To the casual eye, bulk shirt suppliers seem almost identical online. Once a business is ordering hundreds of shirts instead of dozens, however, the nuances of different production plans start to take on more significance. It will no longer be a question of achieving a better unit price, but of having justification for the number, style, size and production schedule before any money is committed.

Buying 20 Shirts and Buying 500 Are Different Decisions

Small order – gives you space to make mistakes.

If ten or twenty shirts do not sell, it may be an acceptable financial hit. However, the financial implications of one large order are totally different.

After a few hundred shirts (at most a few thousand) have been sitting in inventory the order starts to tie up cash for five or six months; a great wholesale price is meaningless if the wrong styles are stacked.

Bulk purchasing should therefore begin with a question that has nothing to do with the supplier:

Are you sure that these shirts will getsold?

This answer should impact on the size of the order.

Decide What Kind of Shirt You Are Actually Buying

The term “Shirts” can refer to a large variety of products.

A retailer who is searching for cheap plain t-shirts will have a different need from a street wear brand who is looking for heavyweight oversized styles.

The promotional company could be interested in easy to print and low costs.

A clothing label might be much more than technical.

Think about what you want the shirt to do before going to meet with your suppliers.

Are you buying blank (stock) products for printing?

Are you storing finished shirts to sell?

Starting your private labelcollections?

Or are you in search of a manufacturer to develop a shirt for your label?

The answer can entirely alter which of these suppliers would be reasonable.

The Cheapest Shirt Can Become the Most Expensive Inventory

The lower unit price is much easy to understand.

Inventory risk is more subtle.

A scenario where you have ordered several hundreds of shirts because the supplier is providing a good value. Now the shipment has arrived; you discover the fabric to be of a lower quality than you anticipated or the size features are not compatible with your end customer profile.

You now have a warehouse problem instead of a purchase success.

This is why selling a bulk pack to your customer is a little more than the factory quote.

You need to think about the cost of the product, shipping, packaging, importing costs, storage, possible returns and possible unsold stock.

The more expensive shirt which sells without fail may be a far more sound commercial proposition than a cheaper one which the public merely snub.

Order Samples Before You Think About Quantity

Theres nothing wrong about negotiating quantity first.

As a more elegant sequence, you might want to settle the product.

Get a sample and check it over as if you were in business selling it.

Look at the fabric weight and feel of the hand.

Take the measurements of the garment rather than the size written on it.

Observe the collar, shoulder seams, the sleeves and the fabrics’ hems and sewing lines.

If the shirt is to be printed or embroidered, also test the decoration.

Another option is to test the washing performance. For example, customers are not happy with a new shirt that looks perfect before the first wash but is very different after it.

After approval of the product, from now on the choice of how many to order is much simpler.

Your Size Breakdown May Matter More Than Your Total Quantity

You can order 500 shirts, but that does not automatically mean ordering 100 of each size.

Among real customers, the spread over a size chart is far from uniform.

For example, the size distribution for a shop catering to young streetwear consumers would be different than for a boutique selling fitted women‘s apparel.

Using any existing sales data you may have.

Otherwise, be cautious in making too large an assumption on the basis of guesswork.

The overall distribution could be right, while the size distribution is entirely wrong.

That can result in popular sizes selling out very fast and other sizes not even seeming to be used for storage.

Bulk Purchase is more successful when the number of units is represented as multiple small decisions instead of one big number.

Don’t Let a Low MOQ Push You Into a Bad Order

A supplier with a low minimum order would also be handy.

But an eye-catching MOQ can also give the illusion that you should immediately order the largest order size.

Don‘t assume that you need to buy 300 shirts just because the factory will take 300.

If it has not been tested the lower starting number can be more useful information.

When understanding of order sale pattern has improved, the next order shipment can be bigger.

Production Requirement is the minimum of the supplier.

Your optimal order quantity is a business decision.

Those would be two different things.

Reordering Can Matter More Than the First Bulk Order

A first delivery could be perfect and could have good value, however you may still have doubts about it.

What occurs when the T-shirt is sold?

Can we re-order the same fabric?

As the material alone is absorbing, it is unlikely that the color will significantly change.

Is the Manufacturer able to duplicate those measurements?

What if the source material is not now available?

When a product becomes a repeat seller then these questions become even more crucial:

For a clothing business that is start up, an second order that is dependable could be far more valuable than an attractive first load.

To produce something that the customer would repurchase without itself being noticed if variables within production change.

Bulk Doesn’t Always Mean Ready-Made

You get two very different options when bulk buying shirts.

You may also buy a product from the supplier. This product is one that the supplier already produces.

Or you can come up with a new design for the shirt, then manufacture it in batches.

The first choice is normally quicker.

It is most effective if you are after a simple product and there is little need for extensive opportunities for customizable options.

The second cheaper option takes a little more work to make, but you have more control of the final garment.

This can include the weight, fabric, content, specifications, fit, colors, wash, packaging and any other detail.

When Buying in Bulk Should Become Manufacturing

Brand, it may be initially just as simple is buying already-made shirts.

After that everything seems to get more ambiguous again.

A certain style begins to sell regularly.

The clientele seem to like the silhouette but the brand are after a heavier weight fabric.

The sleaves should be longer.

The occurs;theshould be broader.

The colors have to complement the rest of the collection.

The Neck label should have the brand, not the supplier.

So now the question isn‘t just where to buy shirts.

It becomes:

How should wemakethisshirt?

This is where custom manufacturing starting to provide a stronger argument than common wholesale buying.

A Proven Product Is a Better Starting Point for Custom Production

Custom manufacturing will not necessarily require a fresh new idea to start with.

However one of the more realistic things that could be done would be to find a product that has already proved its demand and improve it.

They‘re already responding to the broad idea.

Feel powerful now. Now you are the “designer,” the “customer,” the “buyer,” and the “collecionni”. Now you can develop the design at you command,5 ready to customize accordingly.

Over time the fabric can be replaced.

The fit. It can be customized.

The branding may also be incorporated into the garment.

Colors can be extended.

Any changes in the construction details can be made.

Rather than speculating as to what customers will purchase, you‘ll be creating something more unique that has already demonstrated success.

When a Bulk Supplier Becomes a Manufacturing Partner

As soon as the orders became more complex, the supplier relationship was altered.

Samples, measurements, availabilty of fabrics, production specs, revisions, repeat orders.

The manufacturer now (since 2000) is no longer just manufacturing a purchase order.

This is aiding the process of transforming a product specification into a term that can be manufactured.

For a growing brand, that difference can matter than small difference in unit price.

A Custom Manufacturing Option for Growing Brands

For brands that want to move from standard bulk shirts toward their own products, JiuvelWear, operated by Dongguan Jiuzuo Clothing Co., Ltd., works with brands on custom apparel development and garment manufacturing.

(Projects may be related to sampling, custom specification, private label, branding specifications and production.)

This method is especially suitable when a brand prefers to specify the actual shirt as opposed to buying a wholesale style.

The Smartest Bulk Order Isn’t Always the Biggest

Bulk is not a race for most.

A good order provides adequate service to demand, that is, a high enough inventory level, while minimizing the risk.

Start with a product that you know.

Test the sample.

Think about your real customers and their sizes.

Let‘s focus on the unit price, but don‘t stop there.

Let‘s consider now what occurs when the product is a success.

There‘s a crucial nuance to bulk buying that keeps it from being a matter of pricing. In reality the best bulk buying strategy is to purchase the right product in the right quantity for your business something you‘re capable of selling and understand when it has reached the next tier towards custom manufacturing.