Nowadays, more and more people deal in clothes. Apparel sourcing reputable and quality clothes is a challenge for many businesses. Do you know how to apparel source reputable and quality clothes? What to keep in mind when searching? Read the article with Dugarco for more details!
The phenomenon of globalization has led to major changes in the manufacturing and supply chain in the apparel and fashion industry. In order to gain cost advantages, fashion retailers and manufacturers choose to move their operations overseas and source materials from countries with low labor costs. Apparel sourcing is defined as the process of determining how and where to purchase manufactured goods or equipment. The main motivation for sourcing clothes/fabrics is to provide the highest level of satisfaction, at the lowest cost of production. Today’s business strategy is turning some jobs in the apparel value chain into low-cost and gaining a competitive advantage to improve profit margins.
Sourcing today has crossed national borders to reach global
Apparel sourcing meaning:
For garment exporters, decorative fabrics and yarns are important raw materials to be exported. Sourcing involves identifying a supplier of goods, services, or finished goods to a well-defined quality and service level. It is closely related to the important part of the responsibility of the clothing seller. It consists of a line of pieces that will be cut and made into clothes. The dress should not only be appropriate and appropriate for the design and the end of the dress, but it must be available exactly when it is needed. Therefore, delivery time plays an important role in designing and ordering the necessary materials for production. Delivery times required by suppliers can vary from as little as two weeks to nine months.
2. Which country is the leading garment supplier today?
Just Style assessed the scores in GlobalData’s Apparel Smart Hub to reveal the top clothing-sourcing countries to watch in 2024. Based on 15 factors used to calculate clothing sourcing results, the top position and the right garment destination to watch in 2024 belong to Vietnam of Southeast Asia. It scored 59 and scored 3/5 or higher on all 15 factors with an excellent score for its political stability.
Apparel sourcing
Foreign direct investment has helped improve infrastructure and aid in increased knowledge transfer. Vietnam has signed trade agreements. Vietnam is one of the most independent and stable countries in the region and globally. The reasons mentioned above have helped garments become the second largest export item (19%) reaching nearly 60 billion USD in 2019. If you are looking for suppliers, apparel sourcing companies in Vietnam are one of them the ideal and suitable options for you.
3. Dugarco – The leading wholesale apparel supplier in Vietnam
The garment export industry in Vietnam is growing at a breathtaking speed. There are many businesses competing in this field in Vietnam. Among them, Dugarco is one of the successful and reliable wholesale apparel suppliers chosen by many foreign partners to cooperate with.
3.1 What do you know about Dugarco?
DUGARCO is a large enterprise in Vietnam’s Textile and Garment industry established in 1990. Headquartered in Hanoi – Vietnam, we now have 11 companies located in Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Ha Nam, Thai Binh, Thanh Hoa, and Hoa Binh with more than 8,000 workers, technicians, professional management officials working in 25 factories, over 160 modern production lines. DUGARCO can meet the requirements of all customers from many countries and regions around the world such as the United States, Canada, EU, Russia, Japan, Korea, and China…
Dugarco – The Best wholesale clothing distributor in Vietnam
3.2 Clothing production process at Dugarco
Dugarco can design products in large quantities at the request of partners, ensuring quality and diverse designs. This is the place to make you satisfied with excellent quality, a reliable partner for you to cooperate with. Here is the clothing production process at Dugarco :
Drafting
Pattern Making
Material Selection
Sample Making
Fitting
Purchasing Material
Products of Dugarco
Inspection material
Pre-production meeting
Cutting
Bulk production
Quality Control
Needle inspector
Packing
Humidity
Delivery
3.3 Bestselling clothing products in Dugarco
5 Best- selling clothing products in Dugarco are uniforms, jackets, shirts, suits, knits, and pants. The products of Dugarco are ranging from uniform, cold jackets, suits, shirts, and blouses to pants and knit. Moreover, Duagrco supplies customers with a variety of sizes, designs, colors, and trendy clothes.
Jacket products of Dugarco
Besides, organic cotton and recycled polyester materials are the two materials that decide these products quality. Organic cotton is cotton made from cotton plants. Because of its natural origin, organic cotton material is considered one of the most environmentally friendly materials.
3.4 Reasons to choose Dugarco as a reputable supplier for your business
Strong capacity and long-term experience in the industry
Professional management and working team
Specialized in R&D of new and high-technology products
High commitment to international and buyers’ standard
Competitive prices with fast and timely delivery
Independence in style development, order handling, manufacturing, and shipping arrangement
Excellent Product Quality
All products are inspected 100% by 3rd party inspection company
The quality defect rate is less than 1% after delivering the garment to the customer
Quality and reputable products from Dugarco
On-Time Delivery:
98% of orders on-time delivery in 2019
Zero customer chargebacks for late deliveries in 2019
Advanced Manufacturing Technology:
Expertise in designing unique down jacket pattern
Seam-sealed & Veston garment machinery
Professional in Material Sourcing:
Full-service sourcing team offers the best and widest selection of raw materials from mills and converters all over the World.
