What are the key trade-offs between Far East and European glass bottle suppliers, and who supplies coloured glass with reasonable MOQs?

**Far East vs. European suppliers**

Members' experience suggests Far East suppliers offer cheaper set-up costs and are willing to produce small first runs, but come with significant drawbacks:

- **Xilong** — Chinese supplier (contact: Rachel at +86 182 5869 2627, www.xilong-glass.com). Upsides: cheap set-up, will produce sample bottles for ~$2,000 and a design in a few weeks. Downsides: poor quality control with high bottle variance/tolerance, bottles arrive dirty, inconsistent fill levels, urgent orders require expensive air freight (eliminating cost savings), payment upfront (poor cash flow vs. European terms and free stock holding). - **European suppliers** — Generally better quality control and payment terms, but can have their own issues. Members reported one major European supplier shipping incorrect sizes (75cl mixed with 70cl in a single load) and being slow/unresponsive to queries.

**Coloured glass suppliers with lower MOQs**

- **Vetroelite** — Can colour glass for an extra per-bottle cost. MOQs described as "not crazy." Contact: Loris at l.traverso@vetroelite.com. - **Allied Glass** — MOQs around 40–50k units (considered low for coloured glass). Contact: Nolan at NKane@allied-glass.com. - **Unltd Beer** (contact: Jonny) — Bottles described as "not cheap" but MOQs are not too high.

**Caveats:** European quality is more consistent, but members have experienced errors and poor communication even from major suppliers. Far East cost savings often evaporate when urgent orders require air freight.