How to find suppliers internationally

[Lauraadele18]

Hi,

I am looking at starting my own business selling fabrics online. As most things, the most cost effective way to source my products is through China or India, however how do i go about finding these companies? I have looked on Alibaba and i cannot find a suitable supplier. I am looking to buy a variety of fabrics, however the suppliers i have see so far specialise in just one area E.G cottons or faux leather whereas i want a supplier who can offer all types of fabric as then i can just have them put in 1 pallet and sent over via sea freight - if i buy of several suppliers it will cost a fortune to have them sent individually. The other problem i have when looking on Alibaba is that the MOQ are sometime quite large and as i am a startup business i will be looking to make a smaller size purchase (still around £500 worth of stock) but this is small fry to some of the suppliers on Alibaba. Can anyone help?

 

[Mr D]

Google for other companies. You sound like you want to deal with a middleman rather than a factory due to the MOQ.
May be worth looking around outside those countries, leaving them until you can do the MOQ.

For multiple suppliers, have you considered a freight forwarder (they receive delivery then at an agreed time / volume they ship to you in one go) or have the same shipping agent handle multiple supplier deliveries to get the items shipped to you in one go?

 

[MOIC]

Given the value of your order, you're probably best advised to buy the fabric from a stockist in the UK.

You will save on freight as well as any other charges and can check the stock before you buy.

 

[GraemeL]

I am looking at starting my own business selling fabrics online.

Which means you will have to have stock available at all times. You will need to place more orders on your supplier before you have sold the first lot of stock. Investment in stock will be required, much more than £500.

I will be looking to make a smaller size purchase (still around £500 worth of stock) but this is small fry to some of the suppliers on Alibaba.

£500 is a very small order. The freight cost could be £250 for one pallet - is that worthwhile? As a start up you may have to accept that you have to buy locally (Leicester?) and make no money, or even make a loss, until you have built enough volume to justify buying in bigger quantities from Asian factories.

If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

 

[UACU]

Hi, you are highly recommended ali baba website

 

[Sophia Liang]

For MOQ,you can try buy goods in stock.
For a variety of fabrics,a middleman will will do.

 

[Abhishek Ramkumar]

hi,
iam from india , if your palnning to start a venture with me , may be i can help,im 27 based out of mumbai in india ,would be happy to start off something new

 

[The Byre]

£500???????

When I started my first real business, in order to buy from one of the main wholesalers, my first order had to be (in today's money) £10,000. And that was just for a shop, not direct from any manufacturer.

£500 - that less than I spent on getting the clutch plate and bearing fixed on my car. £500 doesn't fill the tank on a small truck. This sounds more like a hobby than a business.

 

[Mr D]

£500???????

When I started my first real business, in order to buy from one of the main wholesalers, my first order had to be (in today's money) £10,000. And that was just for a shop, not direct from any manufacturer.

£500 - that less than I spent on getting the clutch plate and bearing fixed on my car. £500 doesn't fill the tank on a small truck. This sounds more like a hobby than a business.

Things are a bit different today.
The smallest minimum order in any of my internet suppliers is £50. And some of the suppliers have no minimum applied at all.
Did talk to one jewellery company when we first started years ago, £30k was their minimum initial order though £10k was their regular minimum.

For a £500 order most of my suppliers will send carriage paid anywhere in the British Isles. Can get a decent amount of stuff for that.

 

[The Byre]

Any new business has to start with a certain scale. A major car plant needs a few billion, a window cleaner needs a few thousand (van, ladders, equipment) and so on. Importing goods for retail also requires a certain scale if it is to get off to a good start.

In today's world, you can start with very, very little, by importing a selling on eBay just one niche item.

But a range of fabrics for £500???? (Import duties, shipping, VAT, forwarding?)

 

[Victor Yao]

Even a Chinese will find it difficult to a small quantity products from a factory. Factories require MOQ is because they need many workers, machines and procedures to produce only 10 or 20 items, so they will definitely lose money in the deal. But with the same labor and time, they can produce 2000 units or 5000 units, so the cost for each unit is very small.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Fabric is normally sold my factories in Bolts and most bolts are 100 metres except very heavy thick fabrics which may be half that

There are plenty of fabric wholesalers in the UK who will sell part bolts which is what I imagine you would require or end of runs

If you are looking to buy childrens fabric for nightwear then consider you must have proof they meet the UK safety certification on Fire resistant, not always the case overseas

 

[Mr D]

Even a Chinese will find it difficult to a small quantity products from a factory. Factories require MOQ is because they need many workers, machines and procedures to produce only 10 or 20 items, so they will definitely lose money in the deal. But with the same labor and time, they can produce 2000 units or 5000 units, so the cost for each unit is very small.

Depends on the company.
Some UK companies have smaller machines for doing samples and small runs on - higher per unit cost of course than a large machine production run but much easier for samples to customer specifications and variations of that item.

