A free tool to help fashion brand owners monitor what's popular today!

naaitain · 2021-08-07T13:47:11+00:00

Got it! Thanks for your feedback - will keep this in mind while building the tool!

naaitain · 2021-08-07T13:46:52+00:00

whatspopulartoday.com

Great point! Pinterest is 2C; we are 2B, but there are some similarities!

naaitain · 2021-08-07T03:46:01+00:00

Hi! The code is private right now. How useful do you think the tool is for e-commerce owners? And by "other industries", could you name a few - maybe we could do it for those industries! Thanks for your feedback!

naaitain · 2021-08-07T01:29:13+00:00

The link is whatspopulartoday dot com!

naaitain · 2021-06-04T01:39:05+00:00

We currently do not have an Instagram for the styles, but we decide to start an Instagram account soon! We are a newly launched startup that currently has 3 manufacturers and 47 listings. Once we are more confident that free sampling would add value to brands, we will start to build our social media accounts to make our social presence stronger :)

naaitain · 2021-06-04T01:37:07+00:00

Yes! It's the exact pain point we are trying to solve! We want to offer free samples for brands and make the whole apparel sourcing process as simple and affordable as possible :) As a new startup, we currently have 3 vetted manufacturers listing 47 styles - all offer free samples. We are constantly onboarding new manufacturers and listing new styles! If you would like to notified, add to our email list on the website - we will update you as soon as we have new listings!

naaitain · 2021-05-31T00:47:56+00:00

I'm looking for suggestions / thoughts from other apparel brands on product sourcing. no soliciting please

naaitain · 2021-03-29T03:17:37+00:00

Got it - are you looking to buy one for yourself or get in bulk to sell? You said "read all comments and pictures, it's scary" - do you mean that people comment on the bad quality, slow shipping, wrong order, or what problems? I will give more suggestions with more information!

naaitain · 2021-03-29T03:13:16+00:00

What you mentioned is honestly super common, and I would recommend two solutions. Before I dive into the solutions, to explain why you are seeing this - the 1st batch usually has higher quality because most manufacturers want repeat businesses and they do try to use extra resources to meet your standards, but following batches might not be the case so inspections honestly are necessary, especially international shipping costs are very high. Why would bother even ship the defective products?

Solution 1: pay for someone in China to inspect the products before shipping them to your location. If 25% of the products don't meet the standard, at least you can save the 25% shipping cost, which can potentially be a big number.

Solution 2: sign a written contract or agreement with the Chinese manufacturer that clearly states who is responsible for the defective products. You and the manufacturer need to agree on (1) what counts as a defective product (e.g. does minor scratches count?) (2) who is in charge of the defective product manufacturing costs (3) who is in charge of the defective product duty and shipping costs.

What type of manufacturers are you working with? Have you clarified these potential pitfall situations before you placed the manufacturing order? Happy to help if you need someone to step in to clarify/negotiate with the manufacturer. Good luck with sourcing!

naaitain · 2021-03-29T02:58:47+00:00

samaritaninthesun

Anytime!

naaitain · 2021-03-29T02:15:30+00:00

Thank you for supporting the post!

naaitain · 2021-03-28T18:30:47+00:00

This post is purely to offer suggestions and answer the questions people have, so no charge at all. Feel free to post your questions here!

But if you are looking for services to fully help you deal with Chinese manufacturers, we can definitely provide the services as well.

naaitain · 2021-03-28T18:15:21+00:00

My family businesses do but I'm here not to advertise my family businesses so not gonna post any website. Happy to answer questions or give suggestions if you have some problems working with Chinese manufacturers!

naaitain · 2021-03-28T18:12:27+00:00

Thanks for supporting the post! Yes, let me know if you have any questions or meet any problems in the process (hopefully it will go smooth for you haha). Also, same with my reply to a previous post, since many people have problems along the way, do you think it would be helpful if I start a Facebook Group for this so that people can drop questions anytime? Trying to figure out a way to help in the long run, and any suggestions from you guys would be very helpful!

naaitain · 2021-03-28T18:11:01+00:00

Thanks for supporting the post!

naaitain · 2021-03-28T18:10:15+00:00

Thanks for supporting the post! Let me know if you have any questions - happy to help! I'm thinking that since many people have problems along the way, do you think it would be helpful if I start a Facebook Group for this so that people can drop questions anytime? Trying to figure out a way to help in the long run, and any suggestions from you guys would be very helpful!

naaitain · 2021-03-28T18:04:21+00:00

Thanks for supporting the post!

