recommending a manufacturer for fashion brands
This blog was written in collaboration with Chloe Hill - a recently graduated 1st Class Hons English student at Royal Holloway, the lifestyle editor of Orbital Magazine & freelance online fashion writer for Debut Magazine.
Since starting my fashion consultancy business, I often get asked a similar question: can you recommend a manufacturer to me?
Of course – I would love to! Yet for many reasons, this is unfortunately a very grey area. To start with, there are a myriad of details behind what exactly constitutes a good manufacturer and inevitably this differs from person to person. To put it plainly, I like to use the analogy of internet dating or house hunting as an easy comparison tool. Finding the right manufacturer for you will be hard work and sadly there won’t be any direct shortcuts. It’s all about building a long standing and healthy relationship, communicating on a personal level and getting the right feeling. Now do you see where the dating/house analogy comes into play?
What I can help with is precisely how you can choose the right path for finding the perfect manufacturer for you, ensure that you’re always getting the most out of your relationship with them. From price points to speed and efficiency, I can advise, counsel and make sure the relationship is as healthy as it can possibly be.
Although I’m incredibly lucky to have formed amazing contacts within the fashion industry over the years, many of them have a vast MOQ (minimum order quantity.) Large corporations including Asda and Next may at first glance seem great (which they are of course) but when it comes to fashion start-ups, the sheer size means that they simply aren’t transferrable to growing independent businesses where you may only require a few units at a time.
In the same light, recommending a contact who was top of the range three years ago may not be effective in today’s climate. Naturally, things change and the industry is moving at a faster pace than ever, adapting to changes in buying habits and the increase in environmentally conscious ethics. Other factors such as pricing, production management and quality control may also have suffered over the years, so it’s always worth starting fresh. It would therefore make far more logistical sense to source a contact who is good and trusted in the current moment, as it stands today.
To return to my internet dating or house hunting analogy – it’s the same system where finding someone you know, and trust is entirely subjective on the person. You would want to speak to them, meet them and establish a bond. The getting to know each other phase will also include negotiating prices, deals and getting a feel for the place, so it truly feels like a valuable part of your business.
If this subject is something you’d like to discuss further, contact me on social media or drop me an email at hi@elizabethstiles.co.uk.