Weighted Blanket OEM: What Your Factory Needs Before Quoting

Send a factory “weighted blanket, queen, grey” and you will get a number, but not a useful one. Weight, media, grid, fabric and layer stack each move the cost, the hand and the machine time. Here is what the plant needs before it can quote.

What Goes Into a Weighted Blanket

Five parts decide everything: the shell, the lining, the weighting media, the wadding that softens the hand, and the compartment grid that keeps the media where it was placed.

• Shell fabric and lining
• Weighting media: glass beads or plastic pellets
• Wadding layer for hand and bulk
• Compartment grid stitched to hold the media
• Bound edge, label and packing

Finished weight drives the rest. Heavier builds need tighter grids, stronger seam engineering and more sewing time per unit, and the media choice decides how the weight behaves in use and in the wash.

Glass Beads vs. Plastic Pellets

Glass microbeads are dense, so a given finished weight needs less volume: the blanket stays thin and drapes close. They are quiet, they do not soften under heat, and they cost more per kilo.

Plastic pellets are lighter per unit volume, so the same weight fills a thicker blanket. They feel softer, cost less, and rattle when the grid is loose or soften in a hot dryer.

Either way, containment matters more than the media. Pockets must be small enough that beads cannot travel, and seams strong enough that the shell never carries the load alone.

Grid Size and Weight Distribution

Grid size is the distance between the stitch lines forming each pocket. A tighter grid keeps the media where it sits and stops it pooling at one end; it also adds machine time and thread.

Size the grid to the bead and to the finished weight, then check a filled panel flat on a table. If the media collects in a corner, the grid is too large or the fill is loose.

Ask for a filled sample rather than a shell sample. Photograph the panel after a shake; that photo becomes the spec, and it is what our manufacturing and quality checks are written against.

Fabric and Layer Options

Brushed microfibre, cotton, bamboo viscose, minky and faux fur all appear outside. The lining matters as much: it must resist bead abrasion over years of use.

A three-layer build is shell, bead pocket and wadding. A five-layer build adds a second wadding or a cooling face, which changes the hand, the packing volume and the cost. The catalogue range sits under blankets and throws.

What Your Tech Pack Must Include

A weighted blanket tech pack is not a photo with a weight written on it. It needs:

• Finished size and finished weight, by size, with tolerance
• Media: material and bead size range
• Fill tolerance per pocket
• Grid pattern, spacing, stitch type and thread
• Shell and lining fibre, colour and colourfastness requirement
• Edge finish, label placement and care content
• Packing: vacuum, roll or retail carton

Send tolerances, not just targets. A blanket quoted at a nominal weight with no tolerance gets argued about at inspection, and nobody wins that argument.

Labels, hangtags and cartons run under our OEM and private label program, so artwork approval lands before bulk starts.

Typical MOQ and Lead Times

Our typical OEM MOQ is around 300 pieces, confirmed per order once material, colour, size, construction and packaging are fixed. Custom-dyed shell fabric and printed packaging are what lift that figure.

Sampling takes about 7 days from confirmed spec and materials; bulk about 30 days after the signed sample, confirmed order and materials are in hand. A weighted blanket carries more sewing time than a plain duvet, so a five-SKU launch ordered at once is a scheduling conversation, not an assumption.

Put size range, weights and grid on one sheet and send it through our quote request page; the reply can compare builds instead of guessing.

FAQ