Cross-Border Sourcing

Sourcing Custom Hockey Jerseys From an Overseas Manufacturer

Every order on this page crosses a border. RunHockey Apparel manufactures custom hockey jerseys, socks, pant shells, and full team kits on six dedicated sportswear lines, and ships them to buyers in 30+ countries. Export clearance and the shipping document set are prepared on our side; import clearance and duties on arrival sit with you as the importer — and the factory can be verified, by video walkthrough or by an inspector you nominate, before anything is cut.

Send a Hockey Jersey Manufacturer Inquiry See How a Cross-Border Order Runs
2009Exporting since
30+Export countries
~60%Repeat orders
12hBusiness-hour reply

ISO 9001:2015 · OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 · BSCI audited

Our side Your side Export clearance — prepared and filed Shipping document set — issued and checked Import clearance — your broker, importer of record Duties and taxes — assessed by your customs authority
BORDER OUR SIDE YOUR SIDE

The line is fixed: everything up to the border is ours, everything after it is yours — the term around it is agreed per order.

Who Orders Across a Border

Five Buyer Types Across a Border, Five First Checks

Five buyer categories order from this factory across a border. What each one verifies first is different.

Apparel Brands

First check: confidentiality

A design that crosses a border has to stay theirs — and the goods have to arrive carrying their own main label and hangtag. The file-handling practices are in the confidentiality section.

Hockey Clubs & Team Buyers

First check: the date

A kit has a season opener that does not move — so the questions are scheduling windows and the document set that keeps a consignment moving through the border.

Distributors

First check: repeatability

The restock that arrives next cycle has to match the stock already on the shelf. The standing-restock arrangement runs on wholesale hockey jerseys.

Teamwear Agents

First check: communication

Several end clients stand behind one agent's inquiry — answers have to arrive complete and in writing. The reply standard and the written order file are below.

Decoration Shops

First check: the blank garment

It has to press and print the way the sample did. The blank program is on blank hockey jerseys.

Each of the five checks has a section below or a page behind it — and each can be run before a first order is placed.

A consignment staged for export — every buyer type's order leaves the same floor the same way
Whatever the buyer type, every consignment leaves the same floor, the same way.
The Factory

The Factory Behind the Export Record

The export record sits on a physical operation, and the numbers are these. Production runs in China, in a 6,500 m² facility that holds cutting, sublimation printing, sewing, embroidery, finishing, and packing under one roof. 6 dedicated sportswear lines run a monthly capacity of 80,000 pieces. The workforce is 180+ people, 12 of them on quality control only — checking a batch is a separate job from sewing it, held by separate people.

The factory has manufactured sportswear since 2009, and hockey apparel is the current focus of the six lines. The equipment behind every decorated garment on this site sits on that floor: a digital sublimation printing line, automated cutting, flat-seam, coverstitch and four-thread overlock machines, and computerized embroidery.

Goods leave for 30+ countries. The main markets are North America — the US and Canada — the Nordic and Central-Eastern European countries, Western Europe, Japan and Korea, and Australia and New Zealand. Around 60% of orders come from buyers who have ordered before, and across a border a repeat order is the strongest evidence a factory can show: the first consignment cleared customs, matched the approved sample, and sold.

The production floor that holds cutting, printing, sewing, embroidery, finishing, and packing under one roof
One roof: cutting, printing, sewing, embroidery, finishing, packing.
Automated cutting on one of the six dedicated sportswear lines
Automated cutting on the sportswear lines.
Fabric stock held on site for the six production lines
Fabric stock held on site for the six lines.

Every shipment leaves with the same four documents.

Commercial Invoice Packing List Bill of Lading Certificate of Origin

Each one does a specific job at your customs desk.

Inquiry to Import Clearance

The Cross-Border Order Journey

The same order, followed from your side of the ocean — what crosses the border at each stage, and what you hold when it does.

1 · Inquiry & Quote

An inquiry is answered within 12 business hours; a quote follows within 24 hours of a complete tech pack.

You hold: a named contact and a written quote

2 · Sample

A physical sample is built in 7–10 days and shipped to you — the first thing that crosses the border is one garment you can hold, measure, and wear over padding.

