Finding a Sweatshirt Wholesale Supplier That Fits Your Brand

Identifying a sweatshirt wholesale supplier is often more challenging than it seems when you find that several of them carry very similar products. What appears as a basic sweatshirt in a photo might vary significantly in fabric weight, fit, cut, detail and finish, and consistency from one style to the next.

The Same Sweatshirt Can Be a Very Different Product

Your classic crewneck sweatshirt is one of the most recognized casual pieces, but not one exists standard:

For one brand, they may be interested in a heavyweight, oversized sweat shirt with a more customized silhouette. For another, a lighter weight French terry option with a more relaxed feel.

It‘s not always reveal itself in a picture.

The textiles composition, fabric weight, brushing, construction, stitching, ribbing and finish of the garment will all determine the finished product.

That‘s why it helps if you decide for the kind of sweatshirt you wanna offer before comparing suppliers.

Start With the Product You Want

First, think about the customer before ever glancing at the catalog.

Are they into baggy streetwear? Everyday affordable basics? Premium casualwear? Seasonal items?

Your answer makes the vast majority of what happens next, happen.

If you are building a streetwear range a heavyweight fleece sweatshirt will probably be fine, but a lighter weight combination of cottons could make more sense for a ‘Spring’ theme.

It should be the supplier that fits the product direction and not vice versa.

Fabric Weight Changes More Than the Price

The use of GSM (grams per square meter) to give fabric weight is common, but by itself, the number does not provide sufficient detail.

Two fabrics of similar weight can have quite different hand, structure, softness and durability.

Much warmer and a bigger shape can be achieved. The face of french terry is different and would be more suitable for lighter or transitional styles.

The composition of the fabric influences the way a sweatshirt reacts to washing too.

If this sweatshirt is intended to be an excellent quality, fabric choice needs to be considered before manufacturing is carried out.

Fit Is Part of the Product

The silhouette can alter the shape of a sweatshirt entirely.

An over-sized sweatshirt with a dropped shoulder creates a totally different look from a normal crewneck.

A sporty fit is somewhere in between the two, and different leg lengths follow along other visual directions.

The the proportions as much as the label attached to the fit.

Be aware of the body length, shoulder width, sleeve length, cuffs opening and volume.

For a set ofcoherenthandbag ranges, having coherence between individual styles of sweatshirt can also assist establish recognizable brand positioning.

A Sample Tells You What a Catalog Cannot

Photos are great for finding products, but it isn‘t a good replacement for a physical sample.

Now, you‘ve got the sweatshirt. you can finally examine the fabric, gauge, measurements, seams, ribbing, stitching and finishing.

You can run a si wash to see how the sample responds.

It is also extremely useful if you intend to sell the product under your own branding.

A sample is not only a test of the garment. It is a test of supplier‘s development process.

If you ask for a change and the new sample matches your direction, you have a clearer picture of what future communication with the manufacturing will be.

The First Order Is Only the Beginning

The first order can be handled effectively by a supplier.

The more interesting question is what you do if you have to purchase the product again.

Suppose your best seller is a sweatshirt. Now your customers require that style in a different color, or you need to restock.

Is it possible for the supplier to obtain the same material?

Will the color stay?

Can the dimensions hold up to the maximum specification?

Repeat production marks the beginning of real value-add in an originating relationship.

What If Your Best-Selling Sweatshirt Needs to Be Reordered?

Selling quickly or selling slowly presents a different challenge.

You require assurance that the supplier will meet demand without doing a re-engineer to the product.

A slightly different fabric feel or changed fit may appear insignificant in the manufacturing process but experienced customers familiar with the original sweatshirt will immediately notice.

That is why is as vital as negotiating the original price, maintaining clear product specifications and approved samples.

Cheap Doesn’t Always Mean Better Wholesale Value

It naturally counts when purchasing via the wholesale channels.

However, the least quote may not necessarily equal to the minimun total cost.

Shipping, packaging, sampling, quality, delays, and unsold inventory will all affect your real margin.

It makes however more sense for a supplier who can offer a small premium over the unit price as the product is standard with relatively easier reordering.

The useful question is not simply:

Just how cheaply made is this sweatshirt?

It is:

“How much is this sweatshirt really going to cost my business?”

When Ready-Made Sweatshirts Are Enough

Pre-fabricated sweatshirts can be a good option for stores needing to do everything fast.

Choose an existing style, select from the stock of colors and sizes, and take your own decision, so that you can focus only on the selling process, and also nothing to worry about the designing part.

It is advantageous especially when testing a new category.

There is less work to develop and less uncertainty about the final product.

The trade-off here is differentiation. Others might find comparable styles in other stores.

When Custom Production Starts Making Sense

As the brand matures products existing in wholesale stock may be restrictive.

Maybe you need a heavier weight fabric, a wider body, longer sleeves, specified colors, a particular wash, or even your own branding details.

Hence we got the point where custom manufacturing comes on the board.

Build the product you want. They could “shoot you when you go to the factory and make your collection fit the existing sweatshirt. Or you could choose to design the product you really want.”

From Wholesale Sweatshirts to Your Own Product

It does not need to be done in one go.

Initially, a brand could do custom washes and make premanufactured sweatshirts, analyze customer usage and reaction, create custom whiffs of the highest uses.

Creating private labels, adding custom measurements, fabrics, embroidery, printing and packaging slowly transforms the only connection from being a plain sweatshirt.

This method enables product development to rely on real market demand rather than assumed ones.

A Manufacturing Option for Growing Brands

For brands that want to move beyond standard wholesale products, JiuvelWear, operated by Dongguan Jiuzuo Clothing Co., Ltd., provides custom apparel development and garment manufacturing services.

The company collaborating with brands on sampling, private label, custom specifications and apparel manufacturing.

When doing a sweatshirt, this could mean creating the fabric, fit, colors, construction and branding around the concept of the collection rather than just going to the existing style.

The Right Supplier Should Fit the Product

Each company has its own favorite provider when it comes to sweatshirts.

A retailer willing to test the market may like the convenience of ready-made and happy with the flexibility of purchase.

A developing clothing line is likely to be more focused on custom development and a repeat production.

What really matters is that you identify the sweatshirt you plan to sell beforehand, and then find the supplier who can regularly supply you with it.

Identifying the right sourcing decision has nothing to do with buying a cheap sweatshirt.

It‘s about finding a product, a production model and a supplier which still makes business sense as you scale up.