Plenty of people have the idea to start a clothing supplier. It’s the choices that you make as you set up your business that will determine whether or not that mission is successful or not, and a key issue is the supplier you go with. Choosing the right option isn’t too difficult, so long as you keep the following points in mind.
Start with what you need
The most important thing to do is to start with the product that you need, rather than with suppliers. You might want high quality t-shirts, oversized hoodies, or thick baggy cargo trousers. Whatever it is that you want to stock, start with that and only once you know what you want, look for a supplier.
This way, you can base your search on a set of strict, predetermined criteria, rather than just picking a provider that looks like they run a slick operation, but doesn’t in fact offer what you need.
Check their base garments
Once you’ve found a supplier, check the quality of their base garments. Ask for some samples, and check the material and fabric weight. High quality might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of streetwear, but in the current saturated market, it’s an important factor that will help your brand stand out amongst the stiff competition.
Assess bulk-purchase discounts
If you’re buying for your own brand, you need to be able to get high-quality garments for a low enough price that you can still turn a profit by selling them.
Check what kinds of bulk-purchase discounts are on offer, and whether you can get further discounts for repeat orders. Check specific wholesale suppliers like Screen Textiles for these kinds of discounts, rather than going to smaller suppliers that can’t offer the same economies of scale.
Decorative options
Most streetwear garments have some kind of decorative component. If you’re going to put graphics or logos on your garments, then it’s important that you identify a clothing supplier that can also put these decorations on your garments.
This saves you from having to order the garments, await delivery, then send them to a separate company to get the designs printed.
Consistency
Lastly, as a streetwear brand, it’s crucial that once you’ve started to use a single supplier, you can get consistent access to those same items for the foreseeable future.
You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you’re suddenly unable to stock a significant portion of the garments you sell due to a supplier-side issue. Make sure that the supplier you choose is reliable, and that they’re able to provide you with plenty of warning if there might be any issues.
If you can take care of these basic factors, you should be able to identify a supplier that can take care of your supply-side needs for years to come. Still, it’s worth identifying a few backup solutions to have ready should you need them, just to cover all your bases.
