About Zest

 
 
 

Zest was founded in 2011 and headquartered in the vibrant textiles production city of NanTong, Jiangsu. We are specialists in the design and production of premium women's apparel for the sophisticated markets of North America, Europe, and Australia. Our clients cover missy and plus-size markets, boutique brands, as well as national retail chains. Some brands we've worked with include: Joseph Ribkoff, Insight New York, Laura Canada, Caroline Biss, Bardot Australia, among others. With experience spanning two decades in the garments industry, our team brings an unparalleled depth of experience and knowledge to every facet of our operations.

Since inception, Zest’s focus has been in high-quality, mid-to-high tier garments manufacturing. Our supply chain and our workers’ expertise are all built around this positioning.

Over the years, Zest has gained deep expertise in working with specialty fabric including faux suede, faux leather, pleated, printed, and lace. Our deep investment in faux fabric has led Zest to innovate in this area, creating with our trusted fabric mills special distressed and metallic faux fabric styles.

Our History

  • 2013, Establishing Zest

Zest was founded by industry veteran Ms. Lindsay Shi, who had worked in Nantong's apparel industry for many years, most recently as the Canadian representative of a well-known local garments factory.

In 2013, after living abroad for over a decade, Lindsay realized there was a significant unmet need in the garments production industry. After communicating with several up-and-coming brands, she realized there was a gap that was left unfilled: most garment factories could not fully understand stylish designs with intricate details and also efficiently realize the designer's work in bulk production scale, high quality, especially at less than mass-market MOQ quantities.

The majority of Nantong’s garment factories had been set up to serve clients that produced similar styles each year, and their processes did not facilitate nimble development of new styles with accurate communication on details with clients. Lindsay set up Zest Apparel to merge fashion's fast-paced development and high-quality production needs.

  • 2013, US Market

Zest's embarked on its journey serving our first clients in Manhattan, New York. Ever since, the United States has been a key market for us, and we travel to Manhattan's garment district each year to communicate clients needs in person. We are proud that we are still working with our very first client today.

  • 2014, Australia Market

In 2014, we ventured into the Australian market, where we started serving a fast-paced local fashion power-house. This collaboration stressed-tested our capabilities, as the client demanded style, quality, timeliness, as well as reasonable prices. We gained an understanding of Australia's unique design-driven fashion scene, with our sampling room churning out newly developed styles for clients on a weekly basis. Working with this fashion forward brand, who had multiple products composed of lace, sequin, and print fabric, Zest's team established strong sourcing and production capabilities in these product lines.

  • 2015, Canada Market

With Zest's founder Lindsays' decade of experience living in Canada, Zest has inseparable ties with the Canadian market. We began working closely with upscale Canadian designer brands, local retail brands with national chains, and lifestyle brands in Canada in 2015. Now a Canadian through naturalization, Lindsay and her team are always delighted to travel home and visit clients in Vancouver and Montreal.

  • 2016, Sampling Room Expanded

In 2016, we expanded our sampling room to 500 sqm, which was at the time very large for our size. We understand that flexibility to help realize new products from scratch is very important to our clients, who fuse new trends with their signature motifs. We started to work with clients in Canada who distributed their brands to other retail boutiques, with higher demand for sales samples. Our experienced seamstresses worked hard to ensure clients had enough sample products to support their sales teams.

  • 2016, Europe Market

Our venturing in Europe began in 2016, when a premium womenswear designer brand client invited us to be one of their long-term key suppliers. Zest has always been very thoughtful in the treatment of our workers, ensuring fair treatment, reasonable hours, and above-market wages to account for their skilled labor. Our engagement with European clients required Zest to pass client’s fair trade and human rights requirements. We continue to develop our employees and value their loyalty to our company.

