Frequently Asked Questions
How long have you been in business?
81 years. Soma President started in 1928.
What do you make?
We make what our customers want. We like to get alongside our customer and understand what they are wanting to achieve and then offering them solutions and manufacture to do this. Where required we can offer technical garment construction expertise to achieve the most cost effective outcome. We pride ourselves on being good listeners and we love developing new products.
Who are some of the companys or brands you have manufactured for?
42 Below - T Shirts, Baby Baby - breast feeding pillows, CanTeen - hooded T's and polypropylene thermals, Chocolate Fish (UK) - merino wear, Canine Spirit - merino dog coats, Designer Textiles - Howie, Ortovox and MEC merino underwear, Hallensteins - T Shirts for NZ Music Month, Heiniger (NZ & Switzerland) - Shearing singlets, Honey Child - cloth nappies, Icebreaker - next to the skin merino, Karen Cole (UK) - merino women's fashion, Karen Walker - fashion tops, Katmandu - polypropylene thermals, Kilt - young fashion, Krank Dirtwear - mountain biking clothing, Mini Merino - children's merino, Nature Baby - baby and children's merino, Pac Brands - Liberty merino underwear, Thermatech, Pumpkin Patch - children's clothing, Sonsie - women's swimwear, Starfish - women's fashion, Swazi - robust outdoor clothing, Zambesi - fashion boxers & tops
What do you sew?
Anything. There are no limitations so long as it involves cut and sew. We have tackled a huge range of assignments.
What are you able to offer?
A "one stop shop" to make your garments from a drawing, picture or pattern, sampling, cut and sew, embroidery and screen-printing, pressing to packaged shop ready garments.
What is CMT and can you offer CMT manufacture?
CMT means Cut - Make - Trim and is where the customer supplies fabric and their labels. What we do is take your raw materials and turn them into the finished product. It's like a labour only contract.
Do you offer product development and pattern making?
Yes we can take your picture, sketch or sample and make a pattern and a first off prototype for trial. We will also suggest the best ways to construct your garment to achieve the most cost effective manufacture. We prefer to prototype where possible to enable a more accurate costing and provide you an opportunity to decide on any improvements to the make before bulk production commences.
Do you charge for sampling?
Yes we normally charge double the CMT price agreed to help recover a portion of the expense of sampling.
Do you charge for patterns and loading patterns?
Yes we charge to load a pattern into our CAD system. If we cut from a cardboard pattern the cutting time is normally increased to compensate for hand markers. Most of our customers go with the CAD because of the time saving and the accurate fabric yields to assist with product costing. We will also make contract markers for use in other factories.
Are you able to help with fabric and component sourcing?
Yes we are doing this all the time and have a vast network of contacts to source fabric, trims, zips, buttons, elastic and anything else needed.
Can you help us get a label for our garments?
Yes we do this often both for NZ and overseas customers. All we require is your artwork and we can arrange sampling for you to approve.
What is your turnaround time?
It is dependant on factory loadings at the time but we would normally suggest 3 weeks from receipt of fabric and components. We aim always for "in full and on time delivery".
Do you have minimum orders?
Our normal minimum is 50 units per style. We will make quantities less than 50 but a premium is charged to cover the cost of small runs.
How competitive is your pricing?
Competitive pricing is offered on volume.
Do you offer your services for overseas customers?
We have developed strong customer links in the UK, Australia and Canada offering our sourcing and manufacturing expertise. We are keen to develop relationships outside New Zealand and would welcome any enquiries. Specifically our expertise in fine merino knit, next to the skin garments has been an area of special interest for off shore customers.
How secure are our ideas with the big range of customers you make for?
We maintain high standards of confidentially with any ideas entrusted to us. We will not share your styles or patterns with any other customer. We are happy to sign confidentiality agreements if requested.
Do you have any specialist manufacturing plant?
Apart from the basic over-lock and plain sewing and cover-stitching plant we have the following specialist plant:
- Elasticating - both over-locking and flat-locking
- Heavy duty bar tacking
- Binding
- Button hole & button sew
- Flat seaming - which has become very important for building panel garments and highlighted stitching on sportswear.
We also have a Gerber Computer system for marker making and pattern grading.
