China has a variety of custom apparel manufacturers, so finding the right one is crucial. Here, I’ll outline several steps on how to find a factory that suits your needs.
1. Factory scale of custom apparel manufacturers
First of all, I believe that the quality of a factory should not be judged solely by its size.
Large custom apparel manufacturers typically have comprehensive management systems in all areas, and their quality control is often superior to that of smaller factories. However, large factories have their drawbacks, such as being overstaffed and having high management costs, which makes it difficult for them to adapt to the current trend of multi-variety and small-batch flexible production lines. Consequently, their prices tend to be relatively high. This is one of the reasons why many companies are now opting to establish smaller factories.
When it comes to the scale of custom apparel manufacturers today, they cannot be compared with those of the past.
In the 1990s, factories employed tens of thousands of workers, but now it’s challenging to find a garment factory with even hundreds of people. Nowadays, the typical size of many garment factories is just over a dozen people.
Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer skilled employees in garment factories. First, due to the personnel shortage, the ones who remain are often older employees. However, these older employees tend to have rigid thinking patterns. They rarely have forward-thinking ideas and are resistant to learning new technologies. The current workforce is largely made up of people born in the 1960s and 1970s. There aren’t many garment workers born in the 1980s, even fewer from the 1990s, and almost none from the 2000s.
As Yunyou pointed out, factories are becoming increasingly automated, which is reducing the demand for labor.
This is another contributing factor. At the same time, large orders are becoming less frequent. Large factories struggle to adapt to the current demand for orders, whereas small factories can change their product lines more easily. As the saying goes, “A small boat turns easily.” Additionally, compared to large factories, small factories can control their management costs relatively better, which is why factory sizes are now shrinking.
In terms of clothing production automation, only suit and shirt manufacturing can be fully automated at present. Even then, suit production still requires a lot of manual craftsmanship. It’s difficult to achieve automated mass production for fashionable clothing. Especially for high-end custom clothing, the degree of automation is even lower. In fact, with current clothing technology, the more high-end the category, the more manual involvement is needed. It’s challenging for automated processes to completely replace all manual processes.
Therefore, when searching for a factory, you should: Choose a factory of appropriate size based on the size of your order.
If the order quantity is small but you choose a large-scale factory, even if the factory agrees to take the order, it may not prioritize it. Conversely, if the order is sizable but you opt for a small factory, the final delivery date could be problematic. At the same time, it’s not advisable to haggle with the factory over price, given that many processes are automated. In reality, considering the current technology, the degree of automation in clothing production isn’t very high, and labor costs remain significant.
2.Customer Group Targeting
When searching for a factory manufacturers, it’s best to first determine who your intended factory primarily serves. If the factory mainly handles OEM manufacturing for large brands, it might not be interested in online store orders. Even if it does accept the online order, if it operates according to the brand’s process, the online store may not be able to afford the cost.
Nowadays, factories that have a long history of dealing with online stores essentially understand the needs of online merchants. For instance, when our factory collaborates with online merchants, we essentially only need customers to provide sample clothing. We handle everything else, including fabric purchasing, cutting, sewing, finishing, and packaging. Additionally, we also assist customers with delivery. We also manage after-sales tasks such as returns and exchanges. Thus, our customers only need to focus on making good sales.
For the task of assisting customers with deliveries, regular factories might not dedicate personnel for this, but it’s best to do so if you’re dealing with online stores. After all, 100% of online store orders require after-sales service. In the past, this kind of after-sales service was handled by dedicated personnel from brand companies. As for the cost of the factory’s delivery, it will undoubtedly be included in the labor price, but the quote must be more cost-effective than the customer handling it themselves. Our factory has a dedicated role for this purpose.
In general, clothing sellers must ensure a good match when searching for factories.
Firstly, inquire about the factory’s main collaborative service partners, understand what categories they primarily focus on, and comprehend the grade and main style of the clothes produced by the factory. This way, you can find a cooperative factory that aligns with your needs.
3.The integrity of the owner.
The integrity of the owner is also a key factor in assessing the quality of a factory. Clothing sellers must first evaluate the owner’s integrity when searching for a factory. If you want to know about the owner’s integrity, you can directly go to Website or comments to check if the owner or company has any negative records..
4.Staffing and management of labor costs.
The quality of a custom apparel manufacturers can also be assessed by examining its management staffing. If there are too many staff members, or if a single-task responsibility structure is adopted, it may seem organized, but the management costs would also increase.
If the factory’s management cost is too high, the processing fee quote will be higher than that of its competitors. However, if the factory indiscriminately cuts costs, key positions will be left unstaffed, making cooperation impossible. This especially applies to quality control positions, which are currently being downsized in many factories. Whether a factory can produce high-quality products is largely dependent on the owner’s understanding of quality control.
In terms of quality control, standard factories should conduct three inspections: initial, intermediate, and final. This is the most basic requirement. However, since quality control doesn’t yield direct profits, some factories might reduce the number of inspections. But if the owner focuses solely on production efficiency and cuts corners on quality control, then cooperation won’t be possible.
The reason I bring this up is because, arguably, 80% of factories currently lack QC (Quality Control) positions. After all, for factories, output must yield benefits. But for partnering businesses, quality is paramount, so a balance needs to be struck between the two aspects.
