Frequently asked questions about sourcing with ZER0
Twenty answers to what buyers actually ask us: what ZER0 is, what the minimums depend on, which categories and countries we cover, which certifications the partner base holds, how recycled fibre is traced, how sampling works in 3D, what the lead time means, and how a request for quotation starts.
What does ZER0 do?
ZER0 is a sourcing house for responsible apparel. We take a brief from a brand or retailer, match it to the origin and the line that wins that style on capability, engineer the fabric against the programme, prove the garment in 3D, and stay accountable from the first sketch to the shelf. Certified and traceable, or it does not ship.
Who does ZER0 work with?
Our customers are brands and retailers who outsource and want to do better without slowing down. They stay with their customers, we stay accountable in between. The people who costed your programme have also stood on the line that sews it, which is the reason one company can carry a brief from concept through to delivery.
Is ZER0 a marketplace?
No. ZER0 LLC was founded in the United States in June 2022 with a marketplace thesis, and the field test answered the question: access was not the hardest problem. What buyers lacked was someone accountable when design met cost, sampling met production, or a delivery date started moving. ZER0 today is that accountable partner, not a listing.
What is ZER0's minimum order quantity?
We work with low MOQ, and the honest answer is a dependency rather than a figure. Minimums are style, origin, raw material and design dependent, so we quote them per programme instead of publishing one number that would not fit your style. Lower minimums mean more styles tested and fewer wrong ones bought.
Which product categories does ZER0 source?
Thirteen: casual wovens, outerwear, active and athleisure, sleepwear, home textiles, lounge, woven bottoms, knitwear, innerwear, kids, denim, swim and beach, and footwear. Twelve of them have their own page carrying the decks behind them; home textiles is on enquiry. The range is held to the same operating method whichever floor it lands on.
Which countries does ZER0 produce in?
Five: India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and China. India is the home base, sixteen facilities with fibre to garment inside one group. Bangladesh has three, woven and knit, export only. Sri Lanka has one, seam sealed and functional outdoor. Myanmar has one. China has two partner factories with one sourcing affiliate alongside.
How many partner factories are in the network?
Twenty three partner factories across those five countries, inside a network of 22 countries counting offices, partner desks, affiliates and markets. What each origin makes is stated and the country with it; the address is not. Facilities are named under MOU, so the name belongs in a signed conversation rather than on a public page.
Where are ZER0's offices?
Four offices: Montreal, Atlanta, Chennai and New York. Four partner desks: Dhaka, Bengaluru, Delhi and Tirupur. Management is decentralised on purpose. Offices sit where our customers are and production sits where it is made best, so the person who takes the brief sits in your time zone and the person who builds it sits on the floor.
Which certifications does the partner base hold?
Eleven marks in three groups. Certifications awarded against a standard and audited to keep it: GOTS, OEKO-TEX Standard 100, WRAP and Better Cotton. Audit programmes a facility is assessed against: amfori BSCI, Sedex SMETA, SLCP, ICS and Higg. Authorisations and building marks: Disney FAMA and IGBC. A mark appears only while it is current.
Can I see the certificates?
Certificates are provided on request under NDA, never as scans on a public page, and never after a mark has lapsed. We also keep the distinction that most suppliers blur: amfori BSCI, Sedex SMETA, ICS, SLCP and Higg are audit programmes a facility was assessed against, not certifications awarded to a garment.
Is the recycled fibre certified and traceable?
Yes. The recycled cotton and polyester are GRS certified and traceable from recovered material to finished garment. DNA tracer particles give the fibre a unique fingerprint before spinning, so the claim can be checked at yarn, fabric or garment rather than taken on trust. When a number cannot be verified, we do not publish it.
What is Waste2Wear?
ZER0's circular programme: recovered fibre in, finished garment out, traceable at every step. Colour sorted cotton waste and recovered PET are processed back into fibre, blended to ratio, traced, spun, knitted or woven, then cut and sewn through the partner network. Colour is retained or engineered at fibre, so there is no wet dyeing stage.
What are ZER0's five material systems?
Z-TEC, Z-MELD, Z-ENZO, Z-EON and Z-BLU. Each is a fibre system rather than a name: biodegradable recycled PET with blockchain traceability; that blended with recycled post-industrial cotton; recycled cotton with new age viscose and cellulosics; organic or regenerative cotton with rPET; and recycled and faux denim. What a programme needs decides which one it runs on.
How much does recycled material actually save?
Measured by third-party LCA, not asserted. Green Story life cycle assessment, 2021, per kilogram of finished clothing against the conventional equivalent: recycled cotton uses 99% less blue water, 96% less greenhouse gas and up to 76% less energy. Recycled polyester on the same basis: 92% less blue water, 94% less greenhouse gas, 80% less energy.
What capacity does the network have?
The partner network produces 4.5M+ sellable units a month across 22 countries, working as one network. It runs on 40+MW of renewable energy at source. On the team's own operating record it uses 92% less water and emits 74% less CO2, a different scope from the third-party LCA and labelled as such.
How does sampling work?
We prove the garment before it exists. CLO 3D puts it in front of you as a rendered sample, at the right fabric weight and drape, before a metre is cut. Fewer physical rounds, less freight, and the decision made earlier, where it is cheapest to make. Design is where waste is cheapest to remove.
Does ZER0 develop fabric, or only source it?
Both. Construction, weight, hand and finish are developed against the programme rather than selected from a shelf. Four families run across the base: knits, wovens, natural and low-impact dye routes developed in India, and GRS certified recycled. Develop your own fabric with us, or choose from what the base already runs.
How does ZER0 choose the origin for a style?
On capability, not convenience. Each product has a primary origin and an alternate: innerwear India or Bangladesh, knitwear India or China, outerwear and technical Sri Lanka then Myanmar or China, woven bottoms Bangladesh or India, swim and active Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, home textiles India or China. The alternate is where the style goes when the calendar, the duty line or capacity says so.
What is the lead time?
Fifteen day OTIF on programmed styles. That is a network figure, measured across the partner base rather than promised per style, and a programmed style is one already developed and approved. New development runs to a calendar, costing and critical path agreed with you at the start, against a landed number you can hold us to.
How does a request for quotation start?
Three questions, not a form: what you are making, roughly what volume, and the origin you want or a request that we route it for you, plus the target season. A sourcing lead reads it within one business day and replies with a recommended origin, an indicative FOB and the compliance position for your buyer. No automated sequence.
Ask us what is not here
Tell us what you make, where you sell, and what you wish your supply chain could prove. We come back with a plan, not a pitch.