Ladies fashion wholesalers

princesspink7

Judging by some grumpy replies on some threads ive posted on,this may irritate some people! I heard about this site in my entrepreneurship class so decided to check it out. I currently work for a dress shop on facebook and we market and sell the products. I feel my boss is completely unprofessional and is always letting the customers down. This made me think of branching out but doing the same thing. The problem is I havent a clue where to start with suppliers. I've googled wholesalers but it seems a nightmare trying to find anyone that delivers in a few days and doesn't cost tonnes for posting ! I do business in college so I've a fair bit of knowledge about the rest Any tips ? I'm also only 23 so a bit of criticism would probably help too !

jimmii

Fashion City is a good place to start locally. Finding good, interesting suppliers is all about putting in the time though. We spend a lot of time searching for new interesting designers & suppliers that aren't in Ireland or are only stocked a few places.

You'll find you will get constructive replies here as long as you don't just ask questions that might look like you are looking to just get the information handed to you as that drives people crazy! Give a bit more info on what you have done to date why you think it is a good idea and what help you need and you will find people quite helpful. It is the people who come on and just post "tell me a good cheap clothes wholesaler" that tend to not go down so well so you've dodged that bullet which is a good start!!

In terms of postage fashion especially is going to be quite expensive when it comes to importing due to the bulky nature of the product and most suppliers do say it will take 14+ days for delivery but in reality that is them just covering themselves. We found a new supplier last week and on their site they say allow 5 working days for dispatch and 14 working days for delivery to Ireland (from UK? seriously are they walking it over?!) we actually ordered yesterday and it was dispatched today and the courier says it will arrive Monday so it normally ends up being a lot quicker! November/December and during trade shows tends to be the only time it takes much longer. Often wholesalers will only use one courier to make things more convenient for them get the dimensions and weight from them and you will often find you can get it cheaper today we got quoted £35 for a small delivery from Tumbridge wells we got arranged it ourselves and it cost £15.99.

antoinolachtnai

It is good that you are getting some practical experience at the coal face as well as dealing with the theory.

A big issue is how you get some scale in the business. You need some sort of scale to drive down the overheads so you can really make some money. Generally speaking, you will need some capital along the way. Everything needs to be paid for, whether it's buying stock, going to trade shows, design and photogaphy or marketing and sales operations.

Maybe your employer is just getting fed up with the business? Maybe there will be an opportunity to take over that business? Sometimes it is cheaper to buy something over than to start from scratch.

Do try to take some time to learn how the fashion business as a whole (designers, manufacturers, distributors, resellers, second hand sellers in each segment of the market) actually works and how each part of the industry actually makes money. There are a lot of people in the business who don't really understand anything beyond their own little part of the overall supply chain. That is fine if they just want to have a small business, but if you aspire to anything bigger you have to understand what is going on.

princesspink7

Fashion city in Ballymount? I've seen mixed reviews I didn't want to come on and write my life story to avoid smart comments that's why i summarized it. I'm working in retail since i was 16 and doing business in college, there's just no more challenges there or no position to move up to. I took this other marketing job on because i thought i'd like it. I love doing it, it's just when my parts done the rest is out of my control. My manager will ring me on delivery day and be like that didn't come in when they've known this for the last few days. This means I've let my customer down and have to apologize due to the nonprofessional acts of the manager. If I had my own business it would all be in my control and I wouldn't be letting them down you know. I'm a hard worker, have strong initiative and am easily motivated so I'd definitely be up for it. I have the starting capital saved and have a good idea from my course and the current job i have. I actually wanted to know how to get a tax number as well, it seems for most sites you need one to see the prices. 14 days is so long, "walking it over" (I lolled). My boss somehow gets stock within 3/4 days, that's what I've been snooping around the internet for but maybe that means it's just an Irish supplier.Oh that's good, are you in business long? Thanks for replying helped lots !

princesspink7

I do have capital I've been saving for ages to do something when i finished college. I kinda wanted to just buy a small bit of stock and test the waters first rather than going head first in. No, they're not they're still expanding around the country Yeah i will explore the bigger picture of the fashion business thanks Indeed, thats the people that have businesses that make them enough money and don't really bother to try and understand anything but their own.