Home / Capacity

Crochet production capacity, stated plainly

Updated 18 October 2026 · Capacity, lead times and verification

Hand-crochet capacity is measured in artisan hands, not machine hours. This page sets out what the network can produce in a month, how those weeks are allocated when several buyers need the same ones, and how a buyer can check the numbers before committing to a bulk order.

The numbers we publish

Capacity figures are only useful to a buyer if each number has a definition attached. The table below states what each one covers and what it does not.

None of these figures is a promise for a specific order. A 40 cm crocheted figure and a 9 cm keychain consume very different amounts of hand time, so the honest answer to “how many can you make for me” always depends on the design. What the figures do is set the envelope inside which a quotation is built.

Why hand-crochet capacity behaves differently from machine capacity

A machine shop can state capacity as machine-hours multiplied by output per hour, and the number holds from one week to the next. Hand-crochet does not work that way. Output is the product of hands available, hours those hands work, and the complexity of the piece — and the third factor moves more than the first two.

Three consequences follow, and each one changes how an order should be planned:

• Capacity is a queue, not a tap. A base that is mid-run on another buyer's order cannot be redirected without displacing someone. That is why a production start date is booked rather than assumed.
• Complexity is the real constraint. On a simple keychain, doubling the order roughly doubles the hours. On a detailed amigurumi with fifteen separately worked parts, doubling the order can cost more than double, because the finishing steps do not batch neatly.
• Yarn is booked before hands are assigned. A shade that has to be dyed or imported adds days that no amount of extra artisans can recover. Consistent dye lots across a run matter more for repeat retail programmes than a slightly faster start.

How capacity is allocated when several buyers want the same weeks

Every year the same bottleneck appears: several programmes want cartons released in the same four to six weeks before the retail season. Allocation follows four rules, stated here so that a buyer can plan against them rather than discover them late.

1. Booking is against a production date, not a ship date. A buyer who says “I need it in November” is asking for a transit date; the slot is actually held against the day production must start.
2. Confirmed orders hold slots; enquiries do not. A deposit and an approved sample convert an enquiry into a booked slot. Until then the weeks remain open to other buyers.
3. Peak programmes are sequenced first. Orders tied to a fixed retail date are scheduled ahead of orders that can float, because a missed shelf date costs the buyer far more than a two-week delay on a flexible order.
4. Large runs can be split across bases. One order can be distributed over several production bases when the volume justifies it. Every base works to the same approved sample and the same QC gates, so quality stays consistent across the split.

What adds days, and what does not

The last two rows are the ones buyers most often get wrong. Compression packing changes freight cost, not the production calendar — it reduces the shipped cube on soft goods substantially, and the pieces recover their shape after unpacking. Laboratory testing for EN71 or ASTM F963 runs on the laboratory's schedule; a factory that promises to shorten it is promising something it does not control.

How to verify capacity before committing to a bulk order

Capacity claims are easy to make and hard to check, so the checks below are the ones a buyer can actually run.

• Third-party audit. TÜV Rheinland has audited the operation; the reports are numbered 481118286_T and 482384640_P+T and can be referenced against the entity named on the quotation.
• Pull-force records. Every run is sampled against a 90N pull-force standard, which sits above the EN71 requirement for attached parts. The records travel with the shipment.
• Three QC gates. Incoming yarn is checked before distribution, work in progress is checked at the base, and finished goods are checked before packing in the Yiwu centre. Each gate can stop a batch.
• A named production date in writing. The single most useful line on a supplier's confirmation is the date production starts, followed by the fixed weekly handover day.

Full audit and testing detail is on the TÜV audit and 90N pull-force page, and the production steps themselves are set out under manufacturing services.

Planning a first order against available capacity

A first order does not need to be large, but it does need to fit the way capacity is scheduled.

1. Start inside the minimum. 100 sets for plush figures and 200 pieces for floral and decorative work. Below that, hand-work set-up dominates the unit price.
2. Sample before bulk. A bespoke sample takes five to seven days and is credited against the bulk order, so approving a physical piece costs nothing if the design proceeds.
3. Quote against a real volume. Quotations are returned within 24 hours against a stated quantity, because price per unit moves with volume and with the number of designs in the run.
4. Book the week, not the month. Ask for the production start date and the handover day. Those two dates are what the rest of the plan hangs on.
5. Decide the freight mode early. Sea and air change the door-to-door date far more than any production tweak. Incoterms, freight and landed cost are covered on the DDP shipping page.

Frequently asked questions

Related: how a brief becomes an approved sample in 5–7 days · how a buyer verifies a 30,000+ artisan network before placing a sample order.