importing indian womens clothing

[maxim123]

Hi

I am considering setting up a website selling indian sarees in the UK. I have made contact with some suppliers in india.

As this is my first venture I am unsure on a few things and would love some advice.

I was considering just ordering a few of each design of saree to get me started (as I dont want to invest heavily in stock!) Maybe ordering 25-50 pieces to start off. Any advice from anyone who has set up a clothing business online/ or imported products from India would be greatly appreciated.

Also I have pricelists from a few suppliers and other then airfrieght costs, what other costs would I need to take into account, as I am only ordering a small amount how do I deal with the import duties???

Any other advice would be great.

Many thanks

 

[Chris Ashdown]

In certain city's in the UK there are largeIndian area's who have plenty of shops selling these items

It would be far cheaper and quicker to contact some of them and buy in the uk from their wholesellers rather than re-invent the wheel

When you are established then would be the time tostart importing to get better prices, but expect uk wholeseller to be cheaper than importing unless buying thousands at a time

 

[sonammaal]

Hi, maxim123

last year i went to GUJARAT STATE and saw many of the places i found the biggest wholesale saree's manufactures and india's 70% of sarees are made in "SURAT"(Biggest and larget hub of variety sarees in INDIA) city in the state of "GUJARAT". I think you should contact some of dealers who are importing indian sarees in other countries. you shoul search on web and contact them. these information might be helpfull to you. and best of luck for your business mate..

 

[prateek]

Hi all,
Gujarat definatly produces sarees but those are not of good quality. The best quality sarees are made in kolkata(calcutta) west bengal. Which is later copied by the manufacturers in gujarat. Kolkata is the hub for designing and concepts.

Depending at what range you are looking at. As far as the freight costs are concerned, it depends on how you booking it. I mean if the consignor is booking it under duty paid then no charges will be incurred by you. But if its booked under normal services then import duty shall be paid by you.
It genreally takes 4 to 7 days in shipment. For faster services the rates goes up.

I have been supplyin to 3 stores in uk and 1 in netherlands as of now. And looking for some one 2ho buys in bulk and re diatributes it to the retail outlets. Its been almost 4 yrs since I have been supplying.
Any other help feel free to msg me.
Thanks

 

[deniser]

My saree wearing friends tell me that the quality of the silk is of utmost importance and you can only tell that by seeing and touching the fabric. Not sure that this type of product would translate well to the internet for that reason.

 

[Taobao agent]

Pay attention to the exchange rate if you do business in bulk.

 

[Karimbo]

Asian women will generally not buy sarees online. They would want to see it in person. Also ethnic asian womens clothes is highly competitive and the market is shrinking as asian women wear sarees less and less. Usually only restricted to weddings, diwali, eid etc. The newer generation are wearing more western dresses or fusion indian/western dressses. Not worth it IMHO. I see loads of established asian womens clothes stores shutting down.

 

[QPLAST]

The Indian sarees can be classified in many ways

Based on use,
1. daily use at home - usually cheaper range
2. Occasionally - mid range
3. Event base - expensive to very expensive

Daily use - mainly made of cotton as it's soft and comfortable, or synthetic as they will be cheaper

Mid ranges: can be mix of many things

Expensive - mainly made of silk. So price is mainly depends upon the type of silk and if it's machine woven or hand made.

The design of the sarees depends mainly on where it's manufactured. South indian sarees will have a complete different look then the north indians.

I would suggest, you visit some of the uk stores to get some ideas, and remember you wouldn't be able to sale about 20-30% of stocks. So be careful while pricing them.

Good luck