Ready to get your designs started? The first step in product development is finding the right fabric. That fabric can inspire an amazing design, help a sketched design meet your expectations, and hopefully price into your costing structure. Before you get started with your sourcing, there is some basic knowledge that is important to understand about sourcing types.
There are four basic Wholesale Fabric Source types:
1. Mill:
A mill is a weaving or knitting company that manufactures fabrics and textile products. There are pros and cons to working with mills.
Pro: The mill can create a fabric to your specifications. Using your yarn fiber requests, color, finishings, etc. Often you will get a great price at the mill.
Con: There are generally minimums that you must order. These minimums for domestic mills are 500 - 1000 yards at least, and with larger mills are often much higher than that.
Note: There are domestic mills that carry "in stock' fabrics available for purchase by the yard or roll. This is a great option and an excellent find when you come across a mill that does this.
2. Converter:
A converter is a company that purchases woven or knitted greige goods directly from a fabric mill and finishes the goods. "Greige goods" are fabrics that are undyed, unbleached, and unfinished fabrics, also sometimes this is referred to as PFD (prepared for dying). The converter then dyes, bleaches, washes, finishes, and/or prints. the fabric. Converters then offer a full line of finished fabrics.
Pro: Often converters have lower minimums than working directly with a mill.
Con: Not all mills use converters. Also, minimums can still be higher than a start-up brand will need.
3. Jobber:
A Jobber purchases large quantities of excess finished fabrics from mills and converters then sells them wholesale in smaller quantities. Jobbers sell to small design companies, manufacturers, and retail fabric stores. They generally sell fabric by the roll or bolt (bolts are folded and on cardboard rectangles, commonly seen in retail fabric stores).
Pro: Jobbers can be an excellent way to get designer quality fabrics at a discount.
Con: Very often a jobber cannot get a fabric repeatedly, so reorders are not an option. Generally, if you like a fabric the jobber has, it is best to purchase as much of it as you believe you will need.
4. Fabric Rep:
One of our favorite ways to work is by using a Fabric Rep- a sales agent who shows fabric lines from one or more mills or importers. The rep works directly with their sources and makes a commission off of every sale they make. Fabric Reps show and sell fabrics to apparel manufacturers and other textile customers.
Pro: This can be a great way to see multiple fabric collections from around the world at one time. They often have low minimums.
Con: There is no con with using a fabric rep.
Working with an experienced team for sourcing can help to get your project off the ground- if you would like assistance with sourcing, Michigan Fashion Proto offers sourcing by the hour, or 1 round of sourcing is included in the initial consultation at no additional cost. Let us know if this is something that we can help with!