Start with what you have.
Choose who makes it.
Start with a tech pack, a product link, photos, or an idea. Develop the specification. Then choose who makes it.
Mission
The details stay yours to decide.
Different starting points, one place to work. Your references become a draft tech pack you can review and edit.
Review the drawings, materials, measurements, and construction. Correct the draft and approve a fixed supplier version when it is ready.
Keep the same style and approved specification as you move into sourcing. Review the recipients and request before an email is sent.
On the floor
The same style, through every sample.
Keep the supplier request, approved specification, and sample feedback connected. Each physical round has a place beside the work that led to it.
Why apparel
We’re vertical on purpose.
Horizontal sourcing platforms learn that “make anything” means knowing nothing in particular. We picked apparel because it’s deep enough to win and narrow enough to actually understand.
It has its own grammar
Tech packs, fit samples, lab dips, trim cards, grading, MOQs by colorway. None of which fit a horizontal sourcing tool. The depth is the differentiation.
The supply base is real
Apparel factories cluster in specific cities for specific reasons. Tiruppur for knits. Bursa for twill. Porto for premium. We can know the supply base because the supply base is finite.
The economics work
First POs of 300 to 1,000 units across $5M to $30M brands generate enough margin to fund both curation and (eventually) financing. We don’t need to win every category to win.
Why now
The cost of the old way got too high.
2025 reset apparel sourcing. Section 301 tariffs and de minimis changes pushed brands to re-route programs they thought were settled. The brands that had a curated bench of factories ready to quote new programs in 48 hours moved fast. The brands that didn’t spent two quarters in directory search.
That moment made the case for what we’re building. Curated supply isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. It’s the difference between launching the season and missing it.
How we work
Four principles.
- 01
Curation over scale
We’d rather have 60 factories we’ve personally visited than 60,000 we scraped. Volume isn’t a moat.
- 02
Workflow as the product
The match is the start. The product is everything from sample loop to milestone payment to TOP audit.
- 03
Brands keep their factories
Once we make an introduction and an order runs to ship, the relationship belongs to the brand. We’re here for the first PO and the workflow, not to stand between.
- 04
Honesty over hype
AI everywhere, automation everywhere, 200K factories. We’ve heard the pitch. We’d rather tell you what we’ve actually built and what’s on the way.
Talk to us
Brand, factory, journalist, or just curious?
hello@stitchgrid.com reaches the founding team. We answer fast.