How to Source Fabric Suppliers for Your Fashion Business
Finding the right fabrics and materials is one of the most important areas in starting your fashion business.
Fabric can make or break the design and be the indication of quality to your consumer of the overall brand. We’ve put together a list of things to keep in mind when you are sourcing fabric for your fashion collection.
Whether you’re looking for knit fabric, woven fabric, yarn dyed or printed fabrics you’ll find thousands of options within each category. You’ll want to find the right material at the best price from a reliable supplier who can get you your materials in a timely manner.
You can source fabric at Trade Shows:
The benefit of going to a trade show is that you will be swimming in choice and you’re able to touch and feel the fabrics in-person. The challenge is nearly the same-the sheer level of choice can be very overwhelming, with so many booths that have a massive portfolio of fabrics in each. If you opt for this route, we recommend researching the booths you want to learn more about in advance to prioritize which booths to spend your time at, as time can slip away quite easily when surrounded by so much choice and the materials can start to blend into one another. We’d recommend creating a list beforehand and keeping notes as you go.
You can source fabric Online:
Many fabric suppliers have websites to show their fabric catalog on their website. The challenge will be that you have to request headers/hangers (samples) to review in person eventually, so it can be challenging if you are not sure which fabrics might suit and are starting from scratch. Things to keep in mind are the weight of the fabric (you’d see activewear fabrics around the 200-300gsm and things like lightweight t-shirts under 130gsm, with everything in between. You’ll want to understand the differences between fibres, like rayon, cotton, polyesters, silks etc., then you’ll need to pay attention to cuttable width of the fabric and total width, the price per yard/meter, the minimum order quantity (MOQs), delivery lead times, country of origin (COO) and care instructions.
You can source fabric through an Agent:
For start-ups and young designers, the best way to do it is to go through someone like Morris Global Consulting, who has the relationships built with these companies and may know certain suppliers that are open to smaller order runs.
We oversee a lot of global manufacturing at Morris Fashion Consultancy across a diverse range of womenswear, menswear, kidswear & lifestyle products (learn more about our manufacturing services here) so we are always on the lookout for the best fabric suppliers & manufacturers in the world, so that when our clients come to us for help on sourcing & production we know exactly where to go, which in turn makes it more time & cost effective for them - WIN, WIN!
Interested in learning more about how we can help you source the best material at the best price? Get in touch with a FREE 15 min. Discovery Call & we’ll walk you through your options or read more about our Manufacturing Services here.
