What to Watch Out For While Considering Clothing Suppliers

If you’ve come this far, you presumably already have a plan for launching a clothing company. You have identified a potential customer base and may even have sketched up some preliminary designs for the garments you plan to sell.

What steps should you take to choose a reliable garment manufacturer for your brand? 

According to Seam Apparel clothing manufacturer Research is the initial step. While there are many factories that make garments, not all of them will be compatible with your label.

Before starting a clothing factory, you need to decide what kinds of garments you want to make. It’s important that any potential garment manufacturers you work with have experience in your target demographic.

Once you’ve settled on a specific category of goods, you can start researching potential factories to produce them. Selecting a reliable manufacturing partner hinges on finding companies that specialize in creating the garments you plan to sell.

Competition in the garment industry is severe, with established names like Nike and H&M dominating the market due to their large pockets, celebrity endorsements, and decades of experience. Many prospective fashion businesses, however, are finding success through expansions in e-commerce and boutique clothing lines, so there is no reason you can’t either.

However, you have no idea how to locate clothing manufacturers for startup, so read on.

What traits are important for a clothing manufacturer to have?

If you are just beginning in the fashion sector, there are a few factors to keep in mind when choosing a clothing manufacturer.

There are varieties of manufactures available in market and many types of clothing factories exist, including:

·        Suppliers on contract

A contract manufacturer is a company that will make your garments on your behalf, usually according to your specifications. In cases where you require fewer garments than usual or are trying to track down a particularly rare style, this is a great option to consider.

·        Producing for private label

To have custom garments produced with your own brand name is the specialty of private label manufacturers. This is a great option for those who don’t place a high value on originality but still need to get a product out to consumers as soon as possible.

Clothing manufacturer both here and abroad

You’ll have to make a decision between manufacturing partners in your own country or region, and those in other parts of the world. The usual options for this are Asian, American, and European manufacturers (typically China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh). 

You might be able to make it work if being locally manufactured is important to you, even if it is unusual to find financially viable garment producers in less developed countries.

Practical knowledge of competing brands

This is a great indicator of a manufacturer’s reliability. See if you can find out what other companies they’ve designed clothes for. Then, check out their respective online establishments.

How successful are they?

How reliable are the testimonials they display? 

Inquire on the manufacturers’ reputations with such businesses by speaking with their owners. Was there an issue, if any? 

Does the quality meet their expectations? 

Nothing inspires more trust in a manufacturer than feedback from actual customers. Or, they may alert you to potential problems, leading you to look into a different manufacturer.

Definition of quality

Asking a manufacturer through email and blindly trusting their response is not an option here. However, you can learn more about the manufacturer by reading online reviews, visiting the factory (if allowed), and purchasing test samples.

If you care about your reputation, you should make sure the manufacturer produces high-quality garments. When it comes to apparel, it’s better to spend a little more and get peace of mind than to risk your good name and try to save a buck.

Ability to produce

It’s possible you won’t give this any thought until the economy is doing better. When you first open a shop, all your attention may be focused on securing that first order and making sales. 

But suppose business is strong and things go more smoothly than expected. Do you think your tailor will be able to increase production speed and quantity in the future? That’s why it’s important to find out how much output your supplier is capable of.

If necessary, make sure they have the option to raise the level. Inquire about the turnaround time or lead time necessary for the manufacturer to fulfill your order.