How to Start a Jewelry Brand With a Bangkok Factory: Step by Step

Most jewelry brands start the same way: a few designs, a clear idea of who will wear them, and the question of who will actually make them. This guide walks through how a new brand works with a Bangkok factory, from the first sketch to stock on your shelf, using our own real minimums and timelines.

We make jewelry for other brands under their names, so these are the steps our clients go through with us. The order matters. Most delays and extra costs come from making a decision late that could have been made early.

Step 1: Decide what you are selling and to whom

Before any design work, settle three things: your customer, your retail price range and your metal. The metal decides more than anything else. Solid gold puts you in fine jewelry, with a higher price per piece and very small minimums. 925 sterling silver gives you a lower entry price and slightly larger runs. Plated silver sits between the two in look and cost.

Write the answer down in a sentence, for example “14k gold birthstone rings for gift buyers, retail around a few hundred dollars”. Every later choice gets easier when that sentence exists.

Step 2: Plan a small first collection

The brands that get the best first result start with fewer designs than they want to. Four to six pieces made properly beat twelve made thinly. A small collection keeps sample costs down, lets you test which pieces sell, and leaves budget for the reorder of your bestseller.

A useful pattern is one hero piece, two or three supporting pieces in the same style, and one lower priced entry item such as a stud or a small pendant.

Step 3: Turn ideas into designs

You have three routes, and you can mix them:

• Your own designs. Send sketches, reference photos or a finished CAD file.
• Our designs, your brand. Choose pieces from our wholesale catalog and sell them under your name.
• A blend. Start from a catalog piece and change the size, stone or finish.

For custom work, our designers build a 3D CAD model and renders. Design starts at $30 per design and rises with the complexity of the piece, and each design takes 2 to 3 days. Check the renders carefully for size, proportions and stone sizes. Changes are cheap at this stage and expensive later.

Step 4: Choose metals and stones

We work in 925 sterling silver, 9k, 14k and 18k gold, and platinum. Silver can be plated in yellow, rose or white tones. Our page on working with a sterling silver jewelry manufacturer explains plating and finishes in detail.

For stones, decide early between natural gemstones and lab-grown diamonds, and how closely the stones must match across the run. We set both, lab-grown stones are always labeled as lab-grown, and any stone treatment is disclosed before you order. For a monthly stone line, read how we work as a birthstone jewelry manufacturer.

Step 5: Approve samples

Samples take 3 to 4 weeks after you approve the design. A sample is the one moment you can hold the piece before committing to a full run, so use it well:

• Wear it for a few days. Check comfort, clasp strength and how the finish holds up.
• Weigh it and measure it against the CAD.
• Photograph it in daylight to see the real metal color and stone color.
• Approve it in writing, with any changes listed clearly.

The approved sample becomes the standard that production is checked against.

Step 6: Set quantities

Minimums depend on the value of each piece. As a low MOQ jewelry manufacturer, we start solid gold from a single piece, depending on the value of the item, and 925 sterling silver from 30 pieces per design. Unusual stone sizes or tight color matching can raise the minimum, because we buy a parcel and select from it.

When you ask for pricing, ask for two or three quantities at once. Seeing the price per piece at different quantities shows where the setup costs stop mattering, and it helps you decide how deep to go on each design.

Step 7: Put your brand on the piece

Private label means the finished jewelry carries your name, not ours. Working with a private label jewelry manufacturer, you can usually include:

• Your logo or maker’s mark stamped next to the metal purity stamp.
• Engraving inside rings or on tags.
• Your boxes, pouches, cards and certificates.
• Barcodes and labels ready for your warehouse.

Send your logo files and packaging details with the sample approval so they are ready when production starts.

Step 8: Production

Production takes 4 to 6 weeks after sample approval. Payment is 50 percent before production and 50 percent before shipping. During production, the pieces are cast, assembled, set, polished and, where needed, plated. If you have a fixed launch date, tell us at the first email so the schedule is built around it.

Step 9: Quality control

Before packing, finished pieces are checked against the approved sample. The checks cover metal stamps, dimensions and weight, stone setting and color, polish and plating, and the function of clasps and moving parts. Pieces that do not match the sample are reworked before shipping. If you want photos or a video of the finished run before it ships, ask for it when you place the order.

Step 10: Shipping and import

We ship worldwide by FedEx or DHL. You, as the importer, pay any duty in your country. Duty depends on the product code and the country of origin, and in the United States it has changed several times since 2025. Our guide on Thailand vs China jewelry manufacturing gives the US rate for Thai goods as of October 2026 with its official source. Confirm the current rate with your customs broker before you set retail prices.

Step 11: Reorder what sells

The second order is usually the easy one. The mold exists, the sample is approved and the workshop knows the piece, so re-orders take about 4 weeks. Watch which designs sell in the first weeks and reorder those first, rather than adding new designs too early.

A realistic timeline

From first enquiry to finished stock, a new custom collection usually takes 6 to 10 weeks with us. The part you control most is decision time: how fast designs, samples and quantities are approved. Brands that answer within a day or two at each stage tend to land at the shorter end.