Discuss the wholesale blanks industry: Factory direct, custom labels. You can also use this forum to locate a wide variety of wholesale products including t-shirts, hoodies, mousepads, coffee mugs and other imprintable products.
Hey everyone,
I have read for countless hours on this forum, and it has helped me a great deal, SO THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS CONTRIBUTED!
hopefully you guys can help me with this one too...
A few days ago i decided to sign up to a wholesalers account with American Apparel. I have a sellers permit number, a registered business, and a tax id number. So far i think im up to par.
As you know(and for those who dont the application requests minimal information, but a bit confusing if you ask me.
My goal is to get wholesale clothing from AA and print designs onto the garments and resale them under my company name, and later on hopefully more.
Now under business type, i wrote that im a clothing label and will resale the clothing with alterations(such as designs).
I filled in the tax id and the resale number, and then im left with a few options.
"Will the products be decorated or embellished?"
"What type of embellishments will be made to the garments?"
"Who will apply the embellishment?"
"Will the product be resold?"
As for the last question, obviously yes. But i was confused about the other three, so i said no.
I received an email from DR, and she wrote:
"Thank you for your interest in American Apparel.
In reviewing your request for access to our wholesale price list, I must let you know you do not qualify. American Apparel limits access and sales only to the following type of established companies for resale:
· Advertising Specialty Companies
· Embellishing companies (such as screen printers or embroiderers, etc.)
Alternately, you may have your embellisher contact us for the wholesale price list or contact one of our distributors:
So i replied with why isnt my company considered adequate? I explained that we would screen print or such onto the garments, and that maybe for the polos we will embroider. I asked her to please get back at me as soon as possible. She did not reply.
I sent another email stating that it came to my attention that i left out the resale number from the application, so i am including in the email.
That was May 15th.
I understand that its only been a few days and i should wait until after the weekend, but im concerned if i messed up in the app, and if so, should i reapply?
Ive also set up an account with Alternative and it was the simplest easiest process, but i do think they are quite expensive.
I am also considering TSC but i will wait till Monday morning to give them a call.
If you guys could help me out id appreciate it a BUNCH!
THANK YOU!
-Constantine
Last edited by Comin'OutSwingin; May 17th, 2008 at 07:13 PM.
Reason: removed link to AA pricelist
thank you guys for the fast response!
I think they dont except calls on weekends, so ill give AA a call first thing Monday.
Though, if i tell them i will embellish, do i have to provide pictures of machinery and equipment? I do not own any equipment, i was planning to go to a screenprinter for that. Would you think that would be a problem, since i read somewhere in this forum that some people had problems with this.
I am not sure, it really depends on what happens when you call. I know others here have said that they were asked to take a pic of their equipment and it is possible that if they have done that in the past they may just because of the responses you gave them on your application for an account. I would at least call and see what they have to say. It cant hurt
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Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~~~Mark Twain BobbieLee
i have all the printing equiptment, but i wanted to use my fathers company's cirtificate of authority (tax numbers) because i just didn't want to get a tax number myself quite yet.
this was mostly to print t-shirts for his company anyway.
so American Apparel won't return e-mails when i ask them questions. they have become a least favorite company very quickly. i'm sorry that i've refered other businesses to them in the past.
Apollonwear, at least you got a "semi-friendly" responce rejecting you. i'm trying to get a small job out and thought i was going to be using their product. now they've delayed me thru their non-responsiveness. i just find that to be rude and very unprofessional.
Last edited by sunnydayz; May 20th, 2008 at 01:26 PM.
Reason: removed inappropriate comment
More than likely cheaper (you get case pricing if you order online) and most times next day delivery. Whenever I have ordered, I received my items the very next day.
THeory13,
AA has email me back, asking for me to review my answers in my application, and after i edited and emailed her back with the changes, she did not respond to me for a couple days. An hour ago she emailed me stating that i am not qualified for wholesale price list, only Advertising Specialty Companies and Embellishing companies (such as screen printers or embroiderers, etc.) are qualified.
Not only were they unfriendly and abrupt on the phone, instructing me to just email Denise, even though i wanted to do it over the phone, her excuse was that Denise was out to lunch.
Ive heard a lot of good and bad from this forum and others about AA, but now i know first hand, you do not want to deal with them. They need to restructure and reestablish their interpersonal skills with future customers.
Cominoutswingin, I took your advice and gave TSC a call this morning, they told me to fax my info over to them, but i do not have a fax-but no worries-they were fine with me scanning my resale cert and such and sending via email all the info, and not only did she reply to me-she did it the next morning 645am to be exact!
They approved me the same day and i am very pleased with their customer service and excellent response time. I have taken a look at their catalog and i must say they have good pricing, but i am a bit confused-maybe because im new to this-but you stated that they sale crates? I looked at their pricing and each item differs in cost only by size, but where you input the amount of items yould like to receive, is it asking for like 1 shirt-or 2 shirts-3 shirts etc..? or if you put one, it signifies a case?
I will look into it and see if they offer this info on their site, most likely they do(was hoping not to look, have been researching on these forums and others for quite some time now-and have become exhausted =) )
Theory13, i highly recommend you follow the path i took, just because i had a similar experience with you, and was overwhelmed by the good positive attitude TSC had and how quickly everything got processed.
Regarding the case pricing, it is per piece on their website. But the price for 1 shirt is the same as it would be if you were buying a case of shirts.
Thank you for the quick response Cominoutswingin, but if it is the same then whats the benefit of case pricing? I mean why would i purchase a case of shirts? Would it simply be for the reduced cost of shipping(is there even reduced shipping?)?
Thanks again for all the info
Constantine
Apollon Wear
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The only constant in life is change...so get with it people! Apollon Wear
I think you are mis understanding what greg is telling you. When you buy from AA you pay a higher price unless you are buying a case at a time. With tsc they are giving you the case price no matter what volume your are purchasing as they themselves buy in bulk so are able to give a better price to the customer than aa.
__________________
Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~~~Mark Twain BobbieLee
Amercican Apparel application trouble 
