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If you are looking for a fabric supplier for your new or already established clothing brand, but you do not know where to find fabric suppliers & how to decide if they are best for you or not. Do not worry. In this blog, we will help you from choosing what kind of fabric will be good for your new dress product to deliver it to your doorstep.
It’s simple because we are one of the famous Textile industries in China. We at King Fabric have 11+ years of experience in dealing with different kinds of customers from all over the Globe. When Some of them contacted us, they were trying to set up their business, while others were already established brands at that time.
We know how much people are confused by questions like;
? How to negotiate the price
? How to find the best supplier
? How much advance payment is ok
? How to ensure not to get scammed
? How much time is it gonna take for delivery
? How to choose the cloth material for a new dress
? Should you choose a Mill, Factory, Jobber, or Agent as a supplier
? Will the Bulk order fabric that will reach you will be the same as the swatch sample
? And so on…
Do not worry. In this blog, we will give you honest advice to get the Best Quality Fabric at low prices in a minimum time, so you can launch your new products quickly & also make them a success with their superior quality. You can also Contact Us if you have any questions!
Sourcing fabric for your business is no biggie if you know all the secret tips & tricks of this industry.
Sourcing fabric for your business is no biggie if you know all the secret tips & tricks of this industry.
We will not confuse you like others because we know you are already much confused. Just follow our simple 3-Step Plan;
Before looking for a supplier, you must decide what material & quality of cloth you want to use in your next dress or any other product. For example, Do you want pure cotton fabric, polyester, jeans, leather, or something else? And how heavy (GSM value ) should it be, should be knitted or weaved, etc.
Knowing these details is very important because if you choose a fabric manufacturer or supplier first, and then send him a sample of your desired fabric, they may not even manufacture it, and it will be a lot of waste of time, which will put you back to square one. So,
“Look for fabric first, then contact the supplier, not the other way around.”
Now, the question arises how to choose the fabric for your new dress?
It’s very simple; just look at what your competitors are offering, which you can do in 2-Ways;
“After collecting a lot of clothes of the style which you are gonna made from your competitors, now you have to choose the best of fabric material dress from them all.”
First of all, you should wear the dresses and see;
Some dresses look best when you buy them but after sometimes a lot of faults appear in them, such as;
To check such faults as above, use and wash the dresses continuously for at least the next 30 days. Check each dress every day to see if these faults appear & if they happen, how soon they happen. Write each day’s data somewhere and at the end of the 30th day, compare all the data & see which dress is the best.
“Did you know that a detailed survey of 2000 womens just over 16 age revealed that they wear most of their dresses only 7 times.”
So, when you are doing testing of dresses, you must consider that no faults appear in them for at least the first 20 ~ 30 wearings. Because you know a person wears a dress 7 ~ 10 times on average & defects occur in that time, then the trust of the public in your brand will be destroyed, no one will purchase your defected & even other products, and you will get a huge loss.
Now, it is time to look for suppliers;
In China alone, there are 24,000+ Textile Companies. And in the USA, there are about 13,000+ Textile Mills. We are not counting the rest of the world yet. So,
The purpose of stating this information is that you must worry about finding a supplier for your clothing line because there are tens of thousands of Textile suppliers in the world, maybe, even more, and you only need just 1 ~ 3 good suppliers.
It is important to note here that not every manufacturer is the same; some will be knitted fabric manufacturers, some will be woven fabric manufacturers, and some will be both.
Just like you are trying to reach suppliers, suppliers also try to reach new customers. You can find fabric manufacturers or suppliers in 3-ways;
i) At Tradeshows
ii) Online from their Websites
iii) Look for Suppliers on your Competitors’ Pages
At textile industry tradeshows, you will see hundreds of suppliers who have exhibited their fabric samples. You can touch, feel, & even ask for small pieces as samples for checking.
If you are not going to tradeshows, simply go to your browser, search for a tradeshow, & there all the suppliers in that tradeshow will be listed. Get their number & message or call them as you like.
Some Famous Textile Tradeshows in the World are;
“You can search hundreds more tradeshows online, even in your country.”
You can go on their websites and see when is the next event & how to book a ticket ( if it is required ).
We live in a digital world, and most suppliers have made their websites to reach customers.
You can search for suppliers in your country and other countries. Make a list of the best suppliers whom you are gonna contact & send samples of what kind of fabric you want.
Most people think that finding a supplier online is very risky, and you can easily get scammed. No, it’s not the case. You can also get scammed as easily from your area supplier as from an online supplier.
Yes, it’s true that most people get scammed online, and it is because they do not do enough search & check their supplier before paying.
There are some Red Flags; if you see them run away from the seller immediately, and if you do not, then don’t blame the internet.
Red Flags: When a supplier;
Some big brands also list their fabric suppliers on their webpage. You can go to their website, get their supplier contact info & buy from them.
“After making a list of the best 3, 5, 7, 10, or 20 or more suppliers now, it is time to contact them.”
In this 3rd step, you will have to do the following things to choose the best supplier;
i) Contact All Suppliers on your List
ii) Send Fabric Samples to Suppliers Who Replied to You
iii) Ask for Swatches from Suppliers & Test them
iv) Order a Few Meters to make a Samples Dress
v) Make a Contract with the Supplier
Now, it is time to introduce yourself to all the suppliers because;
“For this, just write a simple mail & send it to all the suppliers.”
It is important to note here that good suppliers do not like lengthy or unclear details because they are so much busy. Plus, writing a detailed note will make you look like an amateur & seller will demand more price or simply run away from you by thinking you like a time-waster. So,
“Writing a short but proper mail which includes all information is very necessary”
It is a plus if you know a fabric GSM value, making materials percentage, construction ( knitted or weaved ), dying colour, yarn size, etc. Then you can order fabric material by verbally telling your supplier what you want. But,
If you do not know all these details, you have to send fabric samples to suppliers. ( only order by message if you know 100% exact details; otherwise, send samples ).
The seller will use your fabric samples to check;
If you remember, we have short-listed a lot of cloth samples in the 1st step, “Collect Sample Fabrics for your New Product.”
Now, cut many small pieces from those clothes so you can send them to suppliers who replied to your mail & are willing to work with you.
Send proper mails to suppliers, informing them you have sent some samples and they should respond when the parcel reaches them.
Give a Unique Numeric Name & an Alphabetic Name to each fabric material, so the same colour fabric pieces do not get mixed when they reach your seller. The naming could look like this;
“A Fabric Swatch, also known as Fabric Hanger or Fabric Header, is a small piece of cloth used as a sample so the buyer can feel & see the fabric first-hand.”
Do not hesitate to ask for swatches. If they have something similar to the samples you sent them, ask them to send you some swatches.
Swatches do not come in cheap. You have to pay for the shipping fees as well as the swatches ( in most cases ), which can be a huge amount if you ask for swatches from many suppliers.
But, the more swatches you have, the better you will be able to decide which seller is offering the best fabric material.
Here what you can do is ask for the price of the fabric seller is offering, and then order swatches from;
Note: You will have a lot of swatches coming in when you are in this industry, so it is better to note them down somewhere so you can order the exact material, know where to order it from and at what price.
“Go to end of the article to copy the Swatches Management Template Table which we made for your ease.”
When these swatches reach you, check them for;
“Give these Swatches a hard time, like stretch them, rub them on some surface, wash them, etc., to see if defects appear after usage.”
Choose the best swatch that has not only great quality but also a fair price.
Now, order a few meters of the best swatch fabric we selected in the previous step.
Use the ordered fabric to make some sample dresses to check;
“If the dress fabric passes your tests, contact the seller; otherwise, look for other swatches sellers & keep on repeating this process until you find the best fabric. There are 90% chances that the 1st seller fabric will pass your test.”
Do not skip this step, if you do and order a bulk quantity to save some money, then you may get a cloth which does not fit well & get defected after some use, in that case, nobody will buy your product after some time, and you will get a huge loss. So, spend a little first & save yourself.
After you have chosen the best fabric for your dress, now it is time to order a bulk quantity.
After you have chosen the best fabric for your dress, now it is time to order a bulk quantity.
There are some things you must consider before ordering fabric in bulk;
“You must sign a legal written contract with the seller, and add all the minor details on it, so your seller will never be able to scam you in any way.”
The best ways to pay are;
“Both of the above methods offer legal protection in case of any scams.”
When searching for suppliers, you will see 4-different kinds of people who will offer fabric to you;
Fabric mills are the real manufacturer; they make fabric rolls from raw materials, but they do not dye or finish a product.
Fabric Factories are the ones that buy cloth rolls from mills and dye, embroidery, etc., in any way customers or make a product from them.
Jobbers are like Retail wholesalers; they buy fabric in bulk from mills & factories and sell it to the customers, making their profits.
Fabric agents are the ones who have contact with a lot of Fabric Mills, Factories & Jobbers. They find the supplier for the customer and charge their commission.
The difference between a jobber & an agent is that jobbers buy fabrics from mills & factories, stock them & sell them at their price. While an agent finds a mill or factory for the customer and charges their commission on every order or just a one-time fee.
Fabric Mills | Fabric Factories | Jobbers | Agents | |
Customization | Yes, Can Make You Anything | Only on dying & finishing. Do not make fabric of your demand. | Most likely No. | Yes, A agent can get you anything |
Minimum Order Quantity | Very high. | High | Very Low, can be just a few meters. | |
Have Deadstock/Over-stock | Very rarely. | Very rarely. | Most likely. | High chances, they can find you one. |
Delivery time | Very long, Can be months | Weeks to Months | Ready to Ship | Months, in case of production orders.Ready to ship in case of stocked fabric |
Can find You other Suppliers ( Mills/Factories ) | Most likely No. | Most likely No. | Maybe refer you someone else | Yes, they have contact with many Fabric mills, factories, Jobber, etc. |
Commission | Original Fabric Maker, so no commission. | Yes, these are finishing factories, they buy fabric from mills, so they charge commission but very little. | Yes, they are like Wholesale Retailers. | Yes, 2% ~ 5% |
Price | Lowest | Medium | Highest | Low than Jobbers, but still more than Mills & Factories. |
If you are looking for fabric sourcing for your new or old business, no matter whether you are a designer, wholesaler, or retailer, we can provide you finest quality fabric of your choice at the lowest prices. We are a Custom Fabric Manufacturer Mill in China & we can custom produce you 750+ tons of fabric per month. We have 11+ years of experience in this field, so we know that small businesses have low MOQ needs, so we at King Fabrics have made our MOQ requirements very small because we care for our customers.
“Click Here to Get Free SWATCHES ( Samples ) of our Fabrics directly from our Textile Mill!”
a) How to Properly arrange Incoming Swatches Data
Sample No 1 | Sample no 3 | Sample no 3 | ||
1 | Supplier | |||
2 | Item Unique Name/Code | |||
3 | GSM or OZ | |||
4 | Yarn Count | |||
5 | Composition | |||
6 | Knit or Woven Pattern | |||
7 | Width ( Total Vs. Cuttable ) | |||
8 | MOQ ( Sample Vs. Bulk ) | |||
9 | Price ( Sample Vs. Bulk ) | |||
10 | Delivery Lead Time | |||
11 | Country of Origin | |||
12 | Care Guidelines( Washing, Drying, etc. ) | |||
13 | Special Functions ( Waterproof, Heat-resistant, etc. ) | |||
13 | Any Special Notes |