You hold: the garment itself

3 · Sign-off & Bulk

Your written approval locks the spec, and bulk runs 25–35 days from that signature — the stage mechanics sit on manufacturing.

You hold: the locked spec on file

4 · Final Inspection

The order is inspected against the approved sample before packing; an inspector you nominate can attend, and laboratory reports against your named standard are available on request.

You hold: the inspection record

5 · Export Clearance & Documents

Our side: export clearance is filed, and the four shipping documents are issued and checked against the order file.

You hold: the document set

6 · Freight

The goods travel under the delivery term agreed on your order — the responsibility line is described in the delivery terms section.

You hold: the bill of lading

7 · Import Clearance

Your side: your broker enters the goods as importer of record, working from the document set above.

You hold: the consignment
Solid navy — prepared, produced, and filed on our side Dashed amber — carried and cleared on your side
The freight leg of a consignment — planned at quote stage, not after sign-off
The freight leg is planned at quote stage, not after sign-off.
A sample garment packed for shipping — the first thing that crosses the border is one garment
The first crossing is one garment: your sample.
The Range

The Product Range: Jerseys, Socks, Shells, Kits, Warm-Ups

Five product families ship under the same cross-border process — every item crosses the border the same way.

Ice hockey jerseys — player cut and hockey goalie cut, training and reversible styles, decorated or blank

Hockey Jerseys

Player cut and hockey goalie cut — two separate pattern sets — plus training and reversible practice styles. Decorated or blank.

Custom hockey jerseys
Hockey socks — cut-and-sew, made in the same colorways as the jersey they ship with

Hockey Socks

Cut-and-sew, made in the same colorways as the jersey they ship with.

Hockey socks
Pant shells — the outer layer over the pants, matched to the kit

Pant Shells

The outer layer over the pants, matched to the kit.

Hockey pant shells
Full team kits — jersey, socks, and shell as one order and one consignment

Full Team Kits

Jersey, socks, and shell as one order and one consignment — the border is crossed once per season, not three times.

Hockey uniforms
Warm-up hoodies and jackets — the off-ice layer, ordered with the kit or separately

Warm-Ups

Hoodies and jackets — the off-ice layer, ordered with the kit or separately.

Ask for them in the same inquiry.

The same document set, the same responsibility split, the same inspection options — whatever on this list you order.
Windows

Production Windows: Samples 7–10 Days, Bulk 25–35 From Sign-Off

The windows are fixed and they are counted from the right starting points. Sampling runs 7–10 days from confirmed inputs, with two revision rounds built in. Bulk runs 25–35 days counted from sample sign-off, and a rush path compresses that to 18–20 days when it is arranged against the line schedule in advance. Repeat orders with an unchanged spec skip the sample round, because the approved files are already on record.

Kit orders — jersey, socks, and shell together — are scheduled as one consignment on one clock. Once a date and a destination are on your order file, the schedule is worked back from them and the critical points are confirmed in writing:

  • The sample date
  • The sign-off deadline
  • The ship window

The stage-by-stage mechanics inside these windows — what sign-off locks, how deviations are stopped mid-run — are covered on custom hockey jersey manufacturing.

The Responsibility Line

Delivery Terms and the Responsibility Line at the Border

The delivery term on your order is agreed per order, at quote stage — it depends on your destination, your routing, and how your own logistics are set up, so it is written onto your order file rather than published here as a fixed menu. What does not move from order to order is where the responsibility line sits — and that line is fixed.

Our side — up to the border

  • Export clearance is prepared and filed on our side.
  • The shipping document set is issued on our side, checked against the order file.
  • The goods are delivered to the handover point your agreed term defines, coordinated with the carrier or forwarder named on your order.

Your side — after the border

  • Your company enters the goods as the importer of record.
  • Import clearance and any duties are assessed by your customs authority and settled on your side — what they come to depends on your destination and the classification your customs assigns, and your broker works from the commercial invoice.
  • Most buyers run their side through a customs broker in their own port — first-time importers usually appoint that broker when the order is placed, while the goods are still in production, so the entry side is ready before the consignment arrives.