100% responsible for all elements of the production
High Value of Production in Vietnam:
Stable workforce
Future benefits of Vietnam EVFTA, CPTPP, EAEU
4. What do you need to prepare before sourcing garments?
There are 2 steps for you in the sourcing process: Analyze the need for sourcing and conduct market research. What you need to do is to follow necessarily these 2 steps before sourcing garments to target the apparel source as well as possible.
4.1 Analyze the need for sourcing
Do you know why you need sourcing? No matter what business you are into and what’s your business size. You need to analyze the need for sourcing to understand what sourcing means to your business. Identify the need for sourcing. Ask as many questions as you can ask your team to your customers. Know and understand your current business scenario. Set your current situation as a benchmark and analyze the need for sourcing in your business.
Analyze the need for sourcing
4.2 Conduct market research
Once you’ve identified why your business needs sourcing. Conduct market research, and gather as much information as you can about your market and the ones you are planning to enter.
Collect information across the countries and compare them to check the most favorable markets for your products and services. This information comes from the customers’ opinions and comments about the products or services in their countries and some best-selling products in type, size, color, etc which are across the sea.
Conduct market research
Comparing the apparel market across the globe is a complex exercise that brings clarity to business. This will help you to know the potential markets for your goods and how your business can perform there.
Apparel merchandiser needs to identify an optimum mix between the cost they are investing in and the quality they are expecting. Also, there are four other factors affecting these two major factors labor wages, manufacturing cost, logistics cost, and INCO term negotiation for international sourcing. But that’s not enough, to make your sourcing successful, you need a proper strategy to do it right. Below-listed is 6 steps to boost your business with the right sourcing strategy:
Steps to Formulate the Right Sourcing Strategy
5.1 Evaluate the supplier’s market
A business that wants to ensure its brand reputation and product quality needs to choose the right and control its supply partners well. That shows the importance of supply units in the product chain of custody. Be careful while choosing a supplier. If you are not careful, you will waste money on less reputable suppliers. Any apparel business should evaluate suppliers based on their previous performance. It’s a good idea to gather as much information about a supplier as possible by reviewing their financial statements, credit reports, and references. If you want to reduce your risk even further, you should meet in person, ask them about your concerns and visit their place of production. In addition, you should also consult their other customers.
5.2 Suppliers’ information
Collect information to ensure credibility, working ability, production ability, quality of equipment, and materials used. The information you need to collect includes:
Contact information
Quotes
Contracts
High Value of Production from a reputable source
Geographies potential
Product information
Performance data
After collecting information from suppliers, you should arrange the information in order of priority and regularly update it to ensure that the information is consistent.
It’s time to create a sourcing strategy to know where and how your products are sourced. Consider your target and supplier’s supply potential, consider the target market, and the optimal way, and save effort to find the right supplier to get a perfect strategy. You should include criteria while formulating your sourcing strategy:
Internal factors:
Quality
Budget
External forces:
Supplier Flexibility
Supplier’s location
Market player’s performance
Formulate a sourcing strategy
Other factors to consider:
Requirements for the suppliers
Standardize operation
Supplier- relationship management
Apparel textile sourcing is not an easy task, so building a careful and detailed sourcing strategy will minimize the risk.
5.4 Negotiate with suppliers
Negotiating with suppliers is one of the most important steps. The most important thing is how much you need to negotiate about how much does it cost to produce clothing? Before making a decision, you should sit down with them to discuss strategy and negotiate to get the best deal. Discuss your organization’s vision and educate them well about your product. In addition to negotiating the price, you should discuss some other factors such as Pricing Structure, Scope of Work, Delivery Time, Production Conditions, etc. You should be flexible in negotiating to achieve an outcome that both sides expect.
Negotiate with suppliers
5.5 Enforce the sourcing strategy
Now, your sourcing strategy begins to come into play. Consult with suppliers and develop a communication plan and a system to measure and evaluate their performance. When you work with a new supplier, you should pay special attention to what’s going on on their side. Establish close communication links with suppliers and provide them with complete information. When there is any risk that you have to switch suppliers, you must prepare a plan to switch again to ensure that your strategy is still on the right track. This can be difficult and takes a lot of time, be patient.
Enforce the sourcing strategy
5.6 Monitor the sourcing plan
Next, track the performance of your suppliers and monitor the results. Check the process on the following aspects: delivery time, Process suppliers are following, Problem suppliers are facing, and Specifications of your product. Consider the pros and cons of the product. Are you satisfied with the product provided? List what worked and what didn’t work for your strategy. Keep improving it and make it better.
6. Things to keep in mind when apparel sourcing
Do you know why 2 T-shirts in the same store cost differently? Why does this T-shirt cost $10, but the other one costs $20? It’s not just about design, color, or trend. There are many factors that contribute to how much you pay for something. Here are 5 things maybe you want to know about apparel textile sourcing:
6.1 Price and quality
The price changes a bit between garment-sourcing companies. So, you need to learn through many companies to find your best apparel sourcing. The quality of the products or services also depends on the material that makes the products. If a product is made from high-quality material, it will cost more than a product made from lower-quality material.
Price and quality are important
6.2 Minimum number of products
Some factories require an order of hundreds or thousands before they’ll do production runs – and some won’t make anything under 500. If your order is only 24 pieces, the factory will still charge you for making 500 as they hold on to materials and labor costs. Whether it’s 5 items or 500, those costs add up.
6.3 Shipping
Where you’re shipping from can also affect the price of your products – especially if you’re sourcing from overseas factories. The process of shipping takes time – and adds cost. How long you will take your goods depends on how far the process of shipping takes up. Also, the further your goods from the higher cost you will pay for the shipping process. If you’re based in LA and need a shirt within a week, there might be a West Coast factory that makes that happen – but if not, it has to be shipped across the Pacific Ocean before getting sent back across to reach its destination.
Shipping is a criterion
6.4 Quantity of garments
The quantity of garments also is a part of the price of your order. Many companies have volume minimums before they’ll do production runs. If your order is just a few pieces, the factory will still charge you for making higher quantities as they hold on to materials and labor costs. Whether it’s 5 items or 500, those costs add up! Sometimes in some factories, if you order a huge amount of goods, the factory, maybe, cost you less.
6.5 Customs fees
How about customs taxes around the world? if your order is from overseas, no matter which country is your order from, you have to pay customs taxes for it. Thus, every product may cost a bit more than its original price.
Customs fees
After all, you should have a better understanding of the benefits when cooperating with us. Let’s accompany Dugarco to find your favorable apparel sourcing. For more information, please contact the information below.
Contact information:
Address: No.59, Duc Giang Street, Duc Giang Ward, Long Bien Districts, Hanoi, Viet Nam
Dugarco under the talented leadership and guidance of Mr. Hoang Ve Dung has gradually become a large Vietnam clothing manufacturer, supplying clothes for many famous brands from many different countries such as the UK, USA, and Australia.
4 Responses
What are some apparel sourcing tips for beginners?
Here are some apparel sourcing tips for beginners:
Start small: Don’t try to source too many different products at once. Start with a few core products and learn the ropes.
Do your research: Before you place an order with a supplier or manufacturer, do your research to make sure they are reputable.
Get everything in writing: Be sure to get a written order confirmation from your supplier or manufacturer. This will protect you in case of any problems.
Be prepared for delays: Things don’t always go according to plan in the apparel industry. Be prepared for delays and have a backup plan in place.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on apparel sourcing. Many suppliers were forced to close their factories during the pandemic, leading to disruptions in the supply chain. Additionally, the pandemic has caused shipping costs to increase and has made it more difficult to conduct factory audits.
Despite these challenges, the apparel sourcing industry is slowly recovering. Brands are adjusting their sourcing strategies to reduce their risk and to ensure a more sustainable supply chain.
4 Responses
What are some apparel sourcing tips for beginners?
Here are some apparel sourcing tips for beginners:
Start small: Don’t try to source too many different products at once. Start with a few core products and learn the ropes.
Do your research: Before you place an order with a supplier or manufacturer, do your research to make sure they are reputable.
Get everything in writing: Be sure to get a written order confirmation from your supplier or manufacturer. This will protect you in case of any problems.
Be prepared for delays: Things don’t always go according to plan in the apparel industry. Be prepared for delays and have a backup plan in place.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected apparel sourcing?
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on apparel sourcing. Many suppliers were forced to close their factories during the pandemic, leading to disruptions in the supply chain. Additionally, the pandemic has caused shipping costs to increase and has made it more difficult to conduct factory audits.
Despite these challenges, the apparel sourcing industry is slowly recovering. Brands are adjusting their sourcing strategies to reduce their risk and to ensure a more sustainable supply chain.