Relaxed Fit Button Down Mid Weight Cardigan - OEM

The Marina Cardigan from Minus in a baby pink melange, a relaxed fit knit with a round neck, ribbed trims and a button down front, described as mid weight, listed at 90 GBP with four of five sizes in stock. It is worth beginning with the fibre panel, because it is the most complete this run has read and it says something the description does not. The composition is 36% polyester, 25% acrylic, 15% wool, 10% alpaca, 10% nylon and 4% elastane. Six fibres, every one of them to the percentage, which is more than any other panel in this run has given and should be credited outright. And then the arithmetic, which the page leaves to the reader. The natural content is 25 per cent: fifteen of wool and ten of alpaca. The synthetic content is seventy one. Against that, the description calls it a classic knit and a crowd winning favourite and says its mid weight knit makes it the perfect layer all year round. Not one word about what it is made of. This run has now seen this gap from both directions in consecutive batches: one batch ago it published a jumper at sixty eight per cent alpaca and wool described as super soft and luxurious, and here is one at seventy one per cent synthetic described as classic. In both cases the prose and the panel tell different stories. The second thing worth setting out is the length column, and it has a shape this run has not met before. The total length goes 55, 57, 58, 59 and 59 centimetres. That is a step of two, then one, then one, then nothing. The grade runs out at the top. The last two sizes are the same length, while the bust grows by three centimetres between them. So an XL is wider than an L and not one millimetre longer. The reference is the Marina Knit Cardigan. Dongguan Bafinasa Garments Co., Ltd. develops comparable knitwear on OEM and ODM terms, from yarn sourcing by count and gauge to retail or FBA ready packing. We publish this as a development reference and build your own version of it, and we do not supply the branded original or reproduce anyone else's label.

Key Features

• Six fibres declared to the percentage, the most complete panel in this run, and 71% synthetic. See the note below
• A length column stepping 2, 1, 1 and then 0, so the grade runs out at the top size. See the note below
• Pit to pit stepping exactly 3 cm, and a sleeve frozen at 52 cm across all five sizes. See the note below
• Mid-weight as stated, a relative weight word, with no number behind it. See the note below
• Machine wash at 30 degrees on a blend with 25% animal fibre, and no dry flat instruction. See the note below
• A letter size scale while the rest of the range uses numbers, with no way to map between them. See the note below
• No button count or size, on a garment whose front is buttons. See the note below

Customisable Options

• Yarn: the reference blend at 36, 25, 15, 10, 10 and 4, with the wool type, alpaca grade and micron stated, or a wool and alpaca blend with no synthetics, or a merino wool blend, or a cotton and wool blend, or a recycled polyester blend, each quoted separately
• Gauge: a mid weight gauge to the reference, with the gauge number and the grams per square metre stated, or a fine 14 gauge, or a chunky 7 gauge, each quoted separately
• Sleeve: a long sleeve to the reference, with the length graded across the sizes, or a three quarter sleeve, or a raglan sleeve, or a drop shoulder, each quoted separately
• Length: the reference length with the grade carried through to the top size, or a longer length, or a cropped length, each quoted separately
• Buttons: a button down front to the reference, with the count, size, spacing and material stated, or a zip front, or an open front, or a wrap front, each quoted separately
• Fit: a relaxed fit to the reference, with the ease agreed at every size, or a regular fit, or an oversized fit, each quoted separately
• Wool type and micron, alpaca grade, gauge number, yarn count and ply, grams per square metre, stretch percentage and recovery, button count, size, spacing and material, rib width, neck depth, shrinkage and pilling test results, size set, colour development, private label and care labelling

Specifications

Size Chart as Published by the Reference

The pit to pit figures are flat half measures taken with the cardigan laid down, doubling to 106, 112, 118, 124 and 130 cm around, or 41.73, 44.09, 46.46, 48.82 and 51.18 in. The bust steps exactly 3 cm at every step. The sleeve length is 52 cm at every size and the total length runs 55, 57, 58, 59 and 59 cm, so the length grade runs out at the top size. No size conversion is published, and the rest of this brand's range uses numbered sizes with a conversion.

