Finding a reliable supplier is critical to any type of retail or wholesale success. Without one, there’s no way to build equilibrium or dependability of your own brand and thus, customer satisfaction. If you’re looking for an organization to handle your designer clothing manufacturing in New York City, keep these tips in mind.
Domestic or Overseas Suppliers
One fundamental decision that will inform every other choice regarding wholesale clothing manufacturers in New York is whether to go with a domestic supplier, overseas supplier, or both. There are benefits and drawbacks to each scenario. While it’s always less expensive to source your products overseas, you run a risk of questionable quality and logistics challenges. At the same time, while domestic manufacturers offer higher quality and labor standards, the per unit cost will be higher and your choices, based on what is “made in the USA” are somewhat limited.
Research and Verifying
Once you’ve decided if you want to with a domestic supplier, you must complete your due diligence, which in this case, means a lot of research. You may find a manufacturer for designer wholesale clothing in New York, for instance if they’re not reliable you could be asking for trouble. The same applies to an overseas supplier; they might offer great pricing, but their quality might be less than acceptable, and they might be very unreliable regarding delivery. Fortunately, you have a lot of research tools at your disposal.
Industry Directories: Supplier directories often contain profiles of manufacturers, wholesalers, and suppliers, including data indicating what they’re capable of producing. These don’t usually touch on their industry reputation, however, so you cannot rely solely on industry profiles to make your decision.
Google: Generally, Google is good for basic information although if a supplier has not kept their data up-to-date, the information can be suspect. If, though, you use tactical terms to search for manufacturers, you can be successful in getting a picture of who they are, what they do and whether they are reliable. Tactical terms are industry-specific terms related to your products and the manufacturing process, including interchangeable words (such as a wholesaler, distributor, wholesale manufacturer, etc.)
Industry Sources
These include industry periodicals, association websites and other forms of data collection and presentation related to your industry. This includes word-of-mouth from other professionals in your industry.
Customer Reviews
These can get dicey as they are easily manipulated, and one very irate customer can set the entire tone for a manufacturer review, but you can get a sense of customer satisfaction if you put each comment in perspective.
Finding the right manufacturer for your retail products can be a chore. Reliable designer clothing manufacturing in New York City or anywhere in the USA can be a chore as well. If you perform your due diligence, however, you can achieve success.