Minimum order quantity is treated as a negotiating position far more often than it deserves to be. It is not a number a supplier picked to seem serious — it is the point below which a production run stops making sense on the floor, and understanding what sets it tells you a great deal about whether you are talking to a factory or to somebody who will place your order with one.
Here are our actual minimums, followed by what drives them and where they can legitimately move.
The Numbers
| Product | Minimum per design |
|---|---|
| Acetate hair clips, claw clips, barrettes | 500 pcs |
| Acetate combs, brushes, headbands, hair sticks | 1,000 pcs |
| Wood and bamboo products | Depends on the shape and finish — ask |
The phrase that matters there is per design. This is the most common misreading of an MOQ line: a buyer sees 500 and plans a range of six shapes at roughly 80 pieces each. That is not a 500 piece order, it is six orders below minimum. Ranges get planned around the minimum, not divided by it. A workable three-shape clip launch is three separate designs at 500 each — say the triangle side clip, the teardrop snap clip and the 9 cm bar barrette — 1,500 pieces in total, with no line sitting under its own floor.
On wood and bamboo we do not publish a single figure, and we would rather explain why than print a placeholder. The minimum genuinely depends on the shape and the finish — a plain sanded comb and a lacquered brush handle with a printed logo are different production propositions. Send the shape and you get a real number.
The 1,000 tier is worth reading the same way. It covers combs, brushes, headbands and hair forks — a two-prong acetate fork and a crystal-topped fork are two designs at 1,000 each, not 500 of one and 500 of the other. The reason is finishing labour rather than material: a fork is polished on four faces and a prong has to be checked for symmetry, so the changeover is worth less spread over a short run.
What Actually Sets the Number
Three things, and none of them is the cost of the material itself.
1. Sheet yield
Acetate is bought as pressed sheet, and parts are nested onto that sheet like a cutting plan. A claw clip is small and nests tightly, so a sheet yields a lot of them. A wide-tooth comb is larger, nests less efficiently, and leaves more offcut per piece. The minimum has to cover a sensible number of sheets — which is a large part of why combs and brushes sit at 1,000 while clips sit at 500.
2. Changeover
Every design change means re-nesting the cutting plan, changing the profile and resetting the line. That setup takes the same time whether the run behind it is 200 pieces or 5,000. Below a certain quantity the setup time exceeds the run time, and at that point the piece price stops being a piece price and becomes a share of an afternoon.
3. Finishing labour
Acetate is tumbled and hand-polished in batches, and the tumbling stage runs for days regardless of how full the barrel is. A part-loaded barrel costs the same in time and energy as a full one. Products with more hand finishing — anything with hardware, springs or set stones — carry that batch logic further down the line.
Notice what is missing from that list: the price of the acetate. Material is rarely the binding constraint. This is why a supplier who drops their MOQ the moment you push back is telling you something — either the number was never real, or they are not the ones running the line. We look at how to tell the difference in our sourcing guide.
Where the Minimum Can Legitimately Move
Not by asking. But there are real structures that get you below the headline figure per design:
- Same shape, different sheet patterns. The cutting profile does not change, so several colourways can share one setup. This is the single most useful lever available to a small brand and it costs nothing.
- Stock shapes instead of custom. A shape already in production has no new profile and no development, which changes the arithmetic entirely.
- Combining designs in one production window. Several designs scheduled together share setup and finishing batches even though each still has its own minimum.
- Repeat orders. The second run of an established design is a different proposition to the first.
What will not work is asking for 300 pieces of a custom design. We would rather tell you that plainly than take the order, disappoint you on the price, and have the conversation afterwards.
Reading MOQ as a Signal
Because MOQ comes from production reality, the way a supplier talks about it is diagnostic.
| What you hear | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| A specific number, with a reason attached | They run the line and know their yield |
| A number that halves when you push | The first number was a negotiating position |
| Any quantity accepted, no minimum | The order is being placed with someone else |
| Different minimums for different products | Consistent with real production constraints |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the MOQ per design or per order?
Per design. A 3,000 piece order spread across six designs is six 500 piece runs, which works for clips and does not work for combs.
Do several colours of the same shape count separately?
It depends on the sheet. Colourways cut from patterns we already hold can share a setup. A custom-pressed sheet is its own run. Tell us the colourways you want and we will tell you which side of the line they fall on.
Can I mix products to reach the minimum?
Not to reach a per-design minimum — each design still needs its own run. But mixing products in one shipment is normal and helps your freight cost, which is a different saving worth having.
Why is the comb minimum double the clip minimum?
Mostly sheet yield. A comb takes up considerably more sheet area than a claw clip, so the same number of sheets produces far fewer combs. The minimum reflects sheets consumed rather than pieces produced.
Does the minimum change for a repeat order?
Ask when you place the first one. An established design with a proven profile is a different production proposition, and it is worth having that conversation before the first order rather than after.
The Short Version
500 pieces per design for acetate clips, claws and barrettes. 1,000 per design for combs, brushes, headbands and hair sticks. Wood and bamboo depend on the shape — ask rather than assume. The number comes from sheet yield, changeover time and batch finishing, not from material cost, which is why it does not move much for asking but does move when you share a cutting profile across several colourways.
Where that catches people out is sizes rather than colours. A second length is a second cutting profile and a second clasp, so it is a second design and a second minimum — three lengths is 1,500 pieces before a colour has been picked. Colourways are the half you can share a profile across, which is why the two should never be planned as one number. We work it through with a table in wholesale hair barrettes, and apply it to the sprung-jaw range in duckbill clips.
Send us your range plan rather than a single quantity. Structured across shared shapes and sheet patterns, a range that looks impossible at first pass often is not.
Claw Clips From 500 Pieces
