Whether you want to sell t-shirts or workwear, men’s or women’s clothing, buying clothes in bulk is the best way to secure low prices, so you can include your markup and then sell your items for a good profit. In this post, we will talk all about how to purchase wholesale clothing for your online store.
1. Find Wholesalers for Bulk Clothing
Having a good list of clothing wholesalers to choose from is key in getting your clothing store off the ground.
If you are looking to buy clothes in bulk for resale, pay close heed to the following steps and you will be on track to having a successful business.
Let’s get started with the basics: domestic or overseas wholesale clothing suppliers?
Domestic vs Overseas
The first question everyone needs to answer is whether you want your wholesale clothing suppliers to be domestic or from overseas. Of course, both have their advantages and disadvantages. It will boil down to your personal preference, the products you’re selling, or your own values. Take care to research the quality standards for wholesale clothing vendors at home and abroad to decide which is the best option for your business.
Advantages of Domestic Clothing Suppliers
Let’s start with the advantages of using a domestic wholesale clothing supplier. Because they are located domestically, the shipping time will be significantly shorter. Communication will be easier because there will be no language barrier between you and the vendor. This could yield fewer errors and mistakes.
Disadvantages of Domestic Clothing Suppliers
The two biggest disadvantages include the limited number of products to choose from and their higher costs. There are fewer wholesale clothing suppliers in the US than overseas in places like China or Vietnam.
Moreover, due to the higher employment costs and better labor laws in developed countries like the USA, the price of goods will be much higher.
Advantages of Overseas Clothing Suppliers
The other option available for you is overseas manufacturing. This one too comes with many advantages of its own such as lower manufacturing costs and higher quality. This is especially true if you compare it to manufacturers in America. That’s unfortunately due to lower labor standards. On the plus side, there are a lot of wholesale vendors to choose from, especially clothing suppliers. Because of services like KaKaClo, it’s easy to get started working with overseas apparel suppliers.
Disadvantages of Overseas Clothing Suppliers
Some of the other disadvantages include longer shipping time as most of these manufacturers are in China.
1) It’s going to take longer to deliver the product to your customer in North America or Europe.
2) You might occasionally run into issues with customs.
3) You won’t be able to visit the manufacturers in person, at least not cheaply. Verifying products could be a big hassle.
4) Cultural differences and language barriers could cause more errors, mistakes, and headaches for you as well.
2. Where to Buy Wholesale Clothing
When you’re ready to find good quality, legitimate clothing suppliers to buy from immediately, you’ll want to head to an online wholesale marketplace. This is a platform where you’ll find thousands of products from a single supplier.
If you are US-based and interested in overseas suppliers, I highly recommend trying KaKaClo, a professional clothing wholesale marketplace. KaKaClo is free to join and you’ll immediately be able to browse and buy from the factory directly.
Don’t worry about the quality, every product has been pre-checked for quality by this platform before shipping to your customer.
3. Vetting Suppliers
Now that you know where to buy wholesale clothing, it’s time to vet suppliers so you can purchase bulk wholesale clothes for your store. In most cases, you will need to request a quote and start to build a relationship with different wholesale clothing vendors to choose which one to do business with.
MOQ
You want to be informed on a few things starting with the vendor’s minimum order quantity, MOQ.
This differs from supplier to supplier. You need to know if you can afford and handle the minimum quantity they are selling. The other most important question you need to ask is: how much their products will cost you.
Most suppliers do high discount pricing for higher quantity orders. Ask for the price of various quantities to get a feel for their product pricing.
Shipping Times
Next, you need to find out the delivery time and shipping terms. Timing is everything in an e-commerce business. How long does it take them to ship the item to your customer is an important question as well. You need to know if an item will take a long time to ship, or not.
Additionally, you’ll also need to ask about their payment terms to make sure you’re okay with how they charge for their products. As with everything, it varies depending on the supplier. You don’t want to be surprised about how they expect you to pay for the inventory.
Sample Orders
The very last thing you want to ask is about their samples. Some suppliers provide discounted rates for them, and some don’t. It’s important to ask and to order some if you can afford it. This way, you’ll get a feel for the products you will be selling to your own customer.
4. Conclusion
For an online clothing brand, the need to buy wholesale clothing will arise sooner than later. It’s a matter of doing your due diligence and researching clothing wholesalers on various platforms. After all, you need to find the perfect one. The one that will supply you with the products you want for the right price. It’s a lot of screening, but it’s all worth it in the end when you’ll have happy paying customers.
KaKaClo is a wholesale marketplace filled with high-quality clothing products. It helps you to get rid of supplier issues so that you focus on selling as they manage everything from inventory to delivery.
To ensure products quality, KakaClo has gone the extra mile to oversee all drop-shipping suppliers through their inspection system
To ensure packing is intact, Kakaclo houses a full suite of services under one roof so fulfillment is truly, fully integrated. Their Fulfillment Warehouse & Logistics offers accurate and digitally-trackable order fulfillment, tracking your products with expert attention, and making sure your orders are shipped accurately and affordably.
There is no MOQ requirement for every product your purchase on this platform. Join now to see if you’re eligible for a FREE sample.
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