Steps to Production Series - Fabric Sourcing
Launching a brand can be overwhelming, where do I start? What steps do I take? In this blog series, Anna breaks it down in a simple step by step process to get your brand off the ground and into the hands of your consumers!
Now that you have followed the steps in the previous posts you are ready to start looking for fabric. And for those of you just catching up before you source your fabric you should have these things in order:
Moodboard
Timeline
Sketches
Time for the fun part! This is the first step to having an actual product in your hands. Before this, everything has been an idea, a dream. But now, it’s time to put down that credit card and make some real decisions to reach your goal. This can be scary. So you will want to do a gut check if you are having a hard time. Ask yourself, “I am letting fear get in the way of ordering fabric?” A lot of my clients run into a speed bump here, fear bubbles up and it gets disguised as “I just can’t find the perfect fabric” or “Nothing is right” but what is really happening is fear. You will want to be super mindful of this at this stage of the game because it can hold you back from moving forward.
You will also want to have an idea of your customer and your ideal price point aligned. This helps determine if you are looking for a fabric at $7/yard or if you will be looking for a fabric $20/yard. This is hard to know exactly what your retail price will be until you have sourced your goods and generated manufacturing quotes but use your best judgement. Again, shopping comes in handy here.
For example, a full length silk gown is more expensive than a polyester version. This is directly related to your fabric cost. A nice poly silk can be anywhere from $7-$12/yard where a real silk can be upwards of $30 to even $45/yard. Silk is also harder to work with then poly so your cut and sew price will be higher as well. Natural fibers tend to equal higher end products (wool, cashmere, silk), whereas man made fabrics (polyester, rayons, polyurethanes) tend to be less expensive in the per yard price.
Have some basic knowledge of what you are sourcing. Know the difference between a knit and woven fabric. But try not to be so specific that it prevents you from finding what you are looking for. If you found a dress off the rack that has 65% cotton, 30% rayon, 5% lycra and you are looking for this and ONLY this, it will be challenging. Plus, not to mention, the weave or knit and the weight can make a fabric very different in how it acts and falls on the body. That is why you have your favorite 100% T-shirt even when there are thousands of 100% cotton T-shirts in the world. It is more important to focus on the hand and the drape of the fabric than the exact fiber content. Keep an open mind, source a lot of swatches and inform the vendor of what type of garment you are creating and what your goals are in regards to fiber content.
Where can you find fabric vendors you ask? Trade Shows, online platforms or even instagram. But here are a few trade shows you can attend:
And because I have known him for years and years, I am going to go ahead and plug my long standing vendor and friend, Jay from The Sourcing District. Tell him I sent you! But know the difference between a knit and a woven before you call! He will use this question to see how far along you are in the process and knowledge of fabrics.
Also to note, V.Mora reps Gordon Fabrics here in New York, just reach out to book an appointment to see the line in person! The moodboards I use in this post all are Gordon Fabrics!
You will want to round up swatches from vendors prior to making any orders. Most vendors will send you 5-10 free swatches. Whether you are ordering via phone, email or at a tradeshow you will want to have a few items prepared to ask for your conversation.
First state clearly your name, your company name AND what type of fabric you’re sourcing
Ask for minimum requirements; on both sampling and production quantities
Ask for lead times; for both sampling and production
Ask for pricing information and fabric details (ie fabric width, weight, fiber content, color availability etc..). NOTE: Often the higher the quantity of fabric you are buying the lower the price/yd will be.
Ask on whether their fabrics are domestic or from overseas. If from overseas, from where exactly? NOTE: It is NOT uncommon that a fabric supplier will be willing to produce a lower quantity on production fabric orders; but they will charge you a surcharge for it. It normally falls somewhere between 25-30% of the cost of the whole order.
Get super clear on what the payment terms/conditions are for both sampling AND production. They could be vastly different.
Consider that the lower the price/yd of fabric, that probably the required production minimums will be high.
Most fabric suppliers will need a shipping account of some kind, via which to ship your goods (ie UPS, FedEx, DHL etc..) Be prepared with an account number before contacting fabric suppliers.’
Speaking of calling a fabric vendor, know the steps you will be taking to source:
Swatching - Ordering headers or swatch cards to determine what you will be producing with
Ordering Sample fabric - 5 to 10 yard to make your first samples in
Wash test your fabric - Will you be machine washing your product? Dry cleaning? Test a small amount now (½ a yard or so) to see shrinkage and how the fabric reacts before you decide to move forward with it.
SCR fabric PO and Production fabric PO - After all is well in the sampling, it is now the time to order your fabric for both the SCR (size check run) and production. Mostly, this is done on one PO (purchase order) but in some cases done separately if you are using samples and SCR to determine the total units of your production (more on this later!)
There you have it, fabric sourcing! It’s not rocket science but obviously fabric is very important to your brand and garments. It also can be one of the longest in the timeline as you are dependent on finding the vendors, shipping the swatches, ordering sample yardage for every fabric needed. Don’t get frustrated, hopefully when developing your timeline you have given yourself ample time to find the needed supplies. And it gets easier, after you have the network sourcing becomes faster as you know exactly where to go, for what, and have established a buying relationship with these vendors.
Good luck and thanks for reading! As always, you can hire V.Mora to streamline this process and directly plug you in to our network and you’ll benefit from our strong buying relationships!
