About BatchOrder
We only make
what's ordered.
BatchOrder is a marketplace for independent designers who believe clothing should be made with intention — not speculation. Every piece starts with a commitment.
Why we built this
The problem with fashion is structural.
Every year, the fashion industry produces an estimated 30% more clothing than it can sell. Not 5%. Not an edge case. Thirty percent. Garments manufactured on speculation, shipped across the world, marked down until they move, and when they don't — burned or buried. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation puts the value of what's discarded at $500 billion annually.
Independent designers get squeezed hardest by this system. They can't afford minimum order quantities. They can't absorb the risk of making 500 shirts and selling 80. So either the idea never gets made, or it gets made badly — overpriced to cover the risk, underbuilt to cut costs, or abandoned mid-run when the math stops working.
BatchOrder is built on a different premise: nothing should exist until there's real demand for it. Not projected demand. Not hoped-for demand. Real people, real commitments, real cards authorized before a single thread is cut.
The Model
Demand confirmed before production begins.
01
A Maker sets a batch minimum
Independent designers upload their work, choose a garment type, set a price, and define the minimum number of orders needed before they'll manufacture. No upfront production cost. No risk.
02
Backers commit — cards authorized, not charged
When a backer clicks "Back This," their card is authorized for the purchase amount. This is a hold — like a hotel reservation — not a payment. The money stays in their account.
03
Batch fills or it doesn't
If the campaign reaches its minimum before the deadline, cards are captured and production begins. If it doesn't, every hold is automatically released. No one pays. Nothing ships. Nothing is wasted.
Fee Structure
Transparent by design.
We charge 20% on successful batches only. If a batch doesn't fill, BatchOrder earns nothing — and neither do we benefit from your failure. That's not a marketing claim. It's how the money actually works.
Where the 20% goes
Operations
Hosting, payments, support, tooling
Community pool
50% Maker rebates · 30% sustainability fund · 20% community vote
Platform development
Features, security, infrastructure
Real Numbers
What a $40 t-shirt batch actually looks like.
Batch size
50 units
T-shirt minimum
Gross revenue
$2,000
50 × $40
Platform fee (20%)
−$400
Only on success
Maker payout
~$1,520
After Stripe
Stripe processing (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) is passed through at cost and deducted from the Maker's portion. Actual payout varies slightly by transaction count. The 20% platform fee applies to the gross order total before Stripe fees.
What we believe
People. Planet. Art.
People
Independent designers deserve a platform that works for them — not one that extracts from them. Makers set their own prices. Makers set their own minimums. We provide the infrastructure; they keep control of their work.
Planet
Every completed BatchOrder batch avoids the speculative surplus that traditional brands produce. Based on industry average overproduction rates, a batch of 50 t-shirts is estimated to avoid ~60–100 kg of CO₂ and 50,000+ liters of water compared to a conventional production run. Zero overstock is not a goal. It's a guarantee.
Art
Clothing is a medium. The designers on this platform are artists who believe their work deserves to exist — not in a warehouse, not at a clearance rack, but on a person who chose it. We exist to make that possible.
Ready to back something worth making?
Or put your own work into the world.