One moving part, one fixed frame. The moving part is the term — agreed per order and recorded in writing. The fixed frame is the split: export side ours, import side yours, with a document set built to cross from one to the other without re-explaining. Any question your broker has about the goods themselves comes back to us, answered from the order file — the same record that holds your spec, your approved sample, and your packing plan.

The Document Set

Customs Clearance and the Shipping Document Set

Every consignment leaves with the same four documents, and each one does a specific job at your customs desk.

Commercial invoiceIssued by us
The declared contents of the shipment — product descriptions, quantities, and the classification your duties are assessed from. This is the document your customs broker works from first.
Packing listIssued by us
The carton-by-carton contents: style, color, size, and piece count per carton, matching the marks on the cartons themselves — your receiving team counts the delivery against it without opening every box.
Bill of ladingIssued by the carrier
Consigned as your order specifies — the document that controls release of the goods at destination.
Certificate of originIssued for your customs authority
Records the country of manufacture in the form your customs authority requires.

Beyond the Four

Finished garments can be tested by a third-party laboratory against the standard you name — color fastness, shrinkage, and pilling — with the report available alongside the shipment. The standard is named at quote stage, so the fabric choice answers it.

The set is prepared on our side and checked against the order file before issue: consignee details, descriptions, and counts all read from the same record the production ran on. When a detail needs correcting — usually a consignee-detail change or a description adjustment your broker requests — the document is reissued while the goods are in transit, and the corrected set reaches your broker before the consignment arrives.

Kit orders pack to the same logic the documents describe: cartons are sorted per team, and per player when a roster is supplied, and each carton's contents appear on the packing list — a 14-team consignment is received team by team rather than piece by piece.

For a first-time importer, your side of clearance needs nothing from us beyond this set. What your customs authority asks of you as the importer — registration and any destination-specific filing — sits with you and your broker, and every question about the goods comes back to us.

The shipping document set prepared and checked against the order file before issue
The set is checked against the order file before issue.
Third-party laboratory testing — color fastness, shrinkage, and pilling against the standard you name
Lab reports against your named standard, on request.
Communication

Working Across Time Zones

Our office and production floor work GMT+8, the China time zone. Every inquiry is answered within 12 business hours, and that standard holds in writing whatever your time zone is.

One named account contact follows your order from the first inquiry through shipment, and every decision on the order — approvals, measurements, corrections, schedule — is recorded on the order file in writing. Sample sign-offs, concession decisions, and document confirmations all live on that file, so the record that governs production is the same record you can read — and a contact change on either side does not restart the discussion.

What keeps a cross-border exchange fast is completeness on both ends:

  • On our end — a first reply names exactly what is missing rather than answering around it.
  • On your end — a message that arrives with artwork or a tech pack, a color reference, a size run, and a needed date gets a quote within 24 hours instead of a questionnaire.

Live conversations are scheduled at the overlap between GMT+8 and your working day — arranged in advance, with the sample or the line on camera.

Verify Before You Fly

Remote Factory Verification Without Flying In

Three ways to verify this factory without flying in — plus one that fits in a parcel.

A live video walkthrough on the production floor, with you directing the route

Live Video Walkthrough

A scheduled call on the production floor, with you directing the route. Name the process you want to see while it runs: the automated cutting bed, the digital sublimation line, the sewing lines, the computerized embroidery machines, the QC station, or the packing area. A first walkthrough usually takes the full route across all six.

A third-party inspector checking the consignment against your approved sample and spec sheet

Your Nominated Inspector

You book the inspection agency you trust, and we schedule their access before shipment. The inspector checks the consignment against your approved sample and your spec sheet — the same references our own final inspection works from, so an outside inspection reads the order against the same yardstick, not a new one.

The BSCI audit report — the workplace and labor side of the factory, examined by an outside auditor

The BSCI Audit Report

The workplace and labor side of this factory has already been examined by an outside auditor under BSCI, and the report is available on request. For a brand or distributor answering to its own retail accounts, this is the document that answers the labor question without commissioning a new audit.

The physical sample in a parcel — built on the same lines, from the same fabric stock, as the bulk that follows it
And the parcel: the physical sample. It is built on the same lines, from the same fabric stock, as the bulk that follows it — so approving it means you have already held the factory's output in your hands before bulk is released.
File Discipline

Artwork and Tech Pack Confidentiality

A design that crosses a border is the concern brand buyers raise most often. These are standing practices on every order — described here as what we do, not as legal language.

NDA Before Files

An NDA can be signed before any files are sent — ask for it in your first message if your program requires one. The confidentiality step happens before the artwork does.

Access Limited by Account

Your artwork and tech pack sit on your order file, accessible to the team running your order. Files do not live in a personal inbox, and one buyer's artwork never surfaces in another account's work.

Nothing Shown Without Permission

Your designs are never displayed as portfolio work — on our site, in our materials, or to another buyer — without your written permission. That is also why no real client names or logos appear anywhere on this site.

The same file discipline runs in the other direction too: because your patterns, print files, and color references stay on record under your account, a reorder next season is produced against what you already approved — the retention side is covered on custom hockey jersey manufacturing.
If Something Goes Wrong

Problem Handling at a Distance

Distance changes nothing about who holds authority, and it changes everything about what you should hold in your hands. Four things, in three tiers.

Already in your hands

The Written Order File

Every decision, approval, and correction on your order is recorded — so any dispute starts from a shared record rather than two recollections.

A Published Receiving Check

The production tolerance every order is held to — and how to measure a received garment against it — is published on the hockey jersey size chart. A measurement outside tolerance is reported with photos.

Yours on request

The Inspection Records

The order's inspection records, and any laboratory reports you requested, are available with the consignment.

The written order file — every decision, approval, and correction on record
Every decision on the order, on record.
When something fails

Photos and Measurements at the Checkpoint

When an inline check fails, the line stops and you are informed while it is stopped — with photos and measurements, and what the correction does to your schedule. Who stops the line and who signs a concession is covered on custom hockey jersey manufacturing.

Each of the four is something you hold or can run yourself — that is what makes distance manageable on a first order from a supplier you have not visited.
Measuring a received garment against the published production tolerance — the receiving check any buyer can run
The receiving check: measure a received garment against the published tolerance.
Two Ways In

Send Your Requirement — or Ask to See the Factory First

Both run through the same form below — and either message is answered within 12 business hours.

Send Your Requirement Ask to See the Factory First
The First Message

Starting a Cross-Border Order: What to Send, What to Ask For

A first message quotes fastest when it carries five things — and the same message can ask for four more. Rough answers are enough to start; the first reply names only what is missing.

What to send

  1. Artwork or tech pack — at whatever stage it exists.
  2. Color reference — a swatch, a code, or a photo.
  3. Pattern choice — player cut or hockey goalie cut, or the wearing context if the choice is open.
  4. Size run — or the age groups involved.
  5. Date and destination — when the goods are needed, and where.

What to ask for

  1. A video walkthrough slot — the production floor, live, on your route.
  2. The BSCI report — the labor-side audit, on request.
  3. An NDA — signed before you send files.
  4. Laboratory testing — against your named standard.

The walkthrough and the NDA happen while the quote is being prepared — asking adds nothing to the schedule. A complete tech pack gets a quote within 24 hours; a message missing half of this still gets answered within 12 business hours. And if you want one more checkpoint before bulk, the sample is it: one garment in your hands before the order is released.

Start Here

Send a Hockey Jersey Manufacturer Inquiry

Use the form to send RunHockey Apparel a hockey jersey inquiry, with or without a tech pack ready. Inquiries are answered within 12 business hours, and a quote follows within 24 hours once the spec is complete.

Send what you have: artwork or files at any stage, your color reference, your size run or age groups, and the date and destination the goods are needed — and name your buying role: brand, club, distributor, agent, or decoration shop, so the reply comes from the right desk. If you would rather see the factory first, say so, and a video walkthrough is scheduled instead.

A consignment inspected against the approved sample before it leaves for export
  • Files you send stay confidential — never shown as portfolio work without your written permission, and an NDA can be signed before anything is sent.
  • Your first reply names what is still missing — and the person handling your account.
  • An incomplete plan is welcome — the first reply asks only for what is missing.

Artwork stage, color reference, size run, target date and destination — the checklist above drops straight in here.

Inquiries are answered within 12 business hours.