Our Proposed Body Chart

Occasions and Styling

Suits autumn, winter, spring and layering. A relaxed mid weight cardigan in a soft pink works over a shirt, a dress or a tee, and carries across seasons.

Production and Quality Control

The reference publishes three columns for all five sizes, declares six fibres with every percentage given, states the fit word and supports it with its own measurements, gives a relative weight word, gives a care instruction with a temperature, a tumble prohibition and an iron setting, lists the construction in a bullet list and names the style and colour codes. It gives no gauge, no yarn count, no ply, no weight in grams per square metre, no wool type, no micron, no alpaca grade, no stretch or recovery figure, no button count, size or spacing, no rib width, no neck depth, no drying instruction, no pilling guidance, no shrinkage figure, no size conversion and no model, and it freezes its sleeve column and lets its length grade run out at the top. Three things follow: the panel that says seventy one per cent synthetic and the prose that says classic, the length column whose grade stops, and the two size scales that cannot be mapped to each other.

Seventy one, and that is the first thing, and this run wants to give the credit first because it is genuinely the best fibre panel in this run. The composition reads 36% polyester, 25% acrylic, 15% wool, 10% alpaca, 10% nylon and 4% elastane. Six fibres, every one to the percentage, and polyester and nylon listed separately, which is correct because they are not the same thing. Most panels in this run have given two fibres and a hope, and this one gives six and a number each. Credit, without hedging. Now the arithmetic, which the page leaves entirely to the reader. Add the natural fibres: fifteen of wool and ten of alpaca. Twenty five per cent. Add the synthetics: thirty six polyester, twenty five acrylic, ten nylon. Seventy one per cent. So this is a knit that is roughly one quarter animal fibre and three quarters synthetic. And with 4% elastane declared, which is the mechanism behind the stretch, that is a coherent and probably deliberate construction: the synthetics give durability and shape retention and the wool and alpaca give handle. There is nothing wrong with it. And the description says: a classic knit, a crowd winning favourite, super wearable, and its mid weight knit makes it the perfect layer all year round. Not one word about what it is made of. This run has now seen this gap from both sides in consecutive batches and the pair is worth setting out. One batch ago, a jumper at sixty eight per cent alpaca and wool was described as super soft and luxurious. Here, a cardigan at seventy one per cent synthetic is described as classic and wearable. In both cases the description was written as though the panel said something else. It is worth adding what the panel leaves out, because the completeness of the percentages makes the omissions stand out more. There is no wool type and no micron. There is no alpaca grade, and alpaca is graded precisely because the difference between grades is large and invisible. There is no gauge, no yarn count and no ply, and this run has said on several knits that gauge is the most informative number on a knitwear page and costs nothing to publish. And there is no weight in grams per square metre, despite the word mid weight being right there in the description.

Fifty five, fifty seven, fifty eight, fifty nine, fifty nine, and that is the second thing, and it has a shape this run has not met before. Most broken charts in this run wobble: a two, a three, a two again. Frozen columns repeat one number all the way down. This one does something else. It steps two, then one, then one, then nothing. The grade runs out at the top. The last two sizes, L and XL, are both 59 centimetres, and the bust grows by three centimetres between them. So an XL is wider than an L and exactly as long. It is worth saying why this shape is worth separating from the others, because it points at a different cause. A wobbling chart suggests rounding or a measurement taken loosely. A frozen chart suggests a decision not to grade. A chart that grades and then stops suggests that the pattern was graded up to a point and the largest size was filled in rather than derived. And the consequence is specific rather than general: it lands entirely on the customer at the top of the range, who gets a garment cut to the proportions of the size below her. It is worth setting this beside the sleeve, which is the other column, and which does the simpler thing. The sleeve is 52 centimetres at every size. Frozen, straight through, no variation at all. This run has found a great many frozen sleeve columns and has said each time that a sleeve repeated across sizes will be short on everyone above the smallest, because arms get longer as bodies get bigger. On a cardigan, where the sleeve is most of the garment, that is worth restating: the body gains twelve centimetres across the range and the sleeve gains nothing. It is worth crediting what does work, because this chart is not a shambles. The bust goes 53, 56, 59, 62 and 65, stepping three at every step, perfectly uniform. And the fit word is relaxed, and 106 to 130 centimetres around is genuinely relaxed, so the word and the number agree. This run has often found a fit word contradicted by its own chart, and this one is not. So two of three measurements are handled properly, one is frozen, and one grades and then stops. It is worth adding the one weight word, because it is a small mercy and worth noting. The description says mid weight. This run has met lightweight on many garments and super soft and fine, and it has asked every time for a number and got none. Mid weight is still not a number, and it could mean anything from 250 to 450 grams per square metre, but it is at least a position on a scale, and it tells a reader this is not a fine knit. That is more than most pages manage, and it costs nothing to turn into a figure.

