Dropshipping Clothing Suppliers: What to Know

Getting into apparel and starting a clothing business without purchasing hundreds of articles beforehand is possible. You post things online, if someone orders, your supplier sends it directly to them.

This is exactly why it is quite often one of the first sourcing methods looked into by a new clothing business.

However, after working with clothing brands at various steps, we realized the only thing that matters is not “whether dropshipping is effective”, but whether they make sense when your brand is growing.

Here at JiuvelWear we partner with different stages of brands- from start-ups that are experimenting with their first run of samples, to well-established brands looking for a custom clothing manufacturer. Our sourcing needs vary significantly in between.

Dropshipping can be effective for testing out a market. When a certain item has shown that there is a demand for it, the advantages of dealing directly with a clothing manufacturer tend to become much more apparent.

How Clothing Dropshipping Actually Works

In the traditional wholesale format, a customer sources inventory to resell. The customer is responsible for storage, fulfillment, and the carrying of all inventor.

It is another way that works.

The supplier maintains the stock. When a customer orders via your store, the order information is sent to the supplier who packs up the product and ships it directly to the customer.

This gets rid of some of the biggest risk for a new business which is buying too much inventory before you know whether customers will buy it.

This also makes dropshipping especially handy at the testing stage.

The trade-off for the customer here is that the supplier has considerably more control of the process.

Dropshipping vs. Working Directly With a Manufacturer

From a brand‘s perspective the difference really becomes obvious when you take a step away from the initial product cost.

Dropshipping usually involves minimal investment in inventory before sales. Orders are taken individually, and the supplier is responsible for warehousing and shipment.

Producers have more control over the product, material, specifications, brand, production etc. but need a bigger initial investment and tend to have higher volumes.

Another disadvantage of dropshipping is that it may have higher costs per piece as the supplier is handling the production and fulfillment for each and every order. Orders in large production runs made directly are more favorable from the point of view of economics of each unit.

We can‘t say that, first of all.

The one that matters: where is your business this moment?

While you‘re still testing, dropshipping is a good way to keep your risk down. If you already know what sells, paying a premium for single-item fulfillment may begin to cost you.

The Biggest Problem We See With Dropshipping

Having worked with clothing brands, from our experience the main issue is not necessarily the price of a product.

And it is control.

With your own dropshipper, you are completely dependent on your supplier for fabric quality, measurements, colours, construction, packaging, stocks, lead times, best means of delivery, branding etc.

This might not be so a concern when you are testing products and only getting a few orders a day,

The key point is that it is highly more significant than the first time when the customers prefer exactly the same product.

The failure can become a company problem.

Always Order Samples First

We advise to always get samples prior to ordering any supplier dropshipping or even larger manufacturing order.

Even product pictures are insufficient.

A sample also allows you to check for the true feel, weight, surface of the fabric, fit and measurements, stitch and finishing details, print or embroidery quality, dyeing and washing.ailability, branding, finishing and packing.

How about clothing? « Fit is a significant factor since initially inspected before a form-fitting garment is put on. When considering fit in clothing, courts look at the way the item fits and interacts with the capsule, not necessarily what the capsule does to it.

An hoodie can photograph great in a product shot and still have the wrong shoulder width, sleeve length, body length, or fabric weight for your customer.

If you are to sell the product under your own name, you need to know what to expect your customer.

Don’t Ignore Shipping Times

Although a supplier may have a cheaper product price the business could be unmanageable if a two or three week wait for each order to reach the customer.

Before you start working with a dropshipping clothing supplier, identify where are the items kept, from where are they dispatched, the average time for delivery, the different methods of shipment, if tracking is available, the course of action if the item get lost, and the procedure for returns.

We have encountered brands concentrating solely on the overall garb, ignoring fulfillment.

This is wrong.

The product experience and the delivery experience are one and the same to the customer.

What Happens When a Product Starts Selling?

Here is where the seek decision gets more intriguing.

Suppose you test a hoodie in dropshipping and sell about 20 in the first month.

You find that the customers enjoy the look.

In the following month you sell 80.

Then 200.

At some point, you should stop asking only:

“Is it possible for this order to be shipped directly to my customer?”

and start asking:

What are some ways to improve this product and make it more profitable?

Maybe it involves changing the fabric, redefining the fit, putting your own label, improving the packaging, producing more.

Here‘s where take direct manufacture becomes a little more understandable.

Moving From Dropshipping to Manufacturing

It doesn‘t have to be this way.

Many brands will go through, product concept, dropship/ small test, sampling, market testing, small production runs, larger orders, then direct manufacturing.

Once accurate demand can be foreseen, producing directly to market can offer greater control of product for a brand.

Rather than adopting an existing hoodie pattern (ie, style) you could look into creating your own fabric, GSM, fit, measurements, colours, labels, packaging, printing, embroidery and wash finishes.

You are not just reselling someone else‘s ‘thing’ anymore.

You are creating a product that comes from your brand.

What About Private Label?

Private label is a midpoint between ready-made dropshipping and custom manufacturing.

An existing supplier might already have a garment pattern, however you can incorporate your own brand label, hangtag, packging, logo or colour choices.

This can be a great starting point for brands who want to take ownership of their product but don‘t want to start each garment from scratch.

But private label options may vary greatly between vendors.

Always find out what you can and can‘t modify.

When Dropshipping Is Still a Good Choice

We‘re not advising all new apparel companies to avoid dropshipping.

This is understandable if you are, for example, testing out a new market, exploring a number of different product ideas, working with limited capital, unsure what designs will prove popular or you are trying to avoid holding stock or simply trying to find out how customers will react to your product.

If it is possible to test demand without having to go into mass production this can often be useful.

The error is in assuming that dropshipping is “the only sourcing model that you will ever need.”

When You Should Consider a Manufacturer

A direct manufacturer can be more prudent if you have steady sales, desire lower unit costs, require custom designs, want more control of fabric and fit, require private-label branding, demand consistent quality, are repeat purchasing, or want to produce exclusively for your brand.

From this point, where we become more relevant to the brand is at JiuvelWear.

As opposed to selecting from our existing catalog and then having single orders shipped out, brands are able to work with us on customized clothing production based on the brand‘s sketches, details, fabric, tags and production needs.

It‘s not just about making more parts.

It is in order to give the brand greater control over the product that it is presenting to consumers.

Questions to Ask Dropshipping Clothing Suppliers

Don‘t just ask questions that it is easy to get answers to. Before selecting a supplier, consider questions which require more thought such as.

As for the products, check if you could order samples, about the source of products, how uniform the size and fabrics are, and if you could make the products in accordance with your private design.

Inventory Inquire about how frequently inventory is replenished, what occurs when an item runs out of stock, and if inventory is hold-able.

Questions about fulfillment should include what is the processing time for orders, what shipping options are available, where the orders are shipped from, and do they offer a tracking number.

Regarding returns, inquire about policies on damaged items, responsibility and costs related to shipping replacements, and procedures for managing customer returns.

For branding find out if the supplier allows for custom labels, will provide branded packaging, or will manufacture private-label goods.

The most important question to ask is, “where do you go from here if my business doubled?”

A supplier may be ideal for your initial 50 or 100 initial orders, but be totally unsuitable for your 50,000th order.

The Right Supplier Depends on Your Stage

No one sourcing model that all clothing brands will need to use.

Using dropshipping is an effective method to sample a product before committing to a much larger inventory. However, once demand for a product has been demonstrated the economics and opportunities of direct manufacturing and production structures become very different.

The production quantities can be negotiated. specifications can be customized by you, fit and fabrics can also be improved. Can create coherent branding along the product.

Working directly with a clothing supplier tends to be the natural progression for brands at that stage.

At JiuvelWear, it‘s not about providing existing designs to sell online but about creating brands in your niche. If your business is beyond experiments and you want to define a product and cement your brand in the consumer mind take a look at direct manufacturing.