A clothing manufacturer for startup should be able to give reassuring answers to these 5 questions about its clothing manufacturing process. Don’t hire it if you’re not happy with the answers!
Reliable Clothing Manufacturer for Startup in Bali: 5 Questions to Save you from Disaster
Who says you can’t have a work life balance of business and pleasure? In fact, many global fashion labels are produced in Bali. Their owners are enjoying success while at the same time enjoying what the island has to offer!
But be careful! If you choose the wrong clothing manufacturer then you can suffer a huge loss.
Bali has a lot of private label clothing manufacturers. But if you want to find best clothing manufacturer for startups, then you need to ask these question to the potential clothing manufacturers that you want to check out:
1. What is your minimum order?
As a start-up, it is highly likely that you are in the stage of “testing the market” to find out what sells and what does not. You don’t want to waste money on dead stock, so it’d be better to place just a small order to a clothing manufacturer. Later on, if apparently your products sell fast, you can always order again.
Before you contact a clothing manufacturer for startup, make sure that you have prepared your designs, fabrics specifications, accessories and reference photos. It’d better yet if you have the sample of the garment you want to produce.
Upon examining your designs and the supporting data, the clothing manufacturer for startup would calculate the minimum order quantity that should be cost efficient enough to accommodate your budget per piece of the garment (final product).
So, should the minimum order required by the clothing manufacturer is something that you can work with, then you can ask this next question.
2. What is your current production capacity?
Production capacity is the number of output a clothing manufacturer can produce at any given time (normally the calculation is per month).
Even the best clothing manufacturers in the world have limits to their production capacity. So, any self claimed reliable clothing manufacturer for startup should also be able to reveal their current production capacity. This particular information could save you from the disaster of not having the production finished on time.
For example, you want to produce 200 pcs of garments. It would be safer to place your order to a clothing manufacturer with a current production capacity of 2,000 pcs per month rather than the one with production capacity of only 300 pcs.
Obviously an order of 200 pcs is just a 10% of the production capacity of a clothing manufacturer who could produce 2,000 per month. So, it is safer because there is no reason for the said clothing manufacturer to feel overwhelmed by your order.
3. What is the Production Schedule/Lead Time to complete my order?
Clothing manufacturers for start-ups must have the production schedules for confirmed orders. Knowing this production schedule is important to find out whether a clothing manufacturer’s schedule matches yours.
A monthly production schedule, might look like something like this:*
| Week I | : | Customer A (2,000pcs) |
| Week II | : | Customer B (1,500pcs) |
| Week III & IV | : | Customer C (2,750pcs) |
So, for example, if you need the products to be ready in four weeks but the clothing manufacturer currently is fully booked for the whole month, it means you need to find another clothing manufacturer.
4. Do you have any in-house pattern maker?
This is an important question you need to ask clothing manufacturers for startups, especially when you are trying to find a reliable clothing manufacturer that offers Full Package Production Services.
Obviously, a pattern maker “translates” a design into technical drawings & specifications that cutters and seamstresses understand. A reliable clothing manufacturer for startup most likely has at least 1 in-house pattern maker.
Having an in-house pattern maker does make the process quicker and more cost efficient compared to having it outsourced to a third party. And, since the clothing manufacturer has authority and control over the works of its own employees, it will be less likely that your designs end up getting sold out to your competitors!
Some clothing manufacturers for startups might use the latest technology in pattern making. They use pattern making software such as Tukatech. Such companies are likely to produce precise patterns which results in good cuts. But still, they need an in-house pattern maker to operate it.
Clothing manufacturers for startups Europe could outsource the pattern making to Makersrow and you can do the same (if you want to have the production in Bali). However, making the patterns in Bali might be cheaper anyway.
5. What is your sampling procedure?
The sampling process might be similar among clothing manufacturers, but not exactly the same. Each manufacturer has their own reasons for that. You can adjust your clothing line marketing plan and schedule after checking the clothing manufacturer’s sampling procedure.
Ask for their procedure for sampling. Here in Promoda we prepare a tech pack before we produce samples.
Fabrics Sourcing
As a start-up, it would be better for you to focus on what matters: the development of your brand.
You can actually source the fabric yourself if you have some knowledge about the local market. However, it will be more efficient if the clothing manufacturer does the fabric sourcing for you.
A reliable clothing manufacturer for startup must have a wide network of fabrics, trimmings and accessories in their supply chain management. They should be able to source a specific fabric that you require for your design. They might even find the best deal for you.
Size Chart
If the clothing manufacturer doesn’t have a standard size chart, then you have to do a lot of work to create one. But if the clothing manufacturer has one, you still need to make sure anyway if it matches your customer base, otherwise the products might not fit.