Why is sustainable clothing production still so hard for small brands?

I’ve been exploring the idea of starting a small womenswear line with a focus on sustainability, and one thing that keeps coming up is how complicated the production side is, especially if you’re trying to do it responsibly.

Finding the right factory, understanding materials, ensuring ethical production, managing small batches… it feels like most of the system is built for larger brands, not small or independent designers.

I keep wondering how smaller brands manage to stay sustainable while also dealing with things like:

• high minimum order quantities
• lack of transparency in pricing
• difficulty verifying factory practices
• logistics and shipping

While researching, I came across a platform called Greige that seems to handle production end-to-end, from sourcing to delivery, and claims to make things easier for smaller brands, even with no minimums. I’m still trying to understand how solutions like this fit into the sustainability space, especially when it comes to transparency and ethical sourcing.

Curious to hear from people here:

• How do small sustainable brands actually manage production in practice?
• Is it better to work directly with manufacturers, or use services that coordinate everything?
• What should someone new look out for if they want to keep things genuinely sustainable from the start?

Feels like this is one of the biggest barriers for anyone trying to build something thoughtful in fashion.