Sep 22, 2026Services Overview
How to Read a Yoga Wear Quote: FOB, EXW and What's Included
A sourcing-side guide to reading activewear quotations: Incoterms explained, what a unit price actually includes, the costs that arrive later, and how to compare two quotes fairly.
Two suppliers quote you the same legging. One says $7.80, the other says $9.20. The cheaper one wins, right? Three weeks later the $7.80 order has picked up a fabric surcharge, a sample fee you did not know about, and a shipping bill that erased the difference - and then some.
I review quotations for founders every week from Guangzhou, and the unit price is usually the least informative number on the page. What decides whether a quote is honest is everything printed around it: the Incoterm, the validity, the fabric spec it assumes, and the list of things it silently excludes.
Here is how to read a yoga wear quote the way a buyer does.
Start With the Incoterm: EXW, FOB, CIF and DDP
The Incoterm tells you where the supplier's responsibility - and the price - stops. Four appear in activewear quotes:
• EXW (Ex Works): the price covers goods packed at the factory door. Everything after - trucking to port, export clearance, freight, insurance, import duty - is yours. It is the lowest number and the least comparable.
• FOB (Free on Board): the price covers getting the goods onto the vessel at a Chinese port, including export clearance. You handle ocean freight, insurance and import. This is the trade default for apparel and the one I recommend comparing on.
• CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight): supplier also pays freight and insurance to your destination port. Convenient, but you lose control of the freight rate - and freight margins are where some suppliers quietly recover their "cheap" unit price.
• DDP (Delivered Duty Paid): everything included to your door, duties paid. The easiest to budget and the hardest to audit. Great for a first shipment; less transparent as volume grows.
When two quotes arrive on different Incoterms, you cannot compare the numbers directly. Convert them to the same basis - usually FOB - or you are comparing a shirt to a pair of leggings.
What a Unit Price Actually Includes
A serious quote reads like a specification, not a number. For each style it should state: fabric composition and weight (our reference range, for example, is quoted on roughly 75/25 nylon-spandex at 200-260 gsm depending on the piece), color and whether it is stock-dyed or custom, trims and accessories, print or logo application method, packing method, and the MOQ behind the price - in yoga wear typically 800-1,000 pieces per color.
It should also state a validity date. Fabric prices move; a quote without an expiry is an opinion, not a price. Two weeks is common, a month is generous.
And it should separate the sample fee from the bulk price. Sampling costs money because it ties up a pattern maker and a sewing line for a one-off - that part is fair. What matters is whether the fee is credited back against the bulk order, which good partners do.
The Costs That Arrive Later
The quote you compare is not the invoice you pay. Before you pick a supplier, ask explicitly about these, and add them to your model:
• Custom color and custom logo charges: stock colors carry no premium; a custom dye lot or a special silicone logo application does. Ask for the surcharge list, not a verbal "depends".
• Re-sample fees after your revisions: one revision round is usually included in a sampling program; rounds three and four usually are not. The relationship between feedback discipline and cost is one I covered in the sampling process guide, from tech pack to bulk.
• Freight beyond FOB, plus insurance, plus import duty in your country. Get a freight quote for the actual volume of your order before comparing suppliers - carton dimensions differ, and volume, not weight, usually drives sea freight cost.
• Bank and currency costs on the deposit and balance payments, which quietly add 1-3% depending on how you wire.
How to Compare Two Quotes Fairly
Put both quotes into the same table with the same assumptions: same Incoterm (convert if needed), same fabric spec confirmed in writing, same packing, same validity window, plus your own freight and duty estimate per unit. Then, and only then, compare unit prices.
When a quote is dramatically lower than the others - think 20% and more - the cause is usually one of three things: lighter fabric than you asked for, a smaller spandex percentage, or an omission the later invoice will fix. Fabric substitution is the classic one, and it is exactly why spec confirmation and physical swatches matter more than the number on the quote. The connection between what a fabric should cost and what it feels like is covered in the comparison of nylon versus polyester for yoga lines.
A supplier who pushes back on your spec - "this price works at 210 gsm, not 250" - is not being difficult. They are quoting honestly. The supplier who agrees to everything at the lowest price is the one to investigate, a pattern I described in the vetting checklist for choosing a manufacturer in China.
Payment Terms: The Part Founders Skim
The common structure in China is 30% deposit with order, 70% balance before shipment. Some workshops ask 50/50 on first orders; that is negotiable downward once trust exists, not before. What is not negotiable for any serious supplier: balance paid before the goods ship, because once the cartons leave, your leverage leaves with them.
Two protections worth requesting on any meaningful order: a pre-shipment inspection (by you, your partner, or a third party) as a condition of paying the balance, and the packing list with carton weights and dimensions before the balance is due. Both cost nothing and change behavior.
MOQ pressure shows up here too - if the quoted MOQ strains your budget, the honest fix is a tighter style range, not a cheaper supplier. I walked through that trade-off in the guide to planning a first order around MOQ.
A Simple Checklist Before You Accept Any Quote
• Incoterm stated, and converted to a common basis for comparison.
• Fabric spec, weight and colorway written into the quote - not referenced from a chat message.
• MOQ, validity date and sample-fee credit terms explicit.
• Logo, label and packing methods priced, with surcharges listed.
• Your own freight, duty and payment-cost estimate added per unit.
• Pre-shipment inspection agreed as a condition of final payment.
If any line is missing, ask for it in writing before you commit. The quality of a supplier's quote is a preview of the quality of their production.
Common Questions
Is FOB always better than EXW?
For a new importer, usually yes - FOB puts export clearance in the supplier's hands, where mistakes are their problem. EXW can save a little with an experienced forwarder, but the savings are rarely worth the coordination risk on early orders.
Why is the same style quoted at different prices by different suppliers?
Fabric spec assumptions, trim quality, packing and margin structure all differ. That is why spec-for-spec comparison matters more than the headline number.
Should I choose the cheapest quote to start?
Choose the quote whose assumptions you have verified, not the lowest one. In activewear, a wrong fabric spec costs more than any price difference - which is what the daylight squat test exists to catch.
What payment terms are standard for a first order?
Typically 30/70 against pre-shipment inspection. Be more cautious of anything demanding full payment upfront than of a supplier asking 50/50 - then negotiate it down on the second order.
Where This Fits
Reading quotes well is one skill in a longer sequence - route, vetting, sampling, MOQ, QC and shipping are mapped end to end in our complete guide to sourcing yoga wear from China. If you would like a second pair of eyes on quotes you have collected, that is a fast, everyday task for us - send them to info@misskyoga.com or WhatsApp +86 136 4085 9182, and we will tell you plainly where each one is honest and where it is thin.