  • 2017, Proprietary Faux Fabric R&D

In 2017, to better serve clients with demand in faux suede and leather products, we signed a legally binding collaboration agreement with our key fabric supplier to guarantee timely fabric supply and jointly develop proprietary new fabrics together. Faux suede and faux leather has been a specialty of ours since founding, and we currently churn out 100,000 pieces of faux fabric jackets each year. Over the years, Zest has developed printed patterns, specialty trims, proprietary distressed and metallic effects, and other innovations for our faux fabric product lines. We provide these proprietary products to our clients, helping clients stand out with unique styles and finishes.

  • 2018, Jacket and Outerwear Factory

With each year, as our expertise in jackets, coats, and outerwear continued to deepen, the popularity of these product lines grew. To handle additional orders and to further increase our specialized expertise in this area, Zest designated a new factory specifically for the production of jackets and outerwear.

  • 2019, Design Development Team

2019 marks Zest's transition into a full-fledged ODM factory. In addition to our pattern making, material sourcing, and sampling services we had been offering to clients, we hired a design development team to provide original designs to clients.

  • 2020, Staying Strong during Covid

When Covid hit in 2020, Zest took measures to ensure we support our employee and community, while at the same time making arrangements to make sure clients' production can still be met with irregular closures of factories. Zest established a Covid task-force to ensure the health condition of our workers, and provide necessary flexibility during trying times. We made sure all workers received necessary Covid protection equipment, even beyond the workspace. When the city districts occasionally shut down business activity, we took measures to ensure stay-at-home employees had access to enough food and daily items. Trying times calls for resilience and adaptability, Zest continued to operate and meet production requirements for clients throughout the Covid years.

  • 2022, Office Expansion

In 2022, our team expanded to occupy another floor in our building, offering our office employees a better work environment. Two new display rooms, one for jackets and one for womenswear were set up and includes hundreds of pieces of sample work we've produced for clients over the years.

  • 2023, Sustainable Sourcing Initiative

Since inception, Zest's factory grounds and facilities were built with sustainability in mind. Our factory building was built with energy-efficiency, waste reduction, and water conservation in-mind and has passed environmental assessments. Aside from our own operations, to further increase our focus on sustainability, we established Zest's Sustainable Sourcing initiative. We surveyed and examined our database of vendors, and conducted an audit to verify certified sustainable eco-friendly fabrics and materials suppliers. We made sure our newest product developments had sustainable fabric alternatives, which we can recommend to clients. Several of our key fabric suppliers are now GOTS and/or OEKO-TEX certified.

Key Highlights

Strong Sourcing Capability

Garment production is a complex process that relies on a network of trusted partners. Over the years, we've meticulously cultivated relationships with reliable fabric and material suppliers. These partners are not only collaborative and flexible but also adept at meeting our precise timing and quantity requirements. We regularly develop new materials with our fabric and material partners to provide a creative edge to our clients. Our long-term relationships enable us to procure materials at competitive prices, fostering efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Understanding of Design

Communication is a fundamental factor in bringing clients' garment designs to life. It goes beyond merely following instructions; it involves understanding the design concept and its key details. At Zest, we take great pride in our clear and timely communication with clients. Our proficiency in English, including Zest’s owner and manager Lindsay Shi's 15 years of living abroad in Canada, enables us to bridge any communication gaps and bring clients' design visions to fruition.

Co-development with Clients

We take pride in our ability to work closely with clients to develop new garment designs. Our experienced in-house teams for sampling, pattern-making, and grading have honed their skills through years of collaboration. We engage in co-development until our clients are fully satisfied and approve of our work. Leveraging our extensive expertise with various clothing types and materials, we're often able to offer valuable recommendations to clients when requested.

Quality First

Our extensive history of serving mid- and high-end brands in Europe and North America has instilled in us a deep understanding of the quality standards demanded by discerning consumers. At Zest, we hold ourselves to the highest quality standards. Quality for us means meticulous attention to detail at every stage of the production process. We enforce rigorous quality control procedures and prioritize continuous education for our workforce to maintain the highest standards of craftsmanship.