Wholesale Garment Suppliers: What Retailers Often Miss

If you wanted to start your own retail business, working as a wholesale garments supplier could make it seem quite an easy option.

Find a product. Confirm the wholesale price. Buy it. When selling the retail price, do a markup.

The outcome tends to be more straightforward by a few ordering rounds.

A supplier may be offering competitive prices and a wide selection, but still cause problems with sizing variations, stock changes, slow responses or altered products from sample.

The fundamental question for retailers is not really the cost of a garment.

It depends if the supplier ‘makes the business easier to run or not easier to run’.

The Cheapest Quote Can Be an Expensive One

The low unit price makes it easy to compare.

The ones appearing later are not.

A garent that is delivered with inconsistant measurements would bring customercomplains; a late delivery impacts on product launch; stock delay would result in a retailer holding an item that was hard to reorder it when it was in a hight demand.

All of these issues are absent from the original quotation.

Hence, experienced customers tend to go past this initial offer.

Start With the Garments, Not the Supplier’s Catalog

A big catalog you might be able to impress people with.

They can also ‘distract’.

A retailer is not bothered by having hundreds of items, which do not sell well. What‘s relevant is what the supplier has in stock: garments that actually fit the retailer‘s customers.

Request for samples. Whenever we can.

Observe the Fabric.

Be sure to verify all the measurements.

. Wear the garment.

Wash it.

Look at the stitchings and the finishing point.

Ultimately the value of one product that does all that your customer needs is worth ten products that will only look good through the online catalog of the supplier.

Think About the Second Order

The 1st order is whether a supplier will sell you clothing.

The second order provides you with considerably more information.

Is there a way to get the same product again?

Quels couleurs sont aux disponibles

1. Comparison of values. Is there agreement?

Is the fabric different?

Is it possible for the supplier to create the identical product without having to go through the entire process again?

For a shop that wants to build a stable range of products the fact that repeatable items could have a somewhat higher initial wholesale price may be of little consequence, if the difference is slight.

Wholesale Does Not Always Mean Ready-Made

One must distinguish between the various categories of wholesale garment suppliers since there is a significant difference between them.

Some (mainly) sell ready-made items.

Some, however, do work more directly with manufacturers and offer private labeling, custom coloring, packaging or customization.

A retailer could be happy selling ready-made garment.

Growing clothing brand eventually may want something more unique.

By understanding what type of supplier you are engaging with, you can head off the wrong type of supplier later.

Ask What Happens When Something Goes Wrong

A suppliers normal course of operation is relatively straightforward.

The more revealing question is: what happens when the process fails.

Suppose a piece of the order has been damaged.

What if the supplies are packed with the incorrect size?

What if it is just late?

What if the quality is not up to the approved sample?

No supplier can ever guarantee that nothing will go wrong.

What plays a role is how the problems are labeled and solved.

Sometimes, at this point, you can really see the difference between a convenient supplier and a difficult one.

The Supplier Should Match the Way You Sell

One small boutique and an emerging online apparel company may be completely different.

It is possible you will require a small offset of the prepared merchandise.

Another may require adding daily.

One day a third MAY want its own labels and made-to-measure.

There is no need to impose for all three business‘s the same purchasing model.

The ‘right’ wholesale partner is one that sits well with the retailer‘s requirements now, but more importantly is still accommodating enough for the business to grow.

When Wholesale Becomes Custom Manufacturing

Eventually there will be a point where purchasing already made clothing isn‘t enough.

J-Nee suggests “Maybe the customer keeps requesting a different fit.”

Maybe the retailer would like an exclusive color.

Maybe the brand wants its own labels and packaging.

Or another retailer might be selling the same thing.

I imagine, though, that‘s more the point where typically the idea of building fleet on the spine of a ship has great appeal.

Instead of battling for the same stock of ready-to-wear garments, the brand can start exercising control over the product.

From Wholesale Orders to Your Own Products

We are currently working with various clothing business at JiuvelWear.

Certain projects / contracts involve a number of initial trial / small orders.

Some others involve private label items, or custom made garments entirely.

We can supplement a brand with denim, street wear, T-shirts, hoodies, etc., also sampling, branding, packaging and production of large amounts.

This significant consequence is that the retailer is not obliged to continue using the same purchasing pattern for ever.

A business can try out products first, figure out what consumers really want and then put more money into those products that succeed.

What Experienced Buyers Pay Attention To

If the price and the catalog have been checked, then the more useful questions might be rather pragmatic:

Will the supplier keep up the standard of the quality?

Is it possible to restock the products?

How true are communication and lead-times?

Can the supplier manage more later?

Can the garments be personalized if he/she is introducing his/her own label?

And most probably more, is the supplier getting what the retailer is trying to build?

The using of these three questions complete so much more than just product list at the end of third question.

The Best Wholesale Supplier Is Not Always the Biggest

A huge supplier which might one day have a vast array of styles.

That doesn‘t mean they are good supplier for your business automatically.

A well assured narrower range (with good quality, clear communication and regular supplies) may be of more value to a retailer looking to build a reliable range.

The right relationship is rarely about the best supplier holding the largest volume of garments, but about the most capable supplier being able to provide the garments that your customers desire.

But for retailers wanting the wholesale garment supplier as well, JiuvelWear can also facilitate the follow-up processes when off-the-peg wholesale product isn‘t enough anymore from private label, made-to-order developments to mass apparel manufacturing.