A clothing factory brings your vision to life, and they’re one of the keys to a successful business. But perhaps one of the biggest problems for many fashion designers is choosing a skilled manufacturer to produce their garments. And when you’re beginning to design, you may not know how to screen the manufacturers before working with them.
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Here is a list of questions you can ask the clothing factory:
You don’t have to waste your precious time engaging the clothing factory if they’re not taking on new customers. Or they might be overbooked, putting you on a waiting list that may run for weeks or even months. Find another manufacturer that will fit you into their current production schedule.
Ask for their portfolio or proof of previous work to help you assess their ability and capacity.
Subcontracting is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it makes it easy to get your clothes off the production lines. But it also exposes you to poor production controls and delay-causing misunderstandings. If the clothing factory outsources to a third-party contractor, you want to ensure that it’s for a specialty that they can’t handle by themselves. For example, they could outsource printing and embroidery services to a specialized contractor.
An in-person visit is the best way to assess the factory’s production equipment and learn about its operations. You’ll discover how they treat their workers, handle their raw materials, or how they manage defect inspections in the production lines.
Any manufacturer that’s not allowing visits could be a red flag – they’re either subcontracting the work or not complying with your requirements. You could always send a representative if you’re unable to visit in-person.
Even though you might start with a low production run, you may want to work in anticipation of scaling your business. You’d want to make sure that the clothing factory is well equipped for larger production should you need to increase your orders from 50 pieces to 500. The manufacturer’s production capacity depends on the number of machines and staff members available daily, weekly, or monthly.
If you’re dealing with a small factory, you’d want to learn about their growth prospects to determine if they’re suited to your ambitions.
Based on your values and your ethics and sustainability requirements, ask about their certifications and ways in which they ensure their practices are ethical.
Align your certification requirements with global standards and ensure that the factory meets them.
Samples justify the manufacturer’s ability to produce the product to your requirements. And they eliminate expensive reworks on the actual product. Most factories charge a premium for sample development because it’s time consuming and costly.
Some clothing factories charge 2-3 times the production price, while others include a one-off development fee. And some might do both, so it’s good to be clear on how it will cost you. Besides, you might have many sample revisions and iterations before the production work.
You won’t know how much your product will cost until you get an accurate production estimate. It will inform whether the manufacturer’s services fall within your budget or whether you need to keep looking for other options. A clothing factory will find it easier to give a more detailed estimate if you share a tech pack or a spec sheet.
A tech pack or spec sheet can serve as your production manual. It saves you the trouble of communicating your design specifications as everything will be contained in the document.
The terms of payment is a perfect follow-up question when discussing the price. Most factories request an advance payment before they begin production. The advance is usually a 50% of the total cost, with the final amount payable before they ship.
But many manufacturers have varying payment terms, and it’s good to find out at the beginning.
Most factories have a minimum quantity that you can place in a single order. You might only need 100 pieces to test the market, but the factory won’t take less than pieces per order. Find out whether the minimum threshold is pegged to style, size, and color.
Some factories take a ballpark minimum order quantity (MOQ) regardless of design specifications.
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The clothing factory should be able to describe their production stages. It will help you learn a great deal about their capabilities and be able to verify their lead times. Find out if they provide extras like cutting and grading or tech pack development. You’ll be in a perfect negotiating position when you understand the factory’s production processes.
Don’t leave quality control to your factory. This is your responsibility. So ask them to confirm hat they are ok with you visiting throughout the production process. And that you’ll perform a check of the production run before shipment is made.
It will be a great bonus if the fashion factory specializes in your kind of products. Unless they’re well equipped, a factory that dabbles in everything may not produce your fashion pieces to the highest quality standards.
It’s much easier to work with a clothing factory when you have all the correct answers to your pertinent questions. Ensure that you verify their claims and don’t take their word for it. Document all interactions and follow any verbal conversations with an .
Welcome to part two of the Is It a Match? blog series! In part one, we covered how to find a clothing supplier for your boutique. In this blog, we’ll teach you the top 10 questions to ask your clothing manufacturer or wholesaler before contracting with them.
These questions will not only help you vet potential suppliers to see if they meet your needs, but they might also get you thinking about the small logistics that sometimes get forgotten when you’re stocking your online store or boutique.
Before your supplier discussion, you’ll want to make sure you have a clear understanding of their services. Ask them up front if they’re a clothing manufacturer or factory, a wholesaler, or an agency that manages client relationships with multiple clothing manufacturers and wholesalers.
Every business operates at a certain capacity. Get to know whether the clothing factory or wholesale supplier you contacted has the capacity to fulfill your first order and possibly even maintain and grow an ongoing relationship with your boutique business. Forming good relationships with factories and suppliers takes time, so make sure your prospects actually have the bandwidth to build that relationship from the outset.
Some clothing manufacturers create handbags, belts, trousers, dresses – you name it, they’ll do it; some wholesalers have an inventory that may include even a meager supply of every product type. However, finding out what types of products each factory or wholesaler mainly produces or specializes in will give you insight into whether their experience meshes with your needs. If your designs mainly serve plus-size females, it won’t make sense to go with a loafer manufacturer or a supplier with a sparse women’s wear inventory.
If you decide to manufacture or buy inventory from overseas, it will be helpful to know who will be handling your order or pattern, and if they are comfortable with your spoken and written language. Someone who has a good grasp on the language you’re using to communicate your order and your pattern designs will be less likely to misinterpret specialty instructions included with your design order.
Most wholesale suppliers and clothing manufacturers have a minimum order quantity unless you’re working with a resource like MakersValley that lets designers produce clothes in any quantity. That’s fairly unique. Make sure that you find a manufacturing or supply partner whose minimum order quantity fits your needs and doesn’t leave you with extra, unsellable inventory taking up your precious shelf space.
A lot of factories and wholesalers give bulk discounts so that as the quantity of your request goes up, the price per unit goes down. While it might not be realistic to ask how much a “skirt” or “denim jeans” costs (that’s too broad), asking for a range of product costs per unit and order quantity might give you a better idea of the investment you can expect to make.
Does your manufacturer or wholesaler want the full payment up front or in parts? Every shop has a different way of doing business, so find out what your options are before signing onto any type of contract.
Everyone’s business has a dream timeline, a realistic timeline, and a worst case scenario timeline. Make sure that you get a realistic expectation of the turnaround time your supplier will need to create your designs so that you can accurately plan your store’s year.
This question is easy to miss, but you should absolutely factor shipping costs into your sourcing equation. Most wholesalers and clothing manufacturers outsource their shipping to freight or shipping companies like DHL or FEDEX. Ask what yours will do, and find out how active a role you’ll need to have in setting up the final shipping of your product from the supplier to you. Some manufacturers provide their services to designers through platforms like MakersValley that take on an active role in arranging the shipping of the product from the manufacturer to fashion designer.
Most clothing factories will have some general guidelines in place to address defective products. They’ll frequently have staff onsite to check your products in the factory, but with wholesale, quality assurance can be more unpredictable.
These are our top need-to-knows, but what are yours? If you have any additional checklist questions that have helped you to evaluate manufacturers and wholesalers, don’t be shy! Share your advice in the comments.
Guest Blog Courtesy of Makers Valley, an online B2B service platform that matches Boutiques & Designers with over 150+ Italian apparel Manufacturers & Artisans, with no minimum orders, no markups (pay factory price), and a dedicated account manager to guide you through the manufacturing process.
Find out more by using this special link for Boutique Hub Members.
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