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PLUCHARM / PROFESSIONAL BUYING GUIDE
Private label is how a hair brand gets its own name on the pack without owning
a factory. Done well it is a straightforward manufacturing relationship; done
badly it produces a product that is not quite the specification, in packaging that
arrived after the hair, with a shade that does not match the ring. The difference
is the sequence.
A private-label run is a manufacturing order, and a manufacturing order needs a
specification. These are the fields that must be fixed before anyone quotes:
A supplier who quotes before all seven are settled is quoting a different
product from the one you will receive.
OEM means you bring the specification and the manufacturer
builds exactly to it. You control the product; the factory executes.
ODM means you bring the market position and the manufacturer
develops the specification with you. You bring the brand and the customer
knowledge; they bring the production judgement.
Most brands should start OEM on a proven method, because it is easier to verify
and cheaper to correct. Move to ODM once you know which specifications your
customers reorder — at that point you have the sales evidence to design the next
product properly instead of guessing at it.
If you already sell extensions, your shade numbering exists in your price list,
your marketing and your customers’ habits. Send a physical ring, or a sample of
each shade you sell, and match against that. Matching by photograph is the single
most common cause of a first run that must be rejected: screens render colour
differently and photographs are retouched.
If you are launching a new range, agree the ring first and treat it as the
reference for every future order. It is the document that keeps shade 4 meaning
the same thing in year two as in year one.
Packaging and product are two specifications, not one. Keeping them separate
means artwork changes, quantity changes or a switch of supplier for the bags do
not disturb the specification of the hair underneath. Agree materials, dimensions,
print method, labelling and barcodes as their own brief.
No production run should start before you have physically approved a sample
that was built to the final specification, in the final packaging, with the final
colour.
Approving from a photograph is not approval. Approving from an earlier sample
with a different colour is not approval of this run. And approval should be
against the written brief, line by line, not against an impression of quality.
Once approved, that sample becomes the reference the batch is judged against — which
is why it is worth keeping one sealed unit from the approved sample in your own
office.
A private-label run carries a higher minimum than a stock order, because the
goods are made to your specification and cannot be sold to another account. Lead
time on a first run is longer than a stock order because the specification is
being set up; repeat runs are faster once it is on file and a colour ring exists
to match against.
A private-label run is a manufacturing order, so the specification comes first and the sample approval is the gate. Wholesale hair extensions sets out the thirteen methods we manufacture, the trade terms and the lead time for each. If you already know you want your own brand on the pack, start with private label hair extensions.
Yes, subject to the minimum for the method and colour you choose. The constraints are production economics, not policy.
They will if the supplier matches to your physical ring rather than to their own shade numbering. Send samples of every shade you sell.
OEM on a proven method is usually the lower-risk start, because the specification is fixed and easier to verify. Move to ODM once you have reorder data showing what your customers actually buy.
Against a physical sample built to the final specification, in the final packaging, in the final colour – checked line by line against the written brief. Never from a photograph.
