Export surplus is the most misunderstood category in the stock trade, largely because the term is used for different things.
What is export surplus clothing?
Export surplus is finished garments produced above the quantity a factory shipped against an export order. It arises from the fabric allowance factories cut to absorb defects, and it is first-quality product that simply had nowhere to go.
The garments were made under a real order, to that buyer's specification, on that buyer's approved fabric. Nothing about them differs from the shipped goods except that they were not shipped.
The term is also used loosely for cancelled shipments and clearance stock, which behave quite differently. We state the actual source per lot rather than describing everything as surplus, because the source determines the quantity and the size ratio a buyer will receive. Branded surplus raises a separate question, answered in how to tell genuine stock from counterfeit.
Why do factories produce more than the shipped quantity?
Cutting is planned with a fabric allowance — 2 to 5 percent above the order — because some pieces will fail inspection. When the defect rate comes in below the allowance, the excess is finished, first-quality product the factory owns.
The allowance exists because apparel manufacturing has an irreducible defect rate. Fabric faults, sewing faults and finishing faults occur at a predictable frequency, and cutting exactly the ordered quantity guarantees a short shipment. Cutting 3 percent over is standard practice, not overproduction.
This mechanism sets the ceiling on genuine surplus quantity, and it is the most useful fact a buyer can hold. Surplus from a 10,000-piece order is a few hundred pieces, not thousands. A supplier offering 5,000 pieces of surplus from a single style is describing something else, such as a cancelled shipment or clearance stock.
How does surplus differ from seconds or rejects?
Surplus is first-quality product that was never shipped. Seconds are pieces that failed inspection and carry identified defects. Rejects failed inspection for reasons that make them unsuitable for sale. The three are frequently sold together; price them separately.
| Origin | Condition | Priced | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surplus | Cut allowance not consumed by defects | First quality | Discount to wholesale |
| Seconds | Failed final inspection, defect identified | Minor, identified faults | Below surplus |
| Rejects | Failed inspection, unsaleable as branded | Significant faults | Salvage |
We grade before listing and state the proportion of each in a lot. Where a lot is mixed, the proportion is given rather than implied. Buyers pricing a mixed lot as though it were all first quality are the buyers who do not order twice, and it is in nobody's interest to let that happen.
What quantities and size ratios are realistic?
Surplus quantities are small relative to the original order — 2 to 5 percent — and size ratios are partial rather than complete, because the allowance is cut proportionally but consumed unevenly.
Plan to the actual ratio. We send the physical size breakdown before you commit, and it will be irregular. Assess whether the breakdown suits your store profile before agreeing a price, not after the container arrives.
Buyers needing complete size curves in volume turn to shipment-cancelled lots, which carry full curves because they were made to fill an order, or at manufacturing to order where the curve is specified.
How is export surplus graded before sale?
Lots are opened, counted physically, sorted by size and colour, inspected piece by piece where quantity permits and by sample where it does not, and separated into first quality and seconds with the proportions recorded.
The count we publish is our own physical count, not the figure on the original packing list. Those two numbers differ, and the difference is always discovered by whoever opens the cartons last.
Buyers who want to verify grading before paying can inspect in person at the warehouse or appoint an inspector. On branded lots, the provenance checks matter as much as the grading.
How do I order export surplus garment lots?
Send the categories, quantities and price range you work to. We will confirm what is available with the source, grading, actual size ratio and condition stated per lot, and tell you when the quantity you need does not exist as genuine surplus rather than substituting something that is not.