How to find the Best Swimwear Manufacturer
Some say this is the hardest part of the industry to get right. When you are new to the swimwear industry, you’ll often experience a few mishaps and will make a few mistakes along the way before finding your way. But like all things, every opportunity is an opportunity to learn!
Do your research on swimwear manufacturers and make sure you compare apples with apples, consider costs as a whole, ask for a transparent costing, and find out what’s excluded. Some swimsuit manufacturers offer you packages from start to finish and others require you to source pattern-making, fabric, and all hardware. Bikini manufacturers generally have lots of experience and knowledge of the swimwear industry, so build a good relationship with them and benefit from their priceless expertise.
What to Consider
Doing It Yourself
Can you sew yourself? This is an option other than swimwear suppliers while you are still growing. You will still need to source your own swimwear fabrics and hardware, but you will be able to design pieces on request with no minimum orders. This could be cost-effective at first and only when working with small-scale orders.
CONS: You don’t have the experience or consistency that manufactures have between garments. You also need to consider if your time could be better spent on marketing your fashion brand to increase sales. If you have a high intake of orders, will you be able to keep up with the swimwear production?
Manufacturing Locally
Manufacturing locally means you can work closely through the process and learn as you go. You will be able to communicate more easily for changes or corrections (and there will be changes).
CONS: Your local swimwear manufacturer may not have the skills/ knowledge or equipment to deliver what you need. They might be much more expensive than going to a country that specialize in swimwear manufacturing. They may also not be able to meet MOQ once your label grows.
Manufacturing Overseas
You can claim a holiday on tax and they have the ability to produce very high quantity pieces at lower costs.
CONS: Many overseas manufacturers will not take on startup labels due to their low MOQ – minimum order quantity. Consider the costs of travel when comparing your prices because this can quickly become much more expensive than you might think.
If you have to check sampling and then again for quality control. There may also be a language barrier when designing – make sure you are very specific and consider having patterns and samples made locally first. Garments may be amazing, but check that your manufacturer is ethical towards their employees and environment.
Let Bali Swim Help!
At Bali Swim we are dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed and strive to provide you with the tools, resources, strategies, and guidance that you need to create quality brands – just like our Starter Kits and our interactive Online Shop where you can find our ready design collections to help you jumpstart your brand.
We also understand the challenges of manufacturing abroad and we’ve geared our business to minimize those issues by offering weekly Instagram Live Q&As, easy to schedule video calls, and staff that are ready to guide you through all of our steps. We work to make entrepreneurship accessible, dependable, and fulfilling for you and our worldwide community.
Always,
Your Bali Swim Team
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