Made to Order vs Made to Stock: What Happens to Unsold Clothes
, by Shopify API , 1 min reading time
The standard model produces more than it sells, and the surplus has to go somewhere. What made-to-order actually changes, and what it costs.
The clothing industry produces more than it sells. That is not an accident or an occasional miscalculation — it is how the standard model works, and the surplus has to go somewhere.
How made-to-stock works
A brand forecasts demand, places a bulk order months ahead, and pays for the whole run up front. Bulk pricing means the per-unit cost drops as the order grows, so there is constant pressure to order more than you expect to sell.
Then the season ends. Whatever is left gets discounted, then discounted again, then moved to an outlet, then sold by weight to a jobber, then baled and shipped abroad or destroyed. Each step recovers less money than the last.
What made-to-order changes
Nothing is produced until somebody has bought it. There is no surplus, because there is no speculative run. There is also no pressure to discount, because there is no ageing inventory sitting on a shelf costing money every month it fails to sell.
The honest trade-offs
It is slower. A made-to-order garment takes longer to reach you than one already sitting in a warehouse, and we would rather say that plainly than pretend otherwise.
It is also more expensive per unit. We give up bulk pricing, and that cost is real. What we get back is the ability to run a tight catalogue without gambling on which colourway will sell.
How to spot the difference as a buyer
Permanent sitewide discounting is usually a sign of a stock problem, not generosity. A brand that runs 40% off for most of the year has built that margin into the list price and is clearing inventory it should not have ordered. We do not run those cycles, which is why our prices look the same in March as they do in November.
