In light of my recent post concering production costs for myself here in Ireland, im just wondering, has anyone done any research into production (ie supply and print) in India or China, were labour costs are traditionally lower? Myabe its too much hassle?
A few searches have turned up very little in the way of meaningful leads
I only know that it is more cost efficient to produce overseas compared to here in the U.S. If you want sampling done, it's best to do it local. But if you have high enough quantities per cut/color/print, you can save a lot of money. Again, I have no idea what it costs to import into Ireland.
Here, we have to pay quotas when importing from China on textiles which raises the cost to about what you can get in India and Pakistan.
Before you import, call a broker to get an idea of what your costs would look like before you decide where to import from.
Generally print quality is pretty ropey with a lot of these countries.
It takes concerted effort on the ground to find a manufacturer who can produce garments at a reasonable cost and quality. To find one that has a decent print facility is the difficult bit.
You obviously can't just pick a factory and hope for the best. But you can try out a few and have samples made to test their quality. Most will provide samples if you pay the freight and they think you are a serious buyer.
Here in America, most of our cheap shirts come from the Americas. For example the Jerzees shirt came from Honduras, Haines in El Salvador and Gliden for Haiti.
Gildan are also manufactured in El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico (and at one point, Canada). I think most of the large manufacturers have their factories distributed through a few countries.
My line is mfg'd in India. Although I found a place that does not kill me on high minimums... and the mfg costs are MUCH lower than here in the US... the lead time is a killer at 60 days on re-ups, 90 days on new items, and almost every final delivered order is somewhat messed up (25% usually) that I have to go back and complain about.
I found the actual garments are superior quality to anything else on the market because you litterally PICK your colors, fabrics, sizing, etc... BUT the printing oversea's has NOT been consistent with what I would like. Usually done on a manual press so the results vary from the sample I approve to the final I get in hand or on re-ups later on. A normal run like I said I get about 25% defects that I have to note for them to remake in the next shipment. Since I do my own quality controll its extrememly time consuming process to open every pre-packed and folded item and locate the printed areas and check to make sure nothing is messed up. Doing this for 1,000 items is NOT recommended! BUT unless you plan on hiring someone to QC your stuff... expect it. And you NEED to do it. Expecting an exporter to checkj their own work is laughable. I wish that was not the case! Also, they seam to have a problem with delivering what I ordered! If I say I want 100XL and 200L's... I might get 80XL's and 210L's. That really gets under my skin and its frustrating!
Also, after importing... the cost per unit goes sky high. Might start out at $4 per item... by the time it hits my door (landed cost) it'll be about $8-$10 per unit! I've found that compared to US pricing for the same things I get the savings is maybe $2-$6 per item depending on if you want labels sewn in, packed in poly bags, if you need hang tags, etc. Its a give or take thing really. If you can deal with the BS and sloooow turn arounds, language barriers, and importation hassles I guess yea its worth it. You simply cannot get all the "extras" here in the US that you can oversea's for the same or less cost. Just soooo much BS to deal with though.
For me, the verdict is still out. I'm still looking for an all-inclusive and LOW MINIMUMS, QUALITY CONTROLLED, CONSISTENTLY WELL MADE PRODUCTS, EASY TO DEAL WITH MFG oversea's to fit my needs.
I only know that it is more cost efficient to produce overseas compared to here in the U.S. If you want sampling done, it's best to do it local. But if you have high enough quantities per cut/color/print, you can save a lot of money. Again, I have no idea what it costs to import into Ireland.
Here, we have to pay quotas when importing from China on textiles which raises the cost to about what you can get in India and Pakistan.
Before you import, call a broker to get an idea of what your costs would look like before you decide where to import from.
Highstyle what the best way to find a broker in the U.S.? So I can find out where to import from. I am currently importing hats form China and looking at doing more apparel there, but concerned about the import quotas/costs in addition to shipping. Is it better to import from the Americas in terms of import rates etc.
My line is mfg'd in India. Although I found a place that does not kill me on high minimums... and the mfg costs are MUCH lower than here in the US... the lead time is a killer at 60 days on re-ups, 90 days on new items, and almost every final delivered order is somewhat messed up (25% usually) that I have to go back and complain about.
I found the actual garments are superior quality to anything else on the market because you litterally PICK your colors, fabrics, sizing, etc... BUT the printing oversea's has NOT been consistent with what I would like. Usually done on a manual press so the results vary from the sample I approve to the final I get in hand or on re-ups later on. A normal run like I said I get about 25% defects that I have to note for them to remake in the next shipment. Since I do my own quality controll its extrememly time consuming process to open every pre-packed and folded item and locate the printed areas and check to make sure nothing is messed up. Doing this for 1,000 items is NOT recommended! BUT unless you plan on hiring someone to QC your stuff... expect it. And you NEED to do it. Expecting an exporter to checkj their own work is laughable. I wish that was not the case! Also, they seam to have a problem with delivering what I ordered! If I say I want 100XL and 200L's... I might get 80XL's and 210L's. That really gets under my skin and its frustrating!
Also, after importing... the cost per unit goes sky high. Might start out at $4 per item... by the time it hits my door (landed cost) it'll be about $8-$10 per unit! I've found that compared to US pricing for the same things I get the savings is maybe $2-$6 per item depending on if you want labels sewn in, packed in poly bags, if you need hang tags, etc. Its a give or take thing really. If you can deal with the BS and sloooow turn arounds, language barriers, and importation hassles I guess yea its worth it. You simply cannot get all the "extras" here in the US that you can oversea's for the same or less cost. Just soooo much BS to deal with though.
For me, the verdict is still out. I'm still looking for an all-inclusive and LOW MINIMUMS, QUALITY CONTROLLED, CONSISTENTLY WELL MADE PRODUCTS, EASY TO DEAL WITH MFG oversea's to fit my needs.
Best of luck to ya.
So what are the import costs exactly other than shipping and customs? I'm new at importing and just trying to find out what I can expect. Its easy to look at the initial price and go wow! that makes sense, but after you see the landed cost it may or may not. Is there a way to figure out what the landed cost will be before actually committing to the order? Is there a formula or cost breakdown when it comes to importing?. I understand its probably different with every country, but just take India for example since thats where you import from.
Indian / Chinese / Offshore production 
