How to Find High Quality Clothing Manufacturers

What's the best place to begin? Selling one of a kind items.

Of course, locating those one-of-a-kind items is a challenge. As a result, many businesses prefer to develop their own products.

Choosing what clothes to provide and to which sorts of customers are often tough decisions. Fortunately, there’s many guidance to assist you begin this process.

If you’re an entrepreneur who wants to launch your own clothing business with custom products, you’ll need your own designs. What’s more, you’ll also likely got to work with a clothing manufacturer to show these designs into products.

It can be difficult to decide what garments to supply and to which kind of customers. Fortunately, there is a wealth of information available to assist you in getting started.

You'll need your own designs if you're an entrepreneur who wants to start a clothing business with personalized products. Furthermore, you'll almost certainly need to collaborate with a clothes manufacturer to make your concepts a reality.

There's a lot to think about, so we've put together this guide to help you get started.

We’ll cover everything you would like to understand when trying to find a clothing manufacturer for your brand.

Let’s get started!

What to Look for in a Clothing Manufacturer

Before you choose a clothes manufacturer, there are a few things to think about if you're just starting out in the clothing company.

1 Can They Make Your Product?

This may seem like a silly question, but it's a crucial one. Not all clothing producers can produce a wide range of garments. Outdoor or exercise apparel, for example, frequently necessitates the use of special materials such as lycra or waterproof fabrics. You must ensure that the company you select is capable of producing the apparel items you desire. Even better, attempt to find a manufacturer that specializes in the type of apparel you want. If you want to start a clothing company that sells fashionable swimwear, you should work with a manufacturer who has a lot of experience with swimwear. For example, if you want to offer fancy apparel, you could want to collaborate with a fancy apparel manufacturer, and so on.

2. Domestic or Overseas Clothing Manufacturer?

You need to make a decision whether you’re getting to work with local manufacturers in your country or area, or overseas manufacturers. Typically, this suggests choosing between manufacturers within the US and Europe or manufacturers in Asia (typically China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh). It’s quite rare to find economically-viable custom clothing manufacturers in smaller countries, but if being locally-made is important to you, you might be able to make it work.

Working with domestic garment makers has numerous advantages. To begin with, meeting with manufacturers, seeing their facilities, and discussing your special demands is considerably easier when there is no language barrier. There are stricter labor laws in place, as well as better working conditions. Consumers are becoming more aware of these issues, and being "produced locally" can be a strong selling factor. You'll also benefit from shorter shipment times, which will keep your consumers pleased. In addition, the quality tends to be better.

All of this, though, comes at a price cost. Using domestic producers often costs more, but you'll have greater justification to charge more for your clothing if you do.

Domestic (US, Europe) Clothing Manufacturers

You must decide if you will work with local manufacturers in your country or region or international manufacturers. It is normal to have to choose between manufacturers in the United States and Europe, as well as producers in Asia (typically China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh). Smaller countries may have a difficult time finding economically viable clothing manufacturers, but if being able to buy locally made clothing is important to you, you might be able to make it work.

Overseas Clothing Manufacturers

The biggest advantage of employing foreign manufacturers is the lower cost. They are usually always cheaper, which is why China produces so much apparel. However, this is usually due to the lack of regulation of labour standards and working conditions, which is something you should be aware of.

It's also more difficult for you to go to factories and inspect them. While foreign manufacturers can produce high-quality apparel, you must choose a recognized manufacturer.

When things are transported internationally, shipping times are also pretty long. However, if you're buying apparel in quantity and sending it yourself, this isn't a big deal.

The other benefit is that you simply can often have a greater range of options with overseas manufacturers - fabrics, styles etc - and they’re more inclined to bend over backward to do business with you.

3. What is your MOQ (minimum order quantity)?

When working with a clothes manufacturer, it's important to understand what their minimum order quantity is. That is, the smallest amount of products you must buy in a single order. The minimum order quantity (MOQ) might be anywhere from 200 to 2000 units, or even more. It's unusual for a manufacturer to not have a minimum order quantity. This is crucial to know because if you start working with a manufacturer and want to place your first order, they tell you that you need to buy 1500 units of the swimsuit you would like to form, you'll not be ready to afford it. Also, buying 2000 clothes items is a bad idea if you're not confident you'll be able to sell them all. As a result, you'll have surplus product that's tough to sell.

In other words, before you start working with a clothes manufacturer, be sure the MOQ is manageable for you.

4. Can They Provide Product Samples?

Before you buy, give it a shot. People want to know what they're receiving before they commit to purchasing something, which is why clothing businesses have changing rooms. The same can be said about your supplier. You want to make sure you can receive samples before committing to a significant order if you're hiring a manufacturer to make garments for your company. This is critical because if something isn't quite right, you can tweak it until it is. Imagine receiving an order for hundreds of jackets that you created, only to discover that they don't fit properly or that the wrong type of button was used.

The simplest way to achieve this is to bring it up early in your dialogue. Most manufacturers will gladly supply samples for a small cost, but you must persuade them to do so right away.

5. What Are Their Fees and Shipping Costs?

It's easy to ignore fundamental due diligence in the excitement and hustle of launching your apparel business. It only takes a few lines in an email to ask the manufacturer if there are any hidden fees you should be aware of, as well as shipping costs and times.

This is critical information that will help you determine whether or not to collaborate with that manufacturer, so make sure you handle it as soon as possible.

BONUS: See our guide to communicating with manufacturers and suppliers (which includes email scripts you can use!) for more information.

6. What Is Their Production Capacity?

This is something you may not consider until your company is growing. You're probably focused on getting your first order and earning sales while you're just starting out with your clothes brand. But what if things go better than planned and your merchandise sells out quickly? Can you rely on your manufacturer to make your clothes more rapidly and in larger quantities in the future? This is why you should inquire about your supplier's production capacity. Check to see whether they can ratchet it up if necessary. Inquire about turnaround time, also known as lead time, which refers to how long it takes the manufacturer to complete your order. . You don't want to have to wait weeks or months for an order, causing you to lose out on potential consumers and revenues.

7. What Is Their Standard of Quality?

This is one of the most effective methods for determining a manufacturer's dependability. Inquire about other brands for which they've designed apparel. Then go to the websites of the brands you're interested in. Are they effective? What kind of feedback do they get from their customers? Inquire with the owners of such brands about their experiences dealing with the manufacturer. Have they encountered any difficulties? Is the quality satisfactory to them? There's nothing like real-life customer testimonials to give you the confidence to work with a company. Alternatively, they may sound alarm bells that will lead you to choose a different manufacturer.

8. What Other Brands Have They Worked With?

This is one of the best ways to test the reliability of a manufacturer. Ask them what other brands they’ve produced clothing for. Then look at the websites for those brands. Are they successful? What’s their customer feedback like? Contact the owners of those brands and ask them how they’ve found working with the manufacturer. Have they had any issues? Are they happy with the quality? There’s nothing like real-world testimonials to provide you with the peace of mind to proceed with a manufacturer. Or they might sound warning bells that will help you to decide to go with a different manufacturer.

You're all set to launch your clothing line.

You should be in an excellent position to start your clothing business now that you know what to look for in a clothes manufacturer, where to find them, and what options you have.

While the industry is fiercely competitive, there are still lots of opportunities to profit from new trends and innovative ideas in order to develop a long-term online business. There's no reason why you can't launch a profitable clothing brand if you have fantastic ideas and the desire to see them through.