XS and thirty four, and that is the third thing, and it is the sort of problem that only appears once a brand has more than one garment on the page. This cardigan is sized XS to XL. The other garments in this same range, from this same brand, in this same season, are sized 34 to 42, and those pages carry a size conversion: 34 is XS, 36 is S, 38 is M, 40 is L, 42 is XL. That conversion is the first one in this run, and this run credited it heavily one batch ago. But it only works in one direction. A customer who is a 38 knows she is an M in the numbered garments. She has no way at all of knowing whether that makes her an M in this cardigan, because this page publishes no conversion, no body measurements and nothing that links its letters to the brand's numbers. So the brand runs two size scales across one range and does not connect them. It is worth saying that this is milder than the usual version of this complaint, because letters to letters is not much of a translation and the run's standard criticism has been about centimetre charts with no key at all. But the specific gap is real: the same brand, one range, two systems, no bridge. It is worth closing on the care label and the buttons, because both are instructive in different directions. The label reads machine wash at 30 degrees, do not tumble dry, iron on low. That is the fourth garment from this brand with exactly this instruction, so it is house practice and it is the most consistent care standard this run has found. But this garment contains fifteen per cent wool and ten per cent alpaca, and there is no dry flat instruction. A wet wool and alpaca knit hung up stretches under its own weight, and the correct instruction is to dry it flat. This run has now recorded the absence of that instruction on two garments at seventy per cent wool with cashmere, one at sixty eight per cent alpaca and wool, and now this one at twenty five per cent animal fibre. The instruction that matters most on animal fibre is the one nobody gives. And there is iron on low, on a cloth that is twenty five per cent acrylic, and acrylic is damaged by heat. It is worth also noting that the label says do not tumble dry, which is good, but a prohibition is not an instruction: it tells a customer what not to do and not what to do instead. Finally, the buttons. The front of this cardigan is buttons. There is no button count, no button size, no button spacing and no button material. On a button down cardigan the buttons are the garment's entire front, and they are the one element a customer can see and count for herself, and the page does not say how many there are. Every bulk shipment gets a measurement report against your approved chart.

Optional upgrades include quoting the gauge number and the weight in grams per square metre, naming the wool type and giving the micron count, giving the alpaca grade, stating the stretch percentage and recovery, grading the sleeve across the sizes, carrying the length grade through to the top size, giving the button count, size, spacing and material, the rib width and the neck depth, adding a dry flat instruction, a detergent type and pilling and shrinkage figures to sit beside the temperature, publishing a size conversion that links the letter sizes to the numbered sizes used elsewhere in the range, adding a model height, wool and alpaca blends with no synthetics, merino and cotton wool blends, recycled polyester blends, fine and chunky gauges, three quarter, raglan and drop shoulder sleeves, longer and cropped lengths, zip, open and wrap fronts, regular and oversized fits, size set, colour development, private label, hangtag and care labelling.

Pre-production sample approval, in-line inspection during cutting and sewing, and a final AQL inspection before packing, with measurement reports and photos shared before shipment.

Send us your tech pack, a photo or a reference garment and we will quote within 24 hours. Contact bafinasa@bafinasa.com or WhatsApp +86 13827222469.