There are plenty of legitimate clothing manufacturers out there! There are loads of groups on Facebook that are filled with supportive entrepreneurs who are looking to give back to the community. We recommend joining groups like Shopify Entrepreneurs or Kingpinning , and using any of the resources that are available there to help you find a clothing manufacturer for your business. Make sure that you read through the rules of the group and ask any questions that you have about starting your own clothing brand.
Join it. There will always be value in networking and asking people in the industry for advice on how to find the right clothing manufacturer. So having a manufacturer that allows you to create a custom label for your clothes is paramount. Talking to others who have worked with US and Chinese manufacturers in this way can help you answer all the right questions at the right time. The next step is to refine your list. Do your research. Ask around.
Do everything you can to find the best clothing manufacturer for your business. In an ideal world, we always recommend going to visit the clothing manufacturer so you can review their processes. This will help you to validate your decision to work with them while building your business relationship — which is essential in a long-term partnership. Wholesale is a great business model if you have the space to store merchandise. This is because you can purchase large quantities of stock at a reduced cost and then sell it to your customers at a marked-up price.
Once an item is purchased, contact the manufacturer or supplier and place the order with them. All you really need to worry about is growing your business. Remember, this is a big decision for your business, so take the time to properly do your research and find a manufacturer who fits your business needs.
The extra time that you spend now will help you to avoid any larger setbacks in the future. Want to learn how to advertise on Instagram? Choosing between Magento vs Shopify? This post breaks down how the platforms compare in ease of use, design, and more. Whatever is important to you in a manufacturer, narrow down your shortlist to ones who seem like they check off some of your most important boxes. Step 6: Contact Clothing Manufacturers By now you should have been able to narrow down a long list of potential clothing manufacturers into a shorter list of manufacturers who meet your needs when it comes down to what you require in terms of professional services, which manufacturers are actually able to create your future garments, manufactures in an accessible location, or ones who meet your budget requirements.
Now is the time to contact your potential manufacturers, but that may be easier said than done. Response rates for manufacturers differ, but producing a well-thought-out initial email can increase your chances of actually receiving a response back from potential manufactures. DO be polite. DO be clear. DO follow up. Click here to learn more about how to construct the perfect initial contact email.
At this step, you should communicate further with the factories and learn more about how they conduct business and the quality of their products. You should be looking to evaluate whether or not you will get along with them personally and professionally in order to gauge your potential for success as colleagues. This is also now the right time to let the manufacturer in on your brand goals, where you see your brand starting off, what you see your brand scaling to, and let them know how you want them involved in that process.
All the time you spent defining your brand in the first step should be communicated to the manufacturer to see if they understand where your brand is going and if they can get excited for your brand, too.
At this stage, it is appropriate to have more than one factory make samples of your garments. Step 9: Start Full-Scale Production The final step of the manufacturing process is really just the first step of building your own clothing brand. This is the time to work with your manufacturer and get your garments produced! But now that you have the right manufacturer for your business, let their skills and services help you build your clothing brand to where you want it to be.
Branding tells the story of your company and your packaging is one of the few parts of your brand—besides your clothing items themselves—that your customers will actually be able to touch, feel, and see. It engages your customers, it can make them feel valued, and it can even increase the perceived level of quality your customers associate with your brand and your clothing items.
The package elements are the more functional items that are required to actually ship your clothing pieces, whereas the added extras enhance the experience and help to make your customers feel valued. Shipping Boxes Depending on the clothing items you sell, you may have to ship them to your customers in a shipping box.
You can also use these services to get your brand name printed onto the box itself for a more professional unboxing experience. Plenty of brands ship clothing items to their customers in poly mailers, so it is an appropriate method for the industry.
Tissue paper makes the unboxing experience feel more like a gift, which can make your package seem thoughtful and your customers feel valued. Tissue paper is also an easy way to add to your packaging without adding any extra bulk or weight, and you can have it printed with your logo or choose colored or patterned paper to add some extra flair to the package.
Use an everchanging assortment of patterns, colors, and styles to keep repeat customers interested. Not only is it decorative, but packing tape is functional and adds another layer of security to keep box openings sealed throughout the shipping process. Alternatively, use stickers to brand plain shipping boxes or mailers, or include them inside your package for customers to use or share as they please. Stickers are super versatile, so think about how you can use stickers to enhance your unboxing experience!
Business Cards If you want your customers to remember you, refer you to a friend, or send you feedback about their experience with your business or your products, consider including your business card so they can hold onto it or pass it on to others.