A couple of the samples I've had from China in last few years have been small run stuff, the kind of products that its a waste of time trying to produce in bulk until knowing it meets customer expectation.
Either they produced machine quality by hand or someone used a smaller machine to create the item. Maybe even subcontracted to a smaller factory.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

That's now been superseded by direct to fabric printing, where plain fabric is now put through ink jet type printers to have them printed directly onto the fabric

 

[Frankngai]

For small order, I think you can find a fabric buyer to buy them from the existing fabric market. In China, there are lots of market that sell the stock fabric.

 

[hongfunclothing]

Hi， usually the fabric need moq 1 roll，about 25kg.
If u can't find all kinds of fabric from one supplier, you can find a shipping agent to gather your fabric together from different supplier and then sent by sea freight.

 

[Chris Richards]

Hi Laura
<removed> I orginally started looking for fabrics as you are but found there's a load of 5**4 going on out there - clothing is made in the Philippines, exported to Thailand where a "Made in Thailand" label is attached and then re-imported into the Philippines - smacks of some sort of tax scam going on. Good luck anyway

 

[Michael Ere]

Hi, I have some contacts that may be useful to you. If you would like to PM me your fabric requirements I’ll see if they can provide you with what you need within your budget.
Worth a try!

 

[Ecowritingtablet]

you may well have to start from some wholesaler, then later buy from factories when your order is bigger. Most factories are not small friendly.

 

[Novevan]

Hi,

I am looking at starting my own business selling fabrics online. As most things, the most cost effective way to source my products is through China or India, however how do i go about finding these companies? I have looked on Alibaba and i cannot find a suitable supplier. I am looking to buy a variety of fabrics, however the suppliers i have see so far specialise in just one area E.G cottons or faux leather whereas i want a supplier who can offer all types of fabric as then i can just have them put in 1 pallet and sent over via sea freight - if i buy of several suppliers it will cost a fortune to have them sent individually. The other problem i have when looking on Alibaba is that the MOQ are sometime quite large and as i am a startup business i will be looking to make a smaller size purchase (still around £500 worth of stock) but this is small fry to some of the suppliers on Alibaba. Can anyone help?

You can find a sourcing agent to help you do this.
You also can find to China fabrics wholesaler ( not manufactorer)
Good luck!

 

[DebbieF]

Go to a trade show & see the product, talk to the suppliers/wholesalers. I would highly recommend Heimtex in Frankfurt - large & small companies from all over the world inc China & India (though personally I would stick to EU countries starting up)

You might be surprised how often they will be prepared to do small deals esp after they meet you (this is what our company did after being turned away by a few on just an email approach) They will also be expert at sorting the shipping etc, saves a lot of headaches for you.

If you do order - be sure to insist in writing on the exact specs for what you are buying...
Good luck

 

[myydubai]

Hi,

I am looking at starting my own business selling fabrics online. As most things, the most cost effective way to source my products is through China or India, however how do i go about finding these companies? I have looked on Alibaba and i cannot find a suitable supplier. I am looking to buy a variety of fabrics, however the suppliers i have see so far specialise in just one area E.G cottons or faux leather whereas i want a supplier who can offer all types of fabric as then i can just have them put in 1 pallet and sent over via sea freight - if i buy of several suppliers it will cost a fortune to have them sent individually. The other problem i have when looking on Alibaba is that the MOQ are sometime quite large and as i am a startup business i will be looking to make a smaller size purchase (still around £500 worth of stock) but this is small fry to some of the suppliers on Alibaba. Can anyone help?

my families have been in clothing business for over 2 decades which made us knowing quite many supplier or even manufacturer in fabrics. I might could help with that

 

[O. Julian]

You can try amazon business or Alibaba

 

[Jay Shields]

I know that many serious retailers purchase direct from factories or through manufacturer agents. Others may even make the stuff themselves.

 

[Mike Godwin]

Speak with your local Chamber of Commerce/Business Link. They have international trade advisers that will put you in touch with good suppliers and also provide general advice on trading and payment etc.

 

[Magda kafelek]

I think that Alibaba is wrong place to find . You must check China Trade show , companies exhibiting at the fair for many years . Because on alibaba we have more trade companies , no factories .

 

[Maple Sourcing]

I read an article in the past, and learned that on Alibaba, over 60% sells are actually traders, not real factories. Alibaba does not really do background check for the companies, mostly, they only do a quick online check for the company certificates, as at end of day, Alibaba tries to earn more money so welcome more companies to be listed.

Chinese trade fair will be better as all companies have be background checked by the government. But, as only limited companies can attend trade fair, so, mostly only big factories and trading companies can own booths. If your order is medium to small, you won't get excellent service as you won't become priority to the companies.

If your order is quite small, you may try some B2C websites such as AliExpress.

As suggested above, finding a trustworthy sourcing agent is also an option.

It all depends.