Constar Publishes 55-Day Contact Lens Production Timeline as Brands Plan 2027 Ranges

Oct 15, 2026

Baiyin, Gansu Oct 14, 2026 (Issuewire.com) - The manufacturer has published the stage-by-stage schedule it applies from first enquiry to goods leaving the factory, showing 10 days of sampling ahead of a 30 to 45 day production run.

Contact lens manufacturer Constar has published the production timeline it applies to private label orders, setting out a 55-day factory-side window from first enquiry to goods leaving the building. The company released the schedule as brand owners begin planning ranges for 2027.

The timeline runs in four stages. On day one, a buyer submits a brief covering target market, lens type, replacement cycle and quantity, and Constar's team responds within 12 hours. Between day one and day ten, the company produces physical samples using the buyer's selected patterns, and delivers packaging proofs digitally in parallel, so that artwork approval and lens approval can proceed at the same time rather than one after the other. On days 11 and 12, the buyer signs off samples and packaging artwork, and production begins once the deposit is received. From day 12, a full production run takes 30 to 45 days, after which the lenses are quality-checked and shipped through the company's own logistics network, DHL, FedEx or sea freight.

The schedule makes one part of the process unusually explicit. The first 12 days are the only stage of the process the buyer controls. Sampling runs to a fixed internal timetable of about ten days, but the approval step does not. Every additional round of sample revisions or artwork changes moves the ship date by the same number of days, because production cannot begin until both are signed off. For a brand working backwards from a fixed retail launch date, that front end is the variable that determines the outcome.

Constar said it published the schedule so that buyers can plan backwards from a launch date rather than forwards from a purchase order. The company noted that seasonal programmes are planned furthest ahead, because a production run and shipping transit are additive and neither can be compressed once a slot is booked.

Constar states that compliance documentation, including CE, ISO and FDA paperwork and QC reports, is provided once an order is confirmed rather than after production, so that import and market registration steps can begin while the lenses are still being manufactured.

The company operates six production facilities across Gansu and Hunan provinces in China, with a combined output of approximately 15 million lenses per month, and obtained ISO 13485 quality management certification in 2017. It holds CE 0197 certification for the European Union alongside FDA clearance, and its design studio develops more than 1,000 new patterns each month. Constar supplies OEM, ODM and private label manufacturing to contact lens brands and distributors.

"The number that surprises most buyers is not the length of the production run," said a manufacturing representative at Constar. "It is how much of the schedule sits in front of production. Ten days of sampling and two days of approval look small on a plan, but every extra day a buyer spends on sample revisions or artwork changes moves the ship date by exactly one day."

Constar publishes a seasonal ordering calendar for brands planning ranges around peak demand and a guide to the FDA 510(k) process for contact lens brand owners, Minimum order quantities and sampling terms for private label programmes are set out.

The company said the timeline applies to catalogue-pattern programmes and excludes shipping transit, which varies by destination market and by shipping method.

About Constar

Gansu Constar Technology Group Co., Ltd., which trades as Constar Factory, is a contact lens manufacturer headquartered in Baiyin, Gansu Province, China. The company operates six production facilities across Gansu and Hunan provinces with a combined output of approximately 15 million lenses per month, and supplies OEM, ODM and private label contact lens manufacturing to brands and distributors. Constar holds CE 0197 certification for the European Union and ISO 13485 quality management certification. The company is the only contact lens manufacturer in China to hold FDA, CE and ISO 13485 certification simultaneously.