Custom, handwritten notes with personalized messages are a great way to connect with your customers and make them feel appreciated. Your customers will likely feel very touched by your effort and will likely also share their experience with their peers or on their social platforms, which is positive exposure for your brand. Using gifts as a way to thank your customers for their purchase is a surefire way to capture their attention and make them feel valued.
The best way to do this is by adding custom labels and tags. Think about how you want your brand to be perceived and choose a type of label that fits accordingly. The types of clothing labels you can include on your garments include: Manhattan Fold Labels: These are quite similar to Center Fold Labels in their appearance, except that the top of the label is folded over to give a more finished and high-quality look.
This type of label is typically sewn into the collar of a garment. The End Fold Labels: These have more of a finished and high-quality look to them because the edges are tucked in at the sides. Center Fold Labels: These are the most common type of apparel labels.
This type of label, however, hangs down a bit farther than the End Fold Label instead of going straight across. Loop Fold Labels: These labels are commonly sewn on the inside of garments, typically close to the hemline in shirts or the waistband in some trousers.
This type of label is usually reserved for care and size information, not brand logos. Clothing Tags Clothing tags, otherwise referred to as hangtags, are usually added to the garment at the very end of production and are typically secured to the collar label of some garments, or otherwise gently pinned or secured to the garment by piercing a small hole through the fabric.
Not only is Shopify one of the easiest platforms to get started with, but its app store is the most robust and has a host of print-on-demand clothing printers and dropshippers if you choose to go that route read our Shopify Review to learn more about why we recommend it so highly.
Shopify enables you to build your own online clothing store wherever you are, with the ability to sell to customers all over the world. You want your website to install confidence in your customers, so take that into consideration when setting up your online clothing store. Bonus: Still not sure about which ecommerce platform to choose? Check out our exclusive Ecommerce Platform Recommendation Tool. This tool will ask you a series of questions to help you narrow down and choose the best ecommerce platform for your specific needs.
Themes are the general outward look and feel of your website, and depending on the products you sell, some themes may display your products better than others.
For more ideas, check out our roundup of the Best Shopify Themes here. And to see some Shopify themes in action, check out these 50 Successful Shopify Stores and see what you can learn from them.
What should you charge for shipping? How much does shipping cost? What about returns? What shipping carrier should you use? Should you start off with a shipping and fulfillment warehouse?
Will your customers get charged duty and customs fees? What about shipping labels? What about tracking and insuring your packages?
Some orders will cost you more to ship and some will cost you less, but if you budget it correctly it should even out. Offer Your Customers Free Shipping Based on their Location: In this case, you could offer free shipping for all domestic destinations and any international locations will have to pay a calculated rate or a flat fee. This encourages your local customers to purchase from you without having to pay any shipping fees and depending on your domestic shipping rates you should be able to absorb the cost in your profit margin, assuming you price your items accordingly.
The cost of shipping will be absorbed by your profit margin, so take that into consideration when pricing your items. Shipping is never free. There are also other variables involved like the weight and size of the package as well, so your best bet is to use a shipping calculator to determine how much it would cost you to ship your packages.
Many carriers have shipping calculators available on their websites so you can price out the cost of your packages on there. Check out this blogpost from Shopify that discusses shipping returns in more detail to learn more about it and how it affects your business. Basically, it makes it a little bit easier and less expensive for you than just shipping packages without a business account.
It can also be difficult to add other extras such as promotional inserts, custom notes, samples, etc. Cost: Shipping and fulfillment warehouses can take the shipping process off your hands but at what cost?
Handling Returns: Since your business is just one of many at a shipping and fulfillment warehouse, returned items may be handled in an inefficient manner, depending on the warehouse. Simplified Process: No need to wait in line at the post office or deal with couriers to get your packages shipped. Alas, the best factories are so highly prized that many designers are loath to share their contacts.
Get what you can from them; even knowing the city that they produce in can help you narrow your search, as you might find a district that specialises in what you do. Alternatively, visit dedicated manufacturing websites that can help you filter results. After doing your research you will inevitably have a huge list of potential factories to work with all around the world.
The best production managers suggest you try and keep it as local to you as possible, as this eliminates overseas shipping logistics and customs issues. Also, it means you are closer to the factory and can do first visits, second visits and quality control more easily. For less experienced designers it can also offer peace of mind — being closer to where your product is being made makes you feel more in control of your business.
Cost is a factor, of course, and especially in the UK and US, prices are higher because of minimum wages, strict legal requirements and other factors. Your perfect factory will have experience of producing the types of clothing and garments you want made, using the materials you want to make them with.
Check which areas it specialises in — bags, womenswear etc — and what machinery it has. The more clued up you are about the procedures needed to make your products, the easier this latter part will be. On this visit, be sure to discuss prices, schedules and minimums.
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