How to Find a Manufacturer for Your Clothing Brand

If you're struggling to find a quality manufacturer for your brand or unsure where to start, don't worry, we gotchu! Read till the end to learn how to find the best manufacturer for your brand!

Local vs. Overseas Manufacturing

First, you'll want to figure out whether you should manufacture locally or overseas. Here are the pros and cons of each:

Overseas Manufacturing:

Pros:

- Lower cost
- High quality
- Increased customization

Cons:

- Long shipping times
- Higher MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity)

Local Manufacturing:

Pros:

- Faster turnaround
- High quality
- No shipping cost if you can pick up
- Low MOQ

Cons:

- Less customization
- More expensive

Both local and overseas manufacturing have their benefits. Local is best if you want a faster turnaround and you only need a small run of clothes. Overseas is better if you're looking for more customization at a lower cost.

When would we use a local manufacturer?

- If we wanted less than 50pcs
- If we wanted fast turnaround and didn't want to wait for shipping
- If we were doing basic customization such as printing on blank tees

When would we use an overseas manufacturer?

- If we wanted more customization like all-over print or cut-n-sew
- If we were ordering 50pc or higher

There are many more factors you can consider, but these are the main ones.

How to Find an Overseas Manufacturer

Now, how the hell do I find an overseas manufacturer? One amazing website you can use is Alibaba. This website is like the holy grail of overseas manufacturers. You can search for any product, clothing or not, and they will be able to make it. To start finding manufacturers, head over to Alibaba.com, select search by manufacturers, and search for what it is you're looking for, i.e., "Full zip hoodie".

Now, you're going to see tons of manufacturers, but how do you know which ones are good? We made a checklist to make it easy for you!

- Verified: Look for the blue check. If they aren't verified, it doesn't mean they're bad, but we'd avoid them.
- Trade Assurance: Look for the yellow castle-looking icon with the $ symbol. You definitely want to make sure you'll have this when you order. It's insurance for your order, to protect you in case anything were to go wrong, such as defective products.
- Great Reviews: The more reviews, the better. The higher the rating, the better. There are plenty of companies with 100+ reviews and 4.8 stars or higher, so why settle for less? Either way, just make sure they have some good reviews, and that they actually look legit.
- Great Photos and Videos: They should have photos on their profile of their company. No photos=Red Flag. Does it look like a good company that has their shit together? Or does it look like a shady garage start-up? Check the photos and videos on the products themselves too. Many companies will just post images they found online, so try to find images or videos that look like they were actually shot at the company.

If you want to manufacture locally, just look up "screen printing near me" or "custom t-shirts near me". If you live in a hotspot like LA, you'll have tons of options. If you live in the middle of nowhere, well, you can finish the sentence.

Another option to find manufacturers is to use social media. Go on TikTok, Instagram, or even Safari and search for clothing brand manufacturers. Simply look up "Clothing Brand Manufacturer" or "Custom hoodie manufacturer". Trust us, it's much easier than you think. And please, don't be that person who DMs random brand owners asking for their manufacturers. That's just annoying.

Alright so, you found a few manufacturers, how do you decide which one is best? Well, this is where you have to actually message them and just ask questions. Ask questions like:

- Whats the best price you can offer?
- Whats the turnaround time?
- How much does a sample cost?

For you and the manufacturer's sake, please be ready before you ask a bunch of questions. Have a tech pack ready, a mock-up, an example at the least. They aren't going to give you an accurate quote if you just ask "How much for hoodies fam?"

If all else fails, you can always buy a manufacturer list from a trusted source. Coincidentally, we're working on one right now that will be available soon ;). Stay tuned for that and sign up for emails to be notified when it's released. It'll have tons of trusted manufacturers we've worked with or who our friends have worked with. Plus tons of extra tips.

If you read this far we appreciate you! Leave a comment and let us know what you think or what you'd like us to cover next!