So what is
it?
It is widely
known in the industry along with consumers and sustainability is one of the
most talked topic now a day. Because of the climate change and ecological
devastation, consumers have been shifting their purchasing habit and
sustainable and ethical clothing is in demand. Due to that, sustainable and
ethical apparel sourcing is much needed. This guide will take you through step
to step apparel sourcing procedure from apparel manufactures.
Well before
we get to the starting of the apparel sourcing procedure, we need to learn
about sustainable and ethical apparel. Shouldn’t we?
Sustainable and Ethical Apparel
A newly
developed, eco-friendly clothing is referred as sustainable clothing. It can be
made out something unusual like waste materials. For example, large companies
like Adidas, H&M, Uniqlo are moving forward with advanced sustainable way
to reduce environmental damage. Last month Uniqlo started collecting waste
plastic bottles and they are ready to make clothing from those waste bottles. Besides,
using new raw materials those are organic and organically produced are also highly
sustainable.
What is
ethical apparel sourcing then?
A long ago,
human labors were used as slave. It is not long when slavery has banished. Most
interestingly, still a lot of people are being treated like slaves in various
industries. On the other hand, illegal clothing manufacturers has to deal with
a lot of environmental damage. So Ethical clothing manufacturing deals with
ethical conduct. It ensures, that safety and workers wellbeing is measured
properly. Besides, environmental damage is taken into consideration for apparel
sourcing.
Step by Step Apparel Sourcing Guide
I am going
to provide a step by step sourcing guide for the growing entrepreneurs of
apparel and clothing lines.
Online Sourcing Options
There was a
time when companies used to find out buyers in a traditional way. In that
process local manufactures also proposed large scale buyers providing samples
so that they can find the buyer. Buyers also had to work with local buying
agents and in this way they were not capable of controlling everything. But
that time is finished.
It is the
time of technology based apparel sourcing. In traditional way you will not be
able to learn their authenticity and sometime you will never know the actual
cost of the product. So online sourcing is getting popular in the business
arena. There are various ways among online sourcing platforms like, B2B
marketplaces, directories and online consultancy services.
B2B Marketplaces
Among all of
them B2B marketplaces are highly recommended. Though there are thousands of B2B
marketplaces out there but you have to find most potential marketplace for sustainable apparelmanufacturers. If you can find out dedicated B2B marketplace for textile
and apparel industry that would be much better than those who are known for all
kinds of products. Because they take everything seriously and most of them
authenticate before listing the manufactures.
Directories
Online
Manufacturers directories are also very useful place to look for sustainable
and ethical apparel manufactures. Online manufactures directories are old; we
can consider them as older version of B2B marketplaces. Yet directories are
somehow unique because they have some good features to look for. Online
directories have been working for long enough and somehow they are going
outdated. But that is not correct. Online directories are bringing new features.
Online
search on google or other search engines, will add another good resource. There
are plenty of companies working on better search visibilities. So for now it is
not tough to find out manufacturers online.
Social Media
I guess you
are on social media? And I hope you have made query on social media for the
product you have been looking for.
Don’t worry,
there are lot of sustainable and ethical apparel manufacturers, promoting their
products on social media. Sometimes you will find out those ads. If you bump
into those ads, don’t hesitate to click. This way you will be able to find out
a lot of sustainable clothing manufacturers. Besides, you also need to maintain
proper activity on social media and search for your relevant product category.
Those social media will definitely suggest you something you want.
Tradition Ways of Finding Sustainable
and Ethical apparel manufacturers
This might be
the most famous sourcing method among buyers. Before online sourcing options,
hundreds of thousands of companies’ have been built only for doing this work.
Because of constant shift of manufacturing location, buyers had to contact new
manufacturers. And this was the reason that buyers had to set their own
sourcing agents. Sometimes, sourcing agent was more expensive for a company and
then they had to work with trading agents.
Sourcing Agents
Sourcing
agents are the most convenient option for all the buyers because they were the
dedicated personal for doing their job properly. Besides they are also the most
effective sourcing option available in the industry.
In my
opinion, sourcing agents are the best option for finding out sustainable and
ethical manufacturers in the entire industry because you don’t have to think
about what you are buying. They can even move from factories to factories in
order to find out their credibility.
Trading Agents
Trading
agents are now playing a very vital role between manufacturers and buyers. If
you are a startup and have enough capital to start with something convenient
then trading agents will be a good shoot. Besides, a lot of brands and
companies are working with trading agents because the work is hassle-free.
Trading agents have a lot of known and listed facilities. They can find out
proper apparel manufactures those who are maintaining proper sustainable
apparel manufactures. But there is a bit risk too. They might choose their own
affiliated manufactures and you will never know if they are really marinating
all the functionality for ethical and sustainable clothing manufacturing.
To conclude,
for startup companies, online sourcing options are better than traditional
sourcing options. But for sustainable and ethical apparel sourcing trading
agents are good. On the other hand, online apparel sourcing is much more cost
effective than any of those other sourcing options. But it is really tough to
find out sustainable and ethical apparel sourcing yet it is not impossible. It
will be worth starting out sustainable clothing business for this time.
Comments
Post a Comment