250g kraft paper

Blister cardboard: 0.3-0.5CNY/piece (250-300g white cardboard or coated paper, size 12*15cm)

Hangtag

Hangtag is a type of sticker that costs about the same as the sticker.

Polybag

This is also a way to customize the logo. Compared with other packaging methods, printed plastic bags are simpler for bulk commodities. Usually applied to clothing, toys, tools, fashion accessories and other categories.

Advantages

1. cheap
2. Closeness

Disadvantages

1. Not fancy, but very cheap
2. Plastic bags break easily

Charge standard

Different materials have different prices, which are mainly divided into OPP, PE and PVC materials, among which OPP is the cheapest

Mold fee: 260 CNY/ color

Behind MOQ: 10000pcs

Cost: 10000 PE bags, 0.2/ 20*15cm for face masks

Color box

Making your own design and printing it on a custom box works for almost any product.

Of course, this is the most expensive solution of the 11. An elegant packaging box can easily make your products look great. It’s also a way to add value and sell at a higher price!

Charge standard

MOQ: 3000pcs.

The cost calculation method of the color box:

Unit price = paper cost + pit cost + film fee + PS plate fee + printing fee + surface treatment fee + rolling work + mounting work + knife mold + paste work +1.5% loss + profit

1. Paper price:

Paper specifications: standard gauge 78.7 X 109 CM and large gauge 89 X 119 CM

Gray copper 4000CNY/T (futures) 4500 CNY /T (spot)

Single copper 7000 CNY/T (futures) 8600 CNY /T (spot)

Double copper 6500 CNY/T (futures) 8000 CNY /T (spot)

2. Film fee: 0.3 CNY/color/square inch

3. PS plate fee:

• Small version 100 CNY/sheet
• Large version 125CNY/ sheet

4. Printing fee (with 1000 sheets as the pricing unit):

The small version is calculated as follows (the large version is 1.25 times the small version

• Below 1000pcs, 130 CNY /color (maximum)
• 1000-5000pcs, 100 CNY /color
• 5000-10000pcs, 75 CNY /color
• 10000-20000pcs, 55 CNY /color
• Above 20000pcs, 50 CNY /color (minimum)

Pay attention to the following points:

• The ordinary spot color is calculated as 1.5 times the ordinary color, (unit price*1.5)
• Normal gold is calculated as 2 times normal color (unit price*2)

Generally, the cost of a color box requires an additional plate-making fee and a charge for die-cutting tooling. Normal size projection plate costs 300-600CNY, charge for die-cutting tooling is 150 CNY.

The general standard printing is 0.1 CNY/color, and the laminated is 0.6-0.8 CNY/㎡

How to Find a Private Label Manufacturer in China

When you are sure that a Chinese manufacturer is more suitable for your own brand products, here are the following methods to find a suitable Chinese manufacturer.

Find your own brand manufacturer on B2B platforms such as Alibaba

When you do not have the time or budget to come to China, the online wholesale platform is very convenient.

Alibaba, AliExpress, DHgate, Global Sources, Made in China, Yiwugou are the most popular online platforms.

Alibaba is the most recommended online platform for almost all daily consumer products, where you can find many different suppliers for each product.

Other platforms are also very popular, but either are not as comprehensive as Alibaba, or are more suitable for a certain business area. For example, Made in China is more suitable for industrial products, and Global Sources is more suitable for commercial products.

You can view the 5 major Chinese wholesale websites to learn more about the differences between these platforms.

At the same time, we recommend that you read theAlibaba Purchasing Guideto ensure a safe and smooth purchase from Alibaba and avoid fraud.

Trade fair

If you have the resources to visit China, then participating in a trade show is the best choice to find reputable suppliers.

You can refer tothe 4 most popular exhibitions. Among them, the Canton Fair is the largest trade fair in China.

From the first phase of electronic products to automobiles, the second phase of consumer goods and gifts, and the third phase of clothing, medicine and entertainment products, they basically cover all types of products. The event is held twice a year in spring and autumn.

Although you have to budget for air tickets, hotels, interpreters, etc., you can participate in the exhibition for free. This may be a small investment in terms of the possibility that you can establish contacts with reliable local manufacturers.

China Purchasing Company

Many people want to make the best private label products, but they lack experience in importing products and product customization from China.

It is difficult for them to find the best manufacturer or follow up production by themselves. Therefore, I strongly recommend that those people get a Chinese sourcing company.

Purchasing agents usually act as an intermediary between the buyer and the supplier. Purchasing agents are hired by buyers, find suppliers from China, and then purchase from suppliers on their own behalf.

With the help of sourcing companies, you will get product quotations from different reliable manufacturers, who know all the costs of production, customization, packaging, and transportation.

In addition, your purchasing company will help follow up production, quality control, product inspection, shipping arrangements, etc., until you are satisfied with your products and get them in your country/region.

The above are the three main ways to find the manufacturer of private label products from China. In addition, you can also find the manufacturer through social media, Google, etc.

Ending

Now It’s Your Turn

I hope this guide showed you what’s the best private label solution for your products.

Now I’d like to turn it over to you:

What’s the #1 idea that you want to try first?

Are you going to start put the private label on your business? Or maybe you have a question about something you read. Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below right now.

If you need to find a private label manufacturer in China, please feel free to contact us.

We have helped many small and medium enterprises customize their own brand products.

Our sourcing experts have extensive experience in customization and can provide you with a lot of insights.