Cyclodry — Custom Sportswear Manufacturer

Background

A well-established German wellness retailer wanted to move beyond reselling third-party brands and launch their own private-label activewear line. Their customer base—predominantly women aged 25–45—expected premium feel, ethical manufacturing, and understated aesthetic.

The brief called for an 8-style yoga and studio collection: bras, leggings, shorts, and loose-fit tops in a cohesive seasonal palette.

Key Requirements

| Requirement | Detail | | --------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | | MOQ flexibility | 300 units per style (low volume for a first private-label run) | | Custom colorways | 4 proprietary Pantone shades matched to their brand identity | | Sustainable materials | Minimum 50% recycled content across all styles | | Branding | Woven labels, custom heat-transfer logos, branded poly bags | | Compliance | REACH, OEKO-TEX, GOTS preferred |

Fabric & Construction

We sourced a recycled polyester / Lycra blend (78% rPET, 22% Lycra) for the leggings and bras — a high-compression fabric with a buttery handfeel that the client had identified as a benchmark from competitor products.

For the loose tops and shorts, we selected an organic cotton / modal blend (60/40), brushed on the inside for softness.

Custom dyeing presented the biggest technical challenge. Two of the four Pantone shades required reactive dye on the modal fabric and disperse dye on the polyester components simultaneously. Our dye house ran three test batches before achieving consistent color matching across all fabric types.

Design Collaboration

The client's in-house designer provided initial sketches. Our team refined these into production-ready tech packs, flagging construction details that would be difficult to execute at scale (such as a narrow exposed elastic waistband that would have required excessive manual finishing time).

We suggested an alternative: a fold-over waistband with internal silicone grip, which maintained the clean aesthetic at a significantly lower labor cost per unit. The client approved after seeing the prototype.

Sustainability & Compliance

All recycled polyester certified to GRS (Global Recycled Standard)
Cotton component certified to GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard)
Packaging: recycled poly bags with soy-ink printing
Shipment: carbon-neutral sea freight via verified offset program

A third-party audit was conducted at our facility prior to production — the client received a full audit report alongside their shipment documentation.

Results

The collection launched in the retailer's online store and three physical locations. Within the first quarter:

Sell-through rate: 87% across all 8 styles
The high-waist legging became the retailer's #1 bestselling product
The client placed a repeat order at 2× the original volume for the following season

"We were nervous about the complexity of a first private-label run. Cyclodry made it straightforward — and the quality exceeded what we were charging for." — Head of Buying, German Wellness Retailer