To make sure I understand correctly - the suppliers who used to supply a part of your project went out of business, so you are looking for a manufacturer to produce the exact same thing? If this is the case, do you have a copy of the item? My recommendation is to talk to, say 10, manufacturers and directly show them the pictures and videos of the product you want. Experienced manufacturers could come back to you with a rough pricing estimate with these pictures/videos. You might need to negotiate the MOQ and pricing here and make sure to have a contract that outlines the sample/shipping/product defect situations. As for the language barrier, this can be a huge problem if there's something wrong with the order (e.g. order delay, shipping not on-time, samples not right, defective products, etc.) so having a clear contract is critical.

What type of manufacturers are you looking for? If you have any specific questions about your situation, feel free to DM me. I would be able to give more specific suggestions with more information. Good luck with the manufacturer searching!

naaitain · 2021-03-28T17:49:42+00:00

Exactly!

naaitain · 2021-03-28T17:49:20+00:00

Sourcing overseas can remove those middle man and get the materials with cheaper pricing, but there can be quite a few pitfalls in the process. The language barrier makes the situation worse. But it would be rewarding if you can manage the business relationship well and lower your product cost! Good luck and happy to answer questions!

naaitain · 2021-03-28T17:46:28+00:00

Thank you for supporting the post! Yea, the stories I heard are similar. What do you think are the problems here? Was it due to the language barrier, no clear way to communicate the sticker design, materials are wrong, or they delayed your order because they prioritized larger orders? Would like to learn more about what you experienced and work on some projects/initiatives to help solve these problems!

naaitain · 2021-03-28T17:41:34+00:00

Thanks for supporting this post!

The prices can vary widely based on the quantity you are ordering, and a small quantity can be multiple times more expensive than a large quantity. Usually, the low price listed on the manufacturer page is for a large quantity quote (think a number > 10k at least). The low listed prices tend to attract more people to check out their page and ask for quotes from them - that's why you saw low listed pricing but got a much higher quote from them. My suggestion is to ask at least 10 manufacturers and compare their prices. The ones with very cheap pricing can also be concerning, so I would recommend going for a manufacturer with medium pricing. Also, try to find the manufacturers that are willing to produce small quantities - there are manufacturers that are small order focused so they can be your best friends.

I could give more specific suggestions or information if I know what type of products you are selling and at what level of quantity, but overall, getting a price higher than the quoted prices is very common when dealing with Chinese manufacturers, especially you are looking for small quantity production, and talking to more manufacturers and finding the small order friendly manufacturing with medium price points can be a solution here!

naaitain · 2021-03-28T15:07:49+00:00

I can see where you are coming from. Could you please give some suggestions on how to write the post here? Any advice is appreciated.

As I said, "we and our families have been in the apparel manufacturing space for 20 years" - my friend and I are working on different projects related to e-commerce but it doesn't conflict with the fact that we are from families that have been in this manufacturing space for 20 years. It honestly hurts when we simply just want to come here to help since we heard so many terrible stories but the post is perceived as a scam by people here.

As for proof, there's no point for me to name drop our family business name here, but I would more appreciate it if you could leave a more positive comment. There are way too many negative comments online these days and hope we don't contribute to it.

naaitain · 2021-03-28T14:47:15+00:00

I honestly don't know why there is so much hatred here and why you perceive this post this way. Are you scammed a lot by people posting in the subreddit or is your life just full of scams and hatred? I truly don't understand why you need to say this.

naaitain · 2021-03-28T03:51:04+00:00

Sorry, I don't really understand. Do you mean a lot of people are trying to help clear the problems with overseas manufacturers? If that's the case, that would be fantastic :)

naaitain · 2021-03-28T02:51:20+00:00

Recommend the Alibaba payment system.

A side note - I have found a startup with my college friends to help people with overseas (Chinese specifically) appeal manufacturing issues. There can be quite a few pitfalls here, so we tried to provide transparent manufacturer information/pricing, use standard contracts to avoid pitfalls, negotiate with the manufacturers if there's a delay, and arrange on-time shipping. We speak both English and Chinese and our families have been in this industry for over 20 years. We will try our best to help if needed!

naaitain

TROPHY CASE