Where Can I Find Products to Start a Clothing Business?

If you want to start your own clothing business, either online or with a traditional brick-and-mortar location and are not designing your own line of wear, you need to find companies that will supply you with inventory. The clothing business is competitive---give significant thought to the type of apparel you will be offering and your target market. When you are ready to look for products, be just as thorough on deciding on what type of company to use---drop shipping, wholesaling, liquidation or closeouts. The style, quality and quantity you want in your clothing will determine whether you will buy wholesale from a manufacturer's sales representative, importer or directly from the clothing designer.

Consignment

It is difficult to purchase inventory unless you have enough of your own assets to pay for the clothing in advance or have already established a credit history and will be able to obtain a loan from a bank. If neither is the case, you may want to consider starting with a consignment store. In this case, designers bring in their clothing; you do not have to pay the designer until the item is sold. The proceeds of the sale are split, normally 60/40 or 50/50. Be sure to build up credit using a credit card solely for your business--not your personal credit card. Make small loans on supplies and equipment and pay them back.

Wholesaling

Once you have established your credit-worthiness, you will be able to make a loan for purchasing inventory. At this point, you can find numerous apparel wholesalers online that have the specific item you plan on selling. Contract with a clothing wholesaler who can offer high-quality product at a competitive price. Just as important, establish a relationship with someone who has a strong reputation of obtaining the product as promised. The advantages for going to a wholesaler include: 1) You can purchase larger quantities at the same time; 2) you pay the lowest price per item and 3) you are able to establish a relationship with a wholesaler who will continually offer the same service and products over time.

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Private Label

There are manufacturing companies that will take your original clothing pattern, grade it to the required sizes you require, normally four different sizes, and computerize the pattern for production. You then send them fabric, trim and a personal private label to put in each outfit; they will produce, bag and ship the items from their facility. Manufacturing firms will vary on the minimum size of production run. It will be necessary for you to be involved with this situation and remain in the country producing the goods to oversee the process.

Factory Direct

If you buy directly buy from the original manufacturer, you may save money because you will be able to eliminate the profit sharing among the manufacturer and wholesaler. However, it is best that you do so once you have been in the manufacturing plant and developed a relationship with the company. It may not always be less expensive to buy direct from the factory than from the wholesaler. The wholesaler specializes in importing and exporting laws and also knows the reputations of the companies. Also, there may be hidden costs that can greatly increase your final price. Quantity is also an essential ingredient that will determine the cost per item. Each distribution channel has its pros and cons; you need to understand which best meets your need.

Dropshippers

Many companies purchase their clothing items from drop shipping, where you do not keep your goods in inventory. Instead, each time a customer purchases an item, the order goes directly to the drop shipper. This firm packs and mails the item for you to the customer. You make a profit on the difference between the wholesale and retail price; the drop shipper makes a profit from the sale of product and services. There are pros and cons of wholesale versus drop ship.
Drop shippers normally do not require a tax ID as do most wholesalers; you can start your business with little out-of-pocket costs instead of paying the wholesaler; you do not have to be concerned about shipping; you can send one item at a time with drop shippers versus a minimum with wholesalers and you need no inventory space. With wholesalers, however, you may have more variety of product from which to choose; you can often get considerably lower prices and thus have larger profit margins and it may be a better working relationship with a wholesaler, because you work with your own rep.