Best Clothing Manufacturers in Bali

Human Written

Finding the best clothing manufacturers in Bali can be a daunting task. As we covered in a previous post, most clothing manufacturers in Bali are “informal” businesses, they’re not tax-registered, and often they use unethical business practices like hiring home-sewers to avoid paying proper salaries or benefits.

It can be said that, out of hundreds of clothing producers and dozens of manufacturers in Bali, there’s really only a handful of actual tax-registered and ethical manufacturers that have the skills and machinery to produce quality clothing.

Best Clothing Manufacturers in Bali: Those “Top 10” Listings

You’ve seen them. They’re enticing aren’t they. It makes you feel like you’ve come across a golden directory.

You’re probably thinking that each listing has been rigorously researched, companies contacted, even clothing tested. But you couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Most of these “Top 10” or “Best Clothing Manufacturers” listings are not researched at all!

They’re almost always written because someone needs a blog post that day. And some are written to supposedly “help” small brands find factories.

It’s infuriating for us because as an ethical and Fair Trade clothing manufacturer, we’re all about honesty, transparency, and we know what these lists do to unwary brand owners looking for factories.

Read on my friends.

The Dirty Little Secret

The worst part of these lists is they lead brand owners to unethical businesses. And since websites these days all greenwash and say “ethical” on the home page, how’s a brand owner to know?

The majority of factories listed aren’t the “Best Clothing Manufacturers in Bali” but some of the worst culprits behind the unethical practices on this island!

What do we mean?

Many factories in Bali pay minimum wage and pay per-piece. According to the World Bank, this keeps workers at the lowest possible income bracket which perpetuates the widespread poverty in Indonesia.
Some listings aren’t even factories but instead are agencies that say they’re factories which is misleading.
One “Top Listing” we found showed 3 listings for the same company; 1 for the parent company, 1 for an activewear landing page, and 1 for the swimwear landing page. WTFashion is that?!
Many factories are owned by foreigners that come to Bali because of lax and unsupervised employment laws. They get away with paying low wages, keeping the profits to themselves, and they use loopholes in the system to avoid paying fair wages.

Loopholes? What do you mean?

One of the most common loopholes is to hire sewers that work from home.

When someone works from home, they don’t get an employment contract. They don’t have to be paid government-mandated benefits such as health, or pension, or bonuses like THR.

But you say, “Hey CMG admin, at least they get to work at home! Isn’t that a good thing?”

Not only is the owner avoiding paying benefits, but the owner also pays per-piece. The pay per garment is so low that the worker is forced to work all day, 6 or 7 days per week just to make a living!

Remote work isn’t what you think it is.

So How Can I Find The “Best Clothing Manufacturers in Bali”?

Ditch those lists!

Start searching on Google using specific keywords that includes the clothing you want to make, as well as the word “Fair Trade”, and only click on actual factory websites.

For example, if you search “Fair Trade children’s clothing manufacturer” you get this listing: https://childrensclothingmanufacturer.com

That’s one of ours.

And it’s relevant to brands that are looking for children’s clothing. Since we’re Fair Trade, it’s also transparent about everything you need to know.

This isn’t a self-serving post.

This is a warning to all those brand owners who don’t know what to expect but are about to get the runaround or about to pay to perpetuate poverty.

Stop looking at those “Best Clothing Manufacturers in Bali” lists and start conducting real research.

You’ll help yourself. And you’ll ensure to stay away from unethical factories.

If you’re looking for adult or children’s clothing and swimwear manufacturing, here’s a list of the different types of clothing we design and make:

adult’s & children’s swimwear
adult’s & children’s leisurewear basics (ex: hoodies, sweatshirts, track pants, t-shirts, polos, etc.)
adult’s & children’s resort wear basics (ex: light dresses, Linen clothing, kimonos, button-shirts, scarves, etc.)
adult’s & children’s sleepwear (ex: natural fabric pyjamas, loungewear bottoms + tops, flannels, etc.)
adult’s & children’s hats (ex: 5 and 6 panel as well as bucket hats)
adult’s & children’s socks (ex: active and work)
most types of babywear ages NB to 24 months