Sourcing: How to Actually Get Your Line Made

Sourcing is my favorite part, and I mean that. Finding your fabric, tracking down the right pattern maker, standing in a factory watching your idea start to become real, this is where a line stops being a sketch and starts being a business. It is detective work, and if you love the hunt even a little, you are going to love this part too.

I have been doing this a long time. I started my own factory when I was 19, and what began as a small design studio grew into a 60-person operation producing over 20,000 units a month, all made domestically. So when I talk about sourcing, I am talking about the part of the industry I know in my bones. Let me walk you through how it actually works.

Start with the fabric, and look everywhere

Designers always tell me the same thing: finding fabric is the hardest part. I promise it gets easier once you know where to look. And the truth is, inspiration is everywhere around you. Magazines, retail fabric stores, and yes, your own closet. Pull something you already own that is close to what you want to make and use it as your reference. You do not need it to be identical. You need it close enough to talk about weight, hand, and finish.

Once you know the fabric you want, you have to find the wholesale version of it. If you live in New York, you have it easy. Everywhere else, it is more work and more travel. But it is doable, and it is worth it.

Do not rely only on the internet

Here is something I feel strongly about: fabric has to be seen, felt, and experienced if you want to get the right one. A screen cannot tell you how something drapes or how it feels in your hand. The fastest, best way to source is to attend a fabric tradeshow. With so many suppliers under one roof, you get an enormous amount done in a short window.

The top fabric shows are in New York, Los Angeles, and Colorado, and of course Paris is prime. In New York, the garment district, roughly between 34th and 40th and 6th and 9th, is full of suppliers known as jobbers. Jobbers are the middlemen. They sell smaller yardage for a little more than wholesale and a lot less than retail, and they carry real variety. For a new brand, that is gold.

A few shows I would point you toward: DG Expo, which is built around small minimums and is perfect for startups, Première Vision in New York and Paris, the LA Textile Show, and Outdoor Retailer if you are working with technical fabrics. If you can walk even one or two of these before you commit money, do it.

One more thing on minimums. Some wholesalers want a 5 or 10 yard minimum, and a lot of suppliers have loosened up lately. If you are building and sampling a line, you will need at least 5 meters anyway, so this usually is not a problem. Remember, the less you buy, the more your fabric costs per unit. That is normal. Do not overbuy and inventory a ton of fabric just to save a little, that money is better kept moving.

Find a great pattern maker, and I mean great

Pattern makers are harder to find than fabric, and this is one place you do not settle. Your pattern is the blueprint of your product. It is the script. If the pattern is not great, the product will not be great. It will not hang right, it will not fit right, and it simply will not look right. People come back to a brand because it fits. They do not return to a brand, even a big-name one, when it does not.

The easiest way to find the right one is through your fabric suppliers. Making knits? Ask a knit supplier who the great knit pattern maker is. Working in silk? Ask for someone who is strong with silks. Making bags, ask for a bag maker, not an apparel maker, because bags need different machinery and that difference matters. Your factory will also know a great pattern maker, so ask which patterns they think are best when they cut goods. And if you want to search online, just google “apparel pattern maker” plus your city, and a list comes up.

One piece of crucial advice: do not use pattern makers who do not sew their own fit samples. Always ask up front whether they make their own samples or whether the shop does. If your pattern maker cannot sew the pattern, or does not have a sample sewer do it in their studio, they will not fully understand the garment, and they will not intuitively know what to fix.

Finding a factory is the easiest part

This is the question that stops most designers, and it is actually the simplest to answer. Call the industrial sewing machine shops in your city and ask which factories they recommend for a smaller brand, or for whatever you make, knits, wovens, leather. Then go visit. You want to see the product they make, view the working conditions, and meet the owners.

Bring your sketches and bring examples of what you want to make, even store-bought pieces or something from your own closet. Every designer does this. When the factory, the pattern maker, and the fabric supplier can hold something comparable in their hands, the information they give you is far more accurate.

If your town has no industrial sewing shops, head to the nearest large city. In North America, Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary all have factories, and Vancouver especially is a real factory hub. New York and Los Angeles have incredible capacity. LA is known for knits, denim, and leather, and New York for knits, ready to wear, and leather too.

Sourcing is a relationship, not a transaction

Here is what I want you to take away. The right supplier is not the cheapest one out there. It is the one you want to build a relationship with. That is especially true for your pattern maker. When you find a great one, they come to understand your fit and your feel, and that pays off season after season after season.

So be patient with this part. It takes calling and emailing and showing up. If you get frustrated, that means you are doing it right. Putting in the effort to find the ideal match at each step is exactly what separates a brand that lasts from one that stalls.

Now go do the detective work. I promise it is the fun part.

Listen to the full Sourcing episode of Launch Your Line wherever you get your podcasts.