I often talk about how fabric sourcing happens at the beginning of development because the pattern and fit depend on the fabric. Starting your fabric search early gives you plenty of time to find just the right material to make your design shine. However, it is possible to start sourcing fabrics too soon. There are a few decisions that need to be made before it makes sense to start sourcing.
What you want to make (kind of)
You can absolutely source fabrics that you don’t have an immediate use for, but it is helpful to have a design in mind in order to focus your fabric search for a specific collection. Sourcing for swimwear versus suiting will lead you to different mills and vendors, different sourcing shows, and even vendors from different countries.
You don’t have to know exactly what type of fabric and fiber content you want, but I recommend knowing at least the type of garment you are sourcing for. You can gather different options and narrow them down with your patternmaker once your garment design is finalized.
How you want your design to feel
Along with an idea of what you want to make, think about how you want the garment to feel prior to sourcing. What properties or textures are you looking for in a fabric? Will the garment be for casual everyday wear or fancy eventwear? Determining these types of things ahead of time will further guide your fabric search.
What color options you want to offer
Before you start sourcing, you’ll also want to have an idea of the color options you are looking for. Some fabrics are offered in many colors while some in very few. You can always dye or print fabrics, but this takes more planning and is an extra cost that might not make sense for your business.
If you know that you want certain colors, but don’t want to custom make, dye, or print them, you’ll know to seek out fabrics that have a range of stock colors to choose from.
Where you will be manufacturing
The location of your factory is a big consideration for fabric sourcing. You’ll want to source fabrics as close to your factory as possible to avoid unnecessary shipping costs. If you are unsure whether you will be producing domestically or in another country, it is best to delay sourcing until you know.
Depending on the type of factory you are working with (full package or cut & sew), the factory may be able to source fabrics for you. They might also have preferred mills and suppliers they work with as well. If you start sourcing too early without knowing what type of factory you will be working with, you could end up having to re-source in a different location later.
(Sometimes it does make sense to do this intentionally if you need a close-enough fabric to fit sample in because your production fabric is not available yet, but it is not fun to go back and source different production fabrics if you weren’t planning to.)
What your target retail price point is
Another thing you’ll want to know before sourcing fabrics is your budget. This all starts with your target retail price point. You can work backwards from the retail price point to calculate your target cost of goods. Within that, you can work out what fabric you can afford.
If you don’t go into sourcing knowing your numbers, it is far too easy to fall in love with a fabric that you’d lose money on if you used it. I recommend having a preliminary chat with your patternmaker and even factory to get a ballpark estimate for your design’s fabric requirements and cut & sew cost. It may be that you can afford an expensive fabric because your design uses so little fabric and is relatively cheap to produce.
How many garments you want to make
The final thing you need to know before starting to source your fabrics is your order quantity. The amount of fabric your order not only affects the pricing you will get, but the options available to you in the first place. Mills have what is called MOQs or minimum order quantities that you have to meet in order to purchase from them. These MOQs can range from 1yd, to 1 roll, to 1,000+ yds. You don’t need to know exactly how much fabric you will be ordering, but you’ll need to know what MOQs you can reasonably meet.
Ordering at higher MOQs will also open up custom fabric options. At lower MOQs, you’ll be selecting from available stock fabrics and colors. At higher MOQs, you can work with mills to custom develop fabrics or dye colors specifically for your brand. There is a longer lead time for custom fabrics, so plan ahead if this is something you want to pursue.
Fabric sourcing is one of the first steps that happens in development – prior to patternmaking and sampling – but there are a few prerequisites. Your fabric sourcing will be more productive if you know what, where, and how many garments you want to make.