The Sewing Place

Ordering from wholesalers

Gemma

Ordering from wholesalers
« on: November 05, 2017, 20:20:57 PM »
Hi all,
Does anyone have any experience ordering from fabric wholesalers? I have a business idea but i think to make it profitable i need to be getting the materials wholesale, and i haven't idea how to go about that or what to expect!
Thanks,
Gemma

toileandtrouble

Re: Ordering from wholesalers
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2017, 00:17:34 AM »
wholesalers require that you set up an account, have minimum orders and they price without VAT. I haven't bought fabric wholesale but several places I went for fabric would do pirices for whole rolls. You will need a business card or letterhead.  Nowadays it might be more rigorous. Why not search for wholesale fabric and go through tne process of setting up an account? You don't have to submit it but it will show you what they ask for.
Yarn down:  1000g
Fabric down:  29m

UttaRetch

Re: Ordering from wholesalers
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2017, 07:42:54 AM »
You can buy bolts of fabric or as many metres as you need without necessarily going down the wholesale route. 

Surest1tch

Re: Ordering from wholesalers
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2017, 17:31:01 PM »
Sometimes you'll get better deals with retailers if you haggle than you will with wholesalers.

Gemma

Re: Ordering from wholesalers
« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2017, 08:26:53 AM »
Sounds like I'll have to give it  go and see what happens. Not sure if my requirement of 3 or 4 rolls will hit the minimum order requirement.
I know i can get a discount on a whole roll a lot of places, but for fabric shops to be making a profit they must be charging about twice what they buy it for.

BrendaP

Re: Ordering from wholesalers
« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2017, 09:59:37 AM »
I think that mark-up to the full recommended retail price is about 50%.  Don't forget that wholesale prices are usually quoted without the VAT.
Brenda.  My machines are: Corona, a 1953 Singer 201K-3, Caroline, a 1940 Singer 201K-3, Thirza, 1949 Singer 221K, Azilia, 1957 Singer 201K-MK2 and Vera, a Husqvarna 350 SewEasy about 20 years old. Also Bernina 1150 overlocker and Elna 444 Coverstitcher.
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.

KayK

Re: Ordering from wholesalers
« Reply #6 on: November 11, 2017, 20:16:11 PM »
Some wholesalers will require you to set up an account with them, plus they often insist on a Business Bank account too.  I started a small rosette making business (now defunct as I can't compete with mass produced ones), but it was easy to set up a Business Bank account - the only problem being that there were no fee for the first year, but they were horrendous in the following years, eating into my small profit!
I have learnt by my mistakes: Sewing machines now are Bernina 720, Bernina 1008, Bernina 801 from 1981, Brother overlocker, ancient but works well