Case #2: Help Outerwear Startup Earn Money

Qiandao

Brand Story

Ot_m is a trendy outerwear and streetwear brand selling on Shopify. Its owner, Russel, had no prior clothing industry experience before launching the store.
With our professional support, he grew from a complete beginner sportswear startup into a seasoned outerwear retailer in just three months. His successful start stemmed from two exclusive custom designs we developed for him: a fashionable fitness sublimated hoodie, and a lightweight blue hooded windbreaker.

qiandao

The Challenge

Keen to boost his outerwear store’s visibility and reach more customers, Russel realized he needed to develop original products from scratch.
As a Shopify store owner with no prior manufacturing or product sourcing experience, creating active and sportswear posed a huge challenge. Sourcing prototypes, vetting reliable suppliers, and setting up and evaluating a new production line would have been time‑consuming and costly.

qiandao

The Solution

As a new outerwear startup owner, Russel recognized that while establishing a production line in the U.S. would be convenient, it would come with much higher costs.He looked to the cost-effective alternative of shifting production to China and reached out to a local sourcing company, only to be disappointed by their excessive fees. What he needed was a dedicated manufacturing service provider with established operations in China.That’s when he found us. He was pleasantly surprised to discover we offer not only full production services, but also complimentary design, pattern making, and sample shipping—all included.

  • The First Step

    We created three distinct physical prototypes for Russel based on his original design concepts.After researching his local market and target audience, we carefully selected the ideal fabrics, printing techniques, colorways and sizing standards for his hoodies and windbreakers.
    We held frequent consultations with Russel to walk him through the craftsmanship details and cost breakdown involved in developing the two outerwear styles.In the end, Russel finalized two signature styles: the Fitness & Lifestyle Sublimated Hoodie and the Lightweight Blue Hooded Windbreaker.

  • The Second Step

    As a new outerwear startup operating on a tight budget, Russel needed our support to cut overall costs.Qiandao sourced cost-effective fabric suppliers and partnered with budget-friendly yet high-quality production factories.
    In addition, to help build brand identity for his Shopify store, we connected him with an experienced private label manufacturer to create custom logos and branded tags.
    With all our partners working in close coordination, we fully finalized every detail by the 13th day after order confirmation, perfectly accommodating his urgent rush order timeline.

  • The Last Step

    Prior to shipment, Qiandao conducted thorough inspections to ensure all finished products complied with the client’s exact specifications.Our team performed on-site quality control, verifying strict standards for stitching, functionality and material craftsmanship.We carefully checked each sublimated hoodie and hooded windbreaker to guarantee accurate colors, correct sizing, and zero defects.
    The two apparel styles were delivered to Russel via DHL within just 5 days. Upon arrival, the client inspected all outerwear and confirmed outstanding overall quality.

The Outcome

Russel’s site Ot_m.com gets $30.000 as profits by selling the 2 types of customized hoodies in the first month. As far as we know, Russel promoted his Shopify sites in 2 ways, google ads and socialization. He isn’t knowing much about clothing but he does well at market promotion.

In the whole cooperation, Qiandao successfully developed the 2 fashionable hoodies Russel’s customer wants. Even without any prior experience in sourcing or offshore production, Ot_m.com’s clothing development ran smoothly at reduced costs. The innovative design was successfully implemented under consideration of mass production aspects.

Qiandao helped the client accomplish all its goals – from designing prototypes, finding and working with reliable suppliers, controlling quality and limiting defect rates to reducing production costs by at least 20% and setting up a production line in China– in order to prepare the future’s mass production with a nice custom packaging.

Final Review

Review from Benjamin, Owner of TrailPeak Outerwear in the USA:

I feel very fortunate to have chosen Qiandao from the very beginning. Your design team has a strong understanding of our needs and the American market, which helped us develop hoodies and jackets that are quickly gaining popularity among our customers.

Your factories and suppliers have also provided us with quality apparel at reasonable prices. Thank you again for all your support and professional assistance. I believe we will work together again soon to create another best-selling collection.

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