maternity wholesale

[zobo]

Hello,

I am currently looking at opening my own maternity wear wholesale/shop where I live. Currently the only shop that sales a small selection of maternity wear is a well known chain store just out of town. I have found suppliers in the uk who would sell to me, but I was thinking of going abroad to keep my cost down and profit up! I would be selling online as a shop and wholesale but also opening a shop.
Would anybody know how I go about contacting these people abroad, I look online but I want one factory that does it all, does that makes sense.

Any other tip/advice would be fantastic.

Thanks for your help

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Normally most start ups do not have the money to buy cheap from the far or Middle East as they often require about 500 to 1000 as minimum order size of a garment

It may be better to consider buying in stock from exsisting wholesellers untill you have greater knowledge of what is slow and fast sellers so you can get your own made up

The next step is getting things made in the uk which also helps selling as made in England etc and that can be done with mimimum orders of 25-50 items upwards with little shipping and no inport tax they can be compeditive

Dont forget most clothing works on high margins due to seasons being very short, maternity may not be quite so demanding unless top fashion

 

[scm5436]

Been there, done that - oversensitive, emotional, extremely picky, hormonal women with too much time on their hands - worst customers ever! Just saying...

 

[deniser]

I used to buy maternity clothes from Formes. Not sure if they still exist?

 

[zooron_sam]

We have sourced and manufactured baby accessories before but like Chris said you need at least an MOQ of 500 for the good quality factories to take you seriously.

Also making a product is nothing like buying from a wholesaler, you can't just get product made you first need to draw up the spec, pick colours, design the product, decide fabric quality, do a pre-production run with the factory, check quality, design packaging, print packaging, make adjustments and then finally go into production which then just leaves you to pick a shipping forwarder to get the good to you. I am not trying to scare you off a production run but just to make you aware that there is a lot more to it than meets the eye.

Its far quicker to find wholesalers with product you can sell next week that going to production and getting a product in 90 days. I would start simple, build up your business and then look into an overseas production.

 

[Peanut Butter Man]

Im with these guys, buying form overseas is going to be expensive. Just go with UK wholesalers for now.

Start small and build a solid base. maybe later have you own lines made in the UK for those that like the 'made in England' label

 

[Mayor]

Been there, done that - oversensitive, emotional, extremely picky, hormonal women with too much time on their hands - worst customers ever! Just saying...

This is a very realistic statement. Time and money invested in creating a customer base that disappears within 6 months, we looked at this when my wife was pregnant, the second that child appeared, the whole project disappeared off the radar ! Nightmare ! We have 4 kids - the same clothing got dragged out of the attic each time - possibly we're not typical consumers, but no maternity supplier got rich off us ! sorry.