Private label means the product reaches the customer under your brand and the factory is never named. That makes it a packaging and agreement exercise as much as a manufacturing one: what the label has to carry, who owns the artwork, and what stops the same body appearing under another brand next season.
What the agreement has to settle
- Who owns the artwork. Your logo, your colourway and any pattern you commissioned. It should be written down, not assumed.
- Exclusivity, if any. What the factory may and may not sell to whom, in which market. On an existing mould this is a clause rather than a technical fact.
- Confidentiality. An NDA before artwork is released, which is the point at which your identity matters.
- Who is the manufacturer of record. Several markets require the responsible party on the pack to be identifiable, and that is a compliance decision as well as a branding one.
- Repeatability. The colour reference and the tolerance, so a reorder six months later matches the first delivery.
What the label has to carry
| Element | Decided by |
|---|---|
| Brand and product name | You |
| Capacity statement | The specification, and it has to be defensible |
| Material | The item, stated as it is — 18/8 (304) where that is what it is |
| Compliance marks | Only those the product holds for that market |
| Country of origin and responsible party | Market rules, and often the importer |
Where private label differs from a branded programme
In a branded programme the buyer is usually selling a design. In private label the buyer is usually selling a price point and a channel, so the specification tends towards a proven body with a distinctive finish and pack rather than a new mould. That is the cheapest route to something that looks like yours, and it is why the colourway and the pack do most of the work.
Questions buyers ask
Will the factory sell my design to someone else?
Not if the agreement says so and the design is yours. On an off-the-shelf mould the honest answer is that the body is not exclusive; the colourway, the decoration and the brand are.
Do I need my own tooling for private label?
No, and most private-label programmes do not have it. Tooling is the route to product exclusivity rather than to private label.
How do I keep a reorder consistent?
By writing the colour reference and tolerance into the specification and keeping the approved sample. That is the whole mechanism.
We offer to sign an NDA before artwork is released, and the brand-owner page sets out what a programme like this usually needs.
