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What to ask when contacting a manufacturer for the first time?

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Before start selling your collection you need to find a manufacturer. The first reason is that you need to know that your quality standards are met and that the sales samples will look like the products you will sell. Secondly you need the cost estimations from your intended manufacturer. Costs vary from factory to factory, and you need to be on top of your price calculations and business model before kicking off.

Finding a good manufacturer is a big and important challenge for the sportswear company. There are many ways to find factories; trade shows, online, contacts, branch organisations, etc. But it can be really tough finding a factory that suits your needs in terms of communication, quality, and delivery. One time, we started working with, what we thought was, a great factory that promised the moon. Six months later it turned out that they weren’t at all capable of making the product we asked for. So that is a long time down the drain. Recommendations are of course gold worth, and if you already have found a good manufacturer make sure to nurture that relationship. Don’t push them and treat them like crap thinking that you easily can replace them with another factory. You can’t. So in order to improve your changes of a successful cooperation with a factory there is a range of questions you can ask. Once you have made your shortlist of manufacturers it is time to pick up the phone and start calling. Pose these questions to see if there could be a fit between your brand and their manufacturing.