When starting a clothing line, choosing the right manufacturer can be quite challenging; even frustrating.
Imagine, after spending a lot of time and hard work preparing your collection, a multitude of problems suddenly arise, hidden unexpected costs and delays in production.
Choosing the right manufacturer can affect how your business runs both in the short- and long- term.
Whether you prioritise proximity or budget control, we’ve summarised key considerations when choosing a clothing manufacturer.
Each part of consideration always brings you pros and cons, and at the end of the day, which one is fit for your business, financial and business model can affect your decision. So, let’s delve deep into consideration from our end to make your clothing business a success from the start :
Local Clothing Manufacturer
Pros
1. Faster Shipments
Technically speaking, sourcing your clothing collection from a nearby clothing manufacturer can result in faster shipments.
Besides faster turnaround, you can also save more money since the shipment cost is not as high as if you were sourcing from an overseas clothing manufacturer.
2. Easier to Maintain the Quality of Clothing
If you are working on a high-quality clothing collection, this point might be quite important.
Local clothing manufacturers can give you access to their office where you can personally check the quality of garments during the early stages of design and development.
Cons
1. Super Higher Cost
Living costs in developed countries affect the cost of labour in that country due to higher wages and higher taxes.
If the cost of production itself is already high, then you’re going to sacrifice your profit margins. Especially, if you’re selling to lower affordability customers.
To give you an example. In retail fashion, brands charge anywhere from 4.5 times to 22 times the original production costs of manufacturing.
2. Limited Capacity
Many clothing manufacturers in developed countries have limited capacity due to higher operating costs.
Labour costs, property and rent costs, taxes, are already quite higher than developing countries.
That’s why a lot of clothing manufacturers in developed countries have limited capacity yet higher pricing per piece, which is not suitable for most start-up and growing brands.
3. Generic Clothing Specialisation
Factories in certain countries can have limitations with respect to skills specialisation compared to overseas clothing manufacturers.
For example, here in Bali, we have broader capabilities in resort wear and swimwear manufacturing. Whereas, Italy is well-known as a world-class leather fashion producer.
4. Limited Material Options
Most mills import their fabric from overseas, which could be a bottleneck, if there are any supply chain issues.
Most fabric for clothing is produced in Asia, which dominates global textile and apparel exports.
The cost of your fabrics and treatments in domestic manufacturing can comprise 40-70% of your clothing manufacturing costs. Whereas, doing the same with an overseas apparel factory would be lower.
Overseas Clothing Manufacturer
Pros
1. Lower Cost Production
Affordable labour costs and direct access to fabric mills make overseas clothing manufacturers more affordable.
Finding an ethical, SEDEX certified, clothing manufacturer in countries such as Indonesia will ensure your garments are made with higher quality standards while avoiding labour violations.
2. Highly Specialised Garment Making
Not all countries have the capability to produce all types of garments.
Some regions such as Bali, Indonesia, specialise in producing swimwear and resort wear because it’s one of the world’s premier tourism destinations.
Additionally, Indonesia’s textile industry is heavily focused on woven fabrics.
3. Abundant Fabrics Options
As mentioned above, your clothing manufacturer’s proximity to textile mills impacts the cost of clothing production.
For example, Indonesia is listed as one of the top 10 fabric producers in the world. With its proximity to countries like China increases access to even more fabrics.
This directly affects the cost of producing your clothing; in the short- and long-term.
4. Bigger Production Capacity
Property prices and other common expenses are much lower in developing countries which makes production capacities for clothing manufacturers easier to scale.
And as your fashion business grows, it’s easier for you to scale within the same factory. Making everything under one roof and maintaining a long relationship is paramount to the success of your brand.
Cons
1. Culture and Language Barriers
Oftentimes, overseas clothing manufacturers operate in their local language. And understanding the varying types of foreign work cultures can be like navigating through a minefield.
It can be beneficial to work with clothing manufacturers that are foreign-owned because FDI (foreign direct investment) also brings advanced business knowledge. Operationally speaking, foreign-owned garment factories are better at providing good communication.
This can make your life easier since they’ll understand your work ethics, apply modern business practices, and produce higher quality clothing.
2. Quality Assurance Issues
Many brands admit to having issues when partnering with overseas clothing manufacturers.
To avoid these mistakes, ensure your clothing manufacturer offers garment samples for testing your upcoming collection. Errors in sampling will become headaches in bulk production.
When it comes to mass production, you can rest assured your clothing manufacturer already has the correct templates to work from.
In Conclusion, But Not The End
Whether you’re a clothing start-up or an established fashion brand, success comes down to creating collections that your customers love, ensuring efficient and affordable production to secure healthier profit margins, and launching at the right sales cycles.
As Bali’s only SEDEX certified Fair Trade company and the only clothing manufacturer that’s Intertek audit certified for REACH and CPSIA compliance, CM Garmindo is a popular choice for clothing brands from Australia, Europe, Middle East, and North America.
Being a leading manufacturer of adult and kids activewear, leisurewear, resort wear, and swimwear, makes our factory the natural choice for most clothing brands looking for overseas clothing manufacturers.
Free clothing samples. Affordable clothing design. Low production MOQs. Loads of superb quality fabrics; both organic and recycled. Premium quality clothing manufacturing. And being Fair Trade certified with globally recognized QA/QC compliance.
Want to speak with one of our human Client Service team? Send us a message via our website here. We’d be delighted to assist you.
Source :
- https://ryzealsourcing.com/costing-in-garment-industry/
- https://www.indonesiatradedata.com/blogs/indonesia-textile-exporters
- https://gadroots.com/blogs/news/worlds-finest-leather-producing-countries
