Chinese (?) Clothing Factories Advice

lawtz04

Hi guys

As a bit of a pet project I would like to start my own clothing label and have various t-shirts and jumpers etc made up.

I am aware that the cheapest way probably to do this is to use foreign clothing manufacters, although I understand quality control can be an issue.

Can anyone share experiences or advice on this issue?

I would be very grateful,

Kind Regards

custardy

where are you planning to sell them?

lawtz04

Hiya

Its very early days, but to friends and people locally, perhaps through ebay after building a bit of a reputation.

Probably being ignorant but is that relevant? Sorry - thats not mean to be rude! Thanks for your reply

custardy

well its about numbers
do you really want to invest in runs of merchandise from abroad without knowing what will sell and what sort of turnover you will get?
might be worth getting small runs done locally and whacking them on eBay to see how you go

alexlyne

Not that I know much, but from remembering when watching Dragons' Den, if you're buying from abroad (i.e far east) you gotta buy big (think container load) to make it worthwhile - shipping costs will be higher than production costs otherwise. Plus I would think that factories are geared towards mass production, rather than friends and family quantities.

lawtz04

Thank you

I understand now. My understanding is the the difference in cost is quite large between labour nationally and internationally. I will definately consider what you have said. I would like to find a website which shows real reviews and ratings of chinese/indian etc clothing manufacturers. Quality is definately somewhat concerning. If I order 100 pieces I don't want 30 to be too poor to use!

soolin

lawtz04 wrote: »

Thank you

I understand now. My understanding is the the difference in cost is quite large between labour nationally and internationally. I will definately consider what you have said. I would like to find a website which shows real reviews and ratings of chinese/indian etc clothing manufacturers. Quality is definately somewhat concerning. If I order 100 pieces I don't want 30 to be too poor to use!

I suspect you will get very little interest if looking to initially order only 100 items, you will probably need to be looking at minimum orders of 1000s + of each type to even get any one to talk to you.

krycek985

Cant you make half a dozen yourself as a triel batch.

If friends and family like them then take them to a study group (a group of randoms),

From there get apointments with retailers and once a deals secured you can go onto international manufacturers.

Who said dragons den and the apprentice was a waste of time ?

lawtz04

Thanks for the help guys.