FAQs

Choosing a contract-manufacturing partner for your brand isn’t an easy job, but there’s a number of things you should consider when making your decision. This could include product type, formulation, production volume, budget and even quality standards, but one of the key drivers for our customers is relationship and customer service.

At Design Plus, providing an outstanding customer service is our upmost priority. Researching customer testimonials, case studies and recommendations is a sensible idea before choosing a contract manufacturer. Try to speak to the team and build a relationship beforehand; consider the company values, ethos and culture and see if those align with your own.

We understand how confusing and daunting it can be when researching contract manufacturing methods, so we’ve provided a brief explanation below, of the difference between contract manufacture and private label. Contract manufacture is when two parties enter into an agreement to produce components or products over a specified timeframe resulting in the company receiving goods with their own branding. Private label however, is when a retailer has goods produced by a third party but sells it under their desired brand name. The retailer retains control over the entire product and brand.

If you’re looking for a private label manufacturing partner, Design Plus offers a bespoke service and we’d be happy to discuss in more detail. Alternatively, you can read more about our full service contract manufacture and private label offering on our website.  

Not far from the great British seaside, and the famous Eric Morecambe statue, Design Plus is based in the North West of England, in… you guessed it, Morecambe.

If you’re not familiar, it’s an hour North of Manchester and close to the beautiful Lake District. We’re a dedicated and friendly bunch, housed at our 34,000 sq. ft Morecambe site complete with account management, laboratory, quality control, finance, marketing, manufacturing, production and warehouse departments.

At Design Plus, we manufacture a huge range of health and beauty products. Our on-site R&D and production facilities allow us to offer a large choice of filled products such as: facial masks, creams and cleansers, shampoos and conditioners, sun care and tanning, as well as a range of supplement and consumable formats including liquids, powders, tablets and chewables in sports diet, women’s health and children’s health.

The possibilities are almost endless and our friendly sales team would love to get to know your brand’s vision and discuss your product brief and requirements.

We are a full service contract manufacturer which means we do everything from concept through to delivery of finished goods, ensuring the process is seamless and stress-free for the customer! Our main point of difference is our dynamic and personable approach, complete with your own dedicated account manager. Our aim is to offer you full support throughout the project exploring growth opportunities for the brand. Feel free to reach out to the team with any questions, or read more about our full service manufacture process offering on our website. Alternatively we can support private label and own brand product manufacturing, with facilities’ to support and help you create your own unique, private label health and beauty products.

If you're looking for a packaging partner or contract manufacturer, you're likely wondering what the minimum order quantity is. At Design Plus, we offer a range of MOQs depending on the product type. For sachets, our MOQ is 50k. However, we understand that this may not always be feasible. That's why we're happy to discuss your requirements and can be flexible if we’re manufacturing multiple products together, on one production run.

For bottles, tubes, and jars, our MOQ is typically between 5k and 10k units. This can be subject to the product itself, appropriate batch sizes, fill level, and component MOQs – so it’s always worth a conversation with one of our account managers to see how we can make things work. If you have any questions about our MOQs or packaging solutions, please contact our lovely team.

Design Plus have a number of experienced partners overseas enabling us to work with and ship products overseas cost-effectively. 

Our pricing is completely bespoke to the project requirements meaning we can tailor delivery to suit. We would love to hear from you if your product or brand is overseas, and you would like to discuss overseas fulfilment. Please get in touch so we can explore in more detail.

Absolutely! We’ve collaborated with many indie brands and pride ourselves in helping scale niche brands after supporting them through their infancy stages.

We know how daunting it can feel if you’re at the start of your brand or product journey but at Design Plus we have the capabilities to quickly on board you and support your brand vision and growth plan. If scalability is a concern, you can feel confident knowing that Design Plus is part of Laleham Health & Beauty, which is one of the largest health and beauty manufacturers in the UK and have worked with over 125 global leading brands. Please contact us if you’re starting out – we’d be delighted to help your brand grow!

Our innovation and laboratory team prides itself on creating bespoke products for our customers that align with their unique ethos and vision.

Our process ensures that each product is one-of-a-kind and not seen on any other shelves. We believe that the intellectual property of these products should always belong to the brand.

We’re really proud of our unique approach to product formulation. We work closely with each brand from the initial brief to the final formulation to fully understand and meet the brand’s vision and goals.

From the initial kick-off meeting you’ll be assigned a dedicated account manager that will live and breathe your brand and product, supporting you throughout your manufacturing journey. Our team of experts utilises their vast knowledge and expertise to ensure a smooth process from concept to full-scale manufacture.

What makes our customer journey so successful is the personal approach we take. We love it when brands get involved in the formulation process as this allows us to sculpt your perfect product.

You will team up with one of our dedicated account managers and development chemists to work closely throughout the formulation process where you can discuss ingredient function and benefit as well as sampling textures and fragrances. 

Design Plus is the ideal production partner for brands seeking to scale up their operations. Our team ensures a smooth transition, while maintaining high-quality standards and customer service for full-service brands. With the ability to cater efficiently up to and in excess of 1m units, we guarantee seamless production across our site or our sister site, Laleham Health & Beauty.

Ensuring your move to Design Plus is both seamless and stress-free, whilst mitigating potential risk and offering complete transparency from the get-go is extremely important to us. Ultimately, you can feel confident and in safe hands with Design Plus. Get in touch to see how we can help your brand's production, scale to new heights.

Whilst our lead times may vary, our standard order lead-time is generally around 12 weeks. This can be driven by a number of factors including raw material and packaging choices but don’t worry, if minimal lead-times are important to you, please let us know at the initial kick off meeting and project brief so your account manager can source materials to suit your timings.

For full service manufacture, from the initial project brief to delivery of your product, it can take on average from 9 to 12 months.  As mentioned above, you can discuss specific requirements and timings in more detail with your account manager and together we can put together a critical path.

Fees are completely bespoke to each project and are therefore discussed and agreed at the point of brief. These charges may include testing, regulatory support, user trails etc. depending on exact project requirements.

We don’t currently develop or manufacture colour cosmetics.

To ensure complete ease for customer, typically Design Plus supply all packaging for products within our full service offering. However, we are more than happy to consider packaging you may have already sourced as an option, or we can work with our portfolio of tried and tested suppliers to find something similar instead.

Our customers often find this useful as it can provide a host of benefits such as recycled content and even price point. If you prefer the free issue route, we welcome you to supply the packaging.

As we collaborate with a number of high profile, globally recognised brands and customers, respecting their confidence is paramount, so we are unable to detail exactly whom we work with. That said, we welcome you to visit us at our Morecambe site. There, you’ll have the the opportunity to view samples of products we have previously developed and manufactured, and maybe you’ll even have time to stop by the promenade for an ice